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TIL Charles Simonyi was the first billionaire to go to space. Simonyi, a software architect and early Microsoft employee, paid a total of $60 million for two trips to the International Space Station. He entered orbit and spent a total of 4 weeks in space.

Read more theguardian.com

via reddit.com

5YZXQ TIL that there are actually fireflies all along the west coast of the U.S.; they just prefer to be active during the day.
DQrOD TIL Georg Richmann appears to be the first person in history to have lost his life while conducting electrical experiments
Me5eK TIL the psychological term of John Henryism; the belief that anything is achievable if you work hard enough, but it comes at a cost. Based on the life of John Henry, who competed in a pile driving competition, won, and then died as a result from the exertion.
EEpV TIL that after the American Revolution, 14,000 Loyalists fled to western Nova Scotia. They were treated poorly by the existing population, so Loyalists pressed for the creation of a “Loyalist colony” that would be “the envy of the American states”. The British created New Brunswick for them.
WkvvL According to Texas A&M’s Urban Mobility Report 2019, the average auto commuter spends an extra 54 hours in his or her car every year on top of the time it should actually take to get to the office. If you live in a city like Los Angeles, San Francisco, or New York, that figure doubles. In Los Angeles, for example, commuters spend 119 hours each year delayed in their cars—that’s almost three full weeks spent idling.