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TIL that Stalin believed religion to be a blight upon communist society. Over 100,000 members of the Russian Orthodox clergy were killed by the regime between 1937 and 1941.

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8eaLP TIL that the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC, UK) conducted an online naming poll for a polar research vessel. The name "Boaty McBoatface " was the runaway winner of the poll with 124,109 votes.
nedrb TIL the Teletubbies are canonically racially diverse and they live in the "Tubbytronic Superdome"
YpWoA TIL that viruses can 'eavesdrop' on 'communication' made by bacteria to time their infection on bacteria to conduct a larger killing spree. The new discovery can allow scientists to kill certain bacteria causing human diseases by programming the virus to attack it.
0wZZR TIL there was once an underground network of pneumatic mail delivery tubes in New York City. Each tube could carry between 400 and 600 letters and traveled at 30-35 miles per hour.
nWWK9 TiL that upon finishing the sci fi film "Devil Girls From Mars", a then 12 year old Octavia Butler concluded that she could write a better story. Butler went on to win multiple Hugo and Nebula awards and became the first sci-fi writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship.