› added 5 years ago

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TIL about a couple of guys that stole highly radioactive material from an abandoned hospital (not knowing what it was), thought it was cool since it was glowing, sold it to people, who shared it with friends and family...and well, ended up killing 4 and contaminating 249.

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5YZBR TIL that the first black woman to travel to space was Mae Jemison, who was a mission specialist on the Space Shuttle Endeavor in 1992. She later appeared on "Star Trek: The Next Generation", making her the first person to have been on Star Trek and in space IRL.
l7JA7 TIL In 1886 William Ellsworth Robinson, an American Magician assumed the Asian inspired persona of Chung Ling Soo, dressed in traditional Chineese attire, pretended to not speak English & faked a marriage to an Asian American to fool European audiences. He later died during a failed Bullet Catch Act
4Rpa TIL in 1902, the Greek symbol Caduceus (two snakes on a winged pole) was mistakenly used as the emblem for the US Medical Corps instead of the Rod of Asclepius (one snake climbing a pole), the true Greek symbol for medicine. Despite this error, the US still widely uses it to represent healthcare.
E18Xd TIL many popular bands recorded alternate versions of their songs for The Sims
mxRjp TIL that the US government used an Atomic Bomb to launch a manhole cover 125,000 mph (201,160 kph), that is the fastest that a man-made object has traveled. It is also said that it beat the Sputnik to space, although that was never confirmed.