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TIL, in a 1962 operation known as 'Starfish Prime', the United States detonated a nuclear bomb at high altitude, ~900 miles south of Hawai'i. The electromagnetic pulse from the detonation caused bright auroras to appear in the atmosphere over a large area of the Pacific Ocean.

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BrZYe TIL that NASA's Spirit Mars rover was meant to operate for 92 days. It ended up operating for 2,269 days, after which a dust storm blocked off its solar panels.
n7jr TIL that when you remember a past event, you are actually remembering the last time you remembered it, not the event itself.
XE9m8 TIL About Jack Phillips, the 25-year-old Godalming-born telegraphist was aboard the Titanic when it hit an iceberg on April 14, 1912. He stayed at his post until the ship sank, frantically contacting nearby ships, in an attempt to save hundreds of lives. His body was never found.
6A4m TIL that Married…With Children was developed as a reactive contrast to The Cosby Show. Where the Cosbys were shown as the first affluent, loving, black family on tv, the Bundys were the first who were all white, poor and hated each other. The original working title was Not The Cosbys
D19Y TIL the term “white trash” was invented by blacks as a racial epithet against whites too poor to own slaves.