› added 5 years ago

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TIL After flying 65 combat missions over North Vietnam (144 total), Guion Bluford became the first African American to qualify as a NASA astronaut in 1979. He also became the first African American in space in 1983, ultimately logging over 688 hours across four Space Shuttle missions.

R7LV1 TIL “cat zoomies” have a technical name: Frenetic Random Activity Periods or FRAPs. FRAPs are a surprising and sometimes alarming (especially in the middle of the night), yet completely normal, cat behavior
KYJQE TIL that the USS Tang (SS-306) was a U.S. submarine used during World War II. It was built and launched in 1943, and was sunk by a circular run of her own torpedo in 1944.
pOXp TIL: There was an anti-car jacking device called the “Blaster” in South Africa, the occupant could flip a switch and direct 5 metre plumes of flame upward into the facial area of anyone trying to enter the vehicle through the doors or windows.
rNymW TIL that classical guitarist legend Andres Segovia gave 5,402 concerts, appearing on stage every year from 1909 to 1987 starting at the age of 16 with his final performance at 94. He toured 60 countries and 723 cities. He produced about 50 long-playing records.
D99P TIL the most radioactive place on earth isn’t Chernobyl or Fukushima, but a lake in the southern Urals that was once home the the Soviet’s nuclear waste storage area. You could receive a lethal dose of radiation in 30 minutes just standing on the shore of the lake.