› added 11 years ago

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TIL Gene Roddenberry gave a list of “do nots” to the Next Generation writers which includes not writing about sorcery, psychic powers, mad scientists, and swords.

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oBXjo TIL that Kalmykia is the only Buddhist majority republic in Europe
ry0W TIL that despite the fact that it is widely believed that 25% to 40% of bottled water is simply bottled tap water, people spend from 240 to over 10,000 times more per gallon for bottled water than they typically do for tap water.
OoJKX TIL There is a vegetarian crocodile in India which has been living only on a diet of rice and jaggery for the last 60 years
R4M4 TIL that Soviet Navy officer Vasili Arkhipov prevented the launch of a nuclear torpedo during the Cuban Missile Crisis and thereby prevented a nuclear war.
8Bd8 TIL engineers that worked on the Lockheed SR-71 “Blackbird” aircraft couldn’t come up with a proper fuel sealing system that could handle the thermal expansion of the airframe at extreme temperatures, so the aircraft would leak jet fuel on the runway.