› added 9 years ago

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TIL that the New Horizons space probe to Pluto is actually powered by Plutonium.

Read more pluto.jhuapl.edu

via reddit.com

NXZv6 TIL that romance novels are the most popular literature genre. By 1991 46% of all US mass-market paperbacks were romance. Half of romance publisher Harlequin's customers purchased 30 novels a month. 25% of all Americans read a romance novel in 2008.
rRLJ1 TIL about Margaret Schilling a mental patient who went missing in December 1978. Jan '79 local news reporting her escaped. 5 weeks later, worker finds her body locked alone in a construction area. Her decomp left a stain in the marble of her death pose that endures to today.
vPVEB TIL The MPAA created the PG-13 rating after Steven Spielberg suggested a rating between PG and R due to complaints about Gremlins and Temple of Doom.
KORvG TIL that it is a myth that more people are alive today than have ever lived. It is estimated that 50-100 billion or more are believed to have already died yet there are currently around 7 billion people alive. Not surprisingly TIL often says "There are more people alive now than ever lived"...Nope.
GYkk5 TIL that to prevent illegal fly posters, a local council in the UK stuck their own "CANCELLED" posters over the top of ones for events. Cleaning staff had been removing up to 100 illegal posters per week. Eight weeks after the initiative was introduced this was reduced to zero.