› added 7 years ago

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TIL It took mankind 57 years, 3 months and 26 days to advance from Wright's first manned flight to Gagarin's' first manned space flight. Today we are further in history from Gagarin's historic flight than he was from Wright's flight.

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KO4mJ TIL model Jennifer O'Neill was cast to star in the Disneys The Black Hole but was told she needed to cut her hair as it would be easier for scenes set in zero-g. She gave in, drinking wine during the haircut and leaving noticeably impaired. She lost the part after a serious car crash on the way home
jxda TIL a consortium of American and German organizations cut a hole in the side of a 747 to install a 2.5m telescope. This modified plane is flown above most of the atmosphere so infrared observations can be made.
PYVmE TIL that 2 donkeys that have been together for 10 years at a zoo in Poland were separated after a local politician and parents complained about them mating in front of children. Experts weighted in and a petition to rejoin them got 7,000 signatures so the zoo put them back together.
nWk5Y TIL that vets perform surgery on fish. For longer procedures they keep the gills wet while the surgery is performed out of the water.
EgloW TIL of Shridhar Chillal, a man who didn't cut his nails for 66 years. From age 16, he let his left hands nails grow as a challenge. They eventually reached a total length of 909.6cm before, in 2018, he had them cut. He earned the Guinness World Record for "Longest fingernails on a single hand ever"​