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TIL: diamonds aren’t forever. Diamonds are coated with boric acid during jewelry rework to seal out oxygen and keep them from burning

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5YLm9 TIL Harriet Tubman joined the Union army as a nurse, but also acted as a scout and spy behind enemy lines during the war. Despite her efforts and general fame, she was only able to acquire a nurse’s pension after the war ended.
KYwRw TIL Kerbals (from the game Kerbal Space Program) speak backwards Spanish (aka "loñapsE").
OXQ7 TIL a mass grave of 155 women was found in a Magdalene laundry. These were prison like Irish Catholic institutions for ‘fallen’ women.
b6E17 TIL about the village of Chicken, Alaska. In 1902, When the settlement grew large enough to be named, there were many ptarmigan living in the area so this was suggested as the name. However, the spelling could not be agreed on, so they named it "Chicken" instead.
1aJkW Have you ever played with a pocket-sized laser, wondering how far its light would travel? Could you, a naughty student inside a classroom on Earth, annoy a poor substitute teacher on Mars by waggling your laser pointer at him? T​he short answer: no. By the time the light finally reached Mars, the glint would be a million times dimmer than the faintest light visible to the human eye.