› added 11 years ago

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TIL the parachutes of mars rovers are being sterilized to prevent life from earth “hitchhikes” to mars, making it impossible to distinguish from possible microbes on mars.

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Zywa TIL Mark Twain wrote that Ulysses S. Grant’s memoirs are “an unapproachable literary masterpiece” and that the memoirs are regarded as the best military memoirs in existence.
PYNLe TIL that after surfacing under ice in the Arctic, the submarine USS Connecticut was attacked by a Polar Bear who proceeded to chew on the ship's rudder before 'disengaging.'
gn5b TIL the current CEO of Cinnabon is a 35 year old women that formerly worked at Hooters and worked her way up the ranks
PYVLJ TIL that Jurassic Park might have contributed to the overfishing of the toothfish (aka "Chilean sea bass"). The fish was served in the movie and exploded in popularity in restaurants. Correlation isn't causation, but this article outlines several other examples of movie-inspired animal crazes.
GnRJ TIL that when the Tsar Bomba (the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated) was tested, the fireball reached nearly as high as the altitude of the release plane, and it’s yield (50 mt) was about half the maximum yield of the bomb’s design (100 Mt).