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TIL in the 1980s, NASA had a 1-900 number which charged $2 for the first minute and $.45 for each additional minute. It allowed callers to listen in on a mission status report and mid-flight press conferences, and thousands of them heard the Challenger explosion in real time.

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xWQb TIL that The Shawshank Redemption (1994) has been in the number 1 position on IMDb’s Top 250 Movie list for 3229 consecutive days
KO1rQ TIL Johnny Cash worked as a radio operator in the US Air Force and was the first person to learn of Stalin's death when he received and decoded the Morse code transmission being sent out globally from Moscow.
KYDJw TIL about The Cure for Insomnia, an experimental movie released in 1987 by a man named John Henry Timmis IV, that held the Guinness World Record for longest film at around 87 hours. It consists of an artist reading a 4,080 page poem, and there are believed to be no copies left.
7rOYL TIL French horticulturist Francis Meilland developed The Peace Rose between 1935-1939. He sent cuttings to friends in Italy, Turkey, Germany, and The U.S to protect it. It is said that it was sent to the US on last plane available before the German invasion.
neNRG TIL doctors are purposely tripping the elderly to make them more fall resistant. The therapy involves hooking them into a harness and having trainers shove/nudge/trip them off balance. The harness keeps them from falling and getting hurt while the exercises help train muscles for better balance.