› added 3 months ago

15

TIL about the Mars to Stay initiative, which proposes that the first astronauts sent to Mars go with the intent to stay. Unused emergency return vehicles would be turned into settlements as soon as habitability becomes evident. This would both reduce cost and ensure permanent settlement.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

GYjB4 TIL that Sandwich is an English town, and that 'wich' literally means street, town, or dwelling. Also, the sandwich was 'created' following the Earl of Sandwich's request for beef between two slices of bread. It was previously simply known as bread and cheese.
pJaG TIL Stanley Kubrick was embarrassed to discover that HAL’s initials were one letter up from IBM, which had helped the production of 2001, “and we would have changed the name had we spotted the coincidence”
ZRLo TIL: Alaskan salmon fisherman feared Bald Eagles were a threat to the salmon population. As a result more than 100,000 bald eagles were killed in Alaska from 1917 to 1953.
QjEp TIL the only people protected from age discrimination in the United States are those over the age of 40.
OYXe TIL the U.S. is the only country that does not dip its flag to the host country at the Olympics opening ceremonies. When the U.S. flag-holder was asked to do so for King Edward VII at the 1908 London games, he supposedly responded, “This flag dips to no earthly king.”