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TIL Astronauts often see random flashes of light in space, even through closed eyes - this is caused by cosmic rays passing through their eyes or optical nerves. Scientists think the light is either generated by Cherenkov radiation or by the ray being powerful enough to activate the optical nerve.

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5NWB TIL Africans in Nazi Germany had a better chance of survivng than germans, since they were excluded from the military due to their non-Aryan status, but also were not segregated/incarcerated.
OG6G4 TIL Corporal Nand Singh earned the Victoria Cross in WW2. He captured 3 trenches, killing soldiers with his bayonet despite wounds. He earned another medal in 1947, capturing a bunker by killing enemy with his bayonet. The Pakistanis threw his body in a garbage dump, never to be recovered.
jNMRM TIL that John F. Kennedy, 2 months before his presidency, was almost assassinated by someone driving a dynamite-lading car into his. This was prevented because the assassin saw his wife and kids bid goodbye to Kennedy, thus changing his mind.
XEKjX TIL: In 1665, King Charles II said the southern border of Virginia colony must stretch to the Pacific! In the end it didn't, but over years a resulting survey line (along 36°30′ N.Lat.) became part of 6 state borders (VA, NC, KY, TN, OK, TX). (The line was also a slave/free states divider out West.)
aLab TIL There’s a basketball court on the fifth floor of the United States Supreme Court. It’s known as the Highest Court in the Land.