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TIL an MIT grad student submitted his thesis developing the theory of orbital rendezvous which would be critical to the Apollo program. It opens, “In the hopes that this work may in some way contribute to their exploration of space. If only I could join them in their exciting endeavors.” Buzz Aldrin

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9GEX TIL of a bar in New Mexico opened in 1896. At one point it was owned by a Justice of the Peace who held court there and jailed the guilty in the back. During prohibition, it ran as a pool hall with a secret trap door leading to the speakeasy in the basement. The Capitol Bar remains open to this day!
4XkXX TIL The Australian Army has a rank in their structure called the Pioneer Sergeant. This is position is authorized to wear a beard and carry an axe. This position follows a British Army tradition dating back to 1865.
Y767d TIL that, when writing Dracula, Bram Stoker was greatly influenced by his father’s interest in theatre and his mother’s gruesome stories about her childhood during the cholera epidemic in 1832.
p8bxA TIL In the Atacama Desert in Chile, there's 3,000-year-old, densely packed shrub called llareta. The plant prefers sandy, well-drained soils. It can grow in nutritionally poor soils that are acidic, neutral, or basic (alkaline) at altitudes of up to 5,200 metres (17,100 ft).
OoA01 TIL in the wake of Hurricane Dorian, a Celebrity cruise ship rerouted to deliver food, water and aid to survivors in the Bahamas. Kitchen staff made around 10,000 meals & guests volunteered to pack them.