› added 2 years ago

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TIL that Wan Hu, a 16th-century Chinese official, is said to have attempted to launch himself into outer space in a chair to which 47 rockets were attached. The rockets exploded, and it is said that neither he nor the chair were ever seen again.

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via reddit.com

RPDQ TIL Sunita Williams, Navy pilot and NASA astronaut, was the first person to run a marathon from space, running the Boston Marathon on the International Space Station’s treadmill. Her fellow astronauts fed her oranges during the race.
GYd1Q TIL Earth's largest waterfall is... underwater. In the Denmark Strait, a warm sea collides with a cold sea, pushing the colder water over a very tall ridge — for nearly TWO MILES (3.2km). That's almost 4x longer than the biggest waterfall on land! From the surface, you wouldn't notice at all.
Ooyg7 TIL that Steve from Blue’s Clues once showed up unannounced to a kid’s birthday party after seeing a party sign and blue paw print on the house’s mailbox. He showed up in character and costume, handed our presents and refused any compensation from the parents.
OoY71 TIL in the 1940s, AT&T sued Harry Tuttle for inventing the Hush-A-Phone—a device that silenced phones from eavesdroppers. AT&T argued the “device hadn’t been installed by their company” and the FCC voted in AT&T’s favor, but Tuttle continued to fight the case in open court and eventually won.
jNVLa TIL that leaders of the Black Panther Party were "neutralized" (murdered, imprisoned, publicly humiliated or falsely charged with crimes) by COINTELPRO, a series of illegal FBI operations.