› added 12 years ago

151

TIL a consortium of American and German organizations cut a hole in the side of a 747 to install a 2.5m telescope. This modified plane is flown above most of the atmosphere so infrared observations can be made.

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via reddit.com

xA9k TIL In 1965, Andre the Giant received a draft notice for French’s peace time army, but was unable to join as there were no shoes big enough, bunks long enough, or trenches deep enough to accommodate him.
MeZD0 TIL that rock legend Elvis Presley liked to play racquetball. He liked it so much that he spent $200,000 to build a court in his home. After he died, his glove was sold at an auction for $5,000.
M4j0 TIL Dying is illegal in Longyearbyen, Norway because the town’s small graveyard stopped accepting bodies after discovering the permafrost prevented the bodies from decomposing.
Vdx8 TIL that during the filming of Eastern Promises, Viggo Mortensen’s Russian Mafia tattoos were so realistic that when he walked into a Russian Diner in London, everyone fell silent out of fear.
rEBe TIL that US interrogators tortured an Afghan detainee to death by hanging him by his arms for 4 days and beating his legs so badly they needed amputation. They did this despite most interrogators believing him to be “an innocent man who simply drove his taxi past the American base at the wrong time”