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TIL that James Earl Jones once used the handle “Darth Vader” while traveling across the country and spoke in character to truck drivers on the CB radio. It freaked them out and he had to stop.

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dP8j TIL The USSR proposed a doomsday ship; full of fissile material navigating Soviet waters, which would automatically detonate if it detected nuclear war on Soviet territory, filling the earth’s atmosphere with a radioactive cloud.
yVZ6p TIL the Lincoln Highway (1910s) made driving across America easier. However, muddy or flooded roads were expected and drivers needed camping gear. The road guide included tips for each town. E.g. Fish Springs, Utah travelers could "build a sagebrush fire" for a local team to find/rescue them.
nW68P TIL that the landmark pamphlet "Understanding AIDS" was the single largest mass mailing in American history. Spearheaded by Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, it reached 107 million American households, and set standards for sex education regarding the disease. 80% of people read at least part of it.
woXG8 TIL that from 1915 to 1952, film was not protected under the First Amendment, because the Supreme Court (voting 9-0) saw film as "a business, pure and simple, originated and conducted for profit" and therefore subject to government censorship, resulting in the strict "Hays Code" in 1934
XEoER TIL that the creator of Tetris, Alexey Pajitnov, only started to get royalties from his creation in 1996 when he formed "The Tetris Company." He created Tetris in 1984.