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TIL the reason why NASA (and later the Russians) use a specialised space pen instead of pencil in space is because the graphite of pencils is conductive and can cause short circuits and even fires. The pens have been used since the Apollo era and are still being used right now on the ISS.

yQOZV TIL that originally, the classic banker's lamp had a green shade to lessen one's eyestrain due to early incandescent lights. The green eye visor commonly worn by accountants, telegraphers, and copy editors in the late-19th and mid-20th century were worn for similar reasons.
78rkr TIL that Pappy Van Winkle bourbon, which sells for thousands per bottle, was so undesirable for decades that the brand was sold everywhere from "gimmicky decanters shaped like college mascots" in the 1980s to entire privately sold barrels for only $1200 as late as the early 2000s.
wpLY TIL In 1911 a colony of Adélie penguins was discovered to have homosexual and necrophilic behaviors. It was at the time considered too indecent for publication. The findings were finally published in 2012.
epWvE TIL that the Sierra Madre Wisteria is the largest blossoming plant in the world. The Wistaria Vine has over 1.5 million blossoms and weighs over 250 tons.
OoAoX TIL The name "Sri Lanka" does not come from the fact that it is by far the biggest island off India's coast (Lanka just means "island"). The honorific "Sri" came with the independence movement in British Ceylon. So the name doesn't mean "Lord Island" or "Great Island" but rather "Sovreign Island".