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TIL the USA developed at least 2 working nuclear thermal rocket engines that were twice as efficient as chemical rockets, tested them both in the open air at Jackass Flats near Area 51, and deemed them ready to power a manned spaceflight mission to Mars.

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OLvY TIL that, according to Article VIII of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, you can be arrested for a crime committed anywhere in the known universe
R7v01 TIL during the Black Death, the Adriatic port city of Ragusa was the first city to require mandatory 30-day isolation for sailors and traders in order to track infection. The Italians lengthened it to 40 days, or a “quaranta giorni”—hence, a quarantine.
Bg0wb TIL students once made Oxford the murder capital of late medieval England. A 2023 study found that it had a murder rate 4-5x higher than that of London or York & 50x higher than current rates in 21st century English cities. The mix of young male students & booze was often a powder keg for violence.
Oo4n7 TIL Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't allowed to dub his own role in Terminator in German, as his accent is considered very rural by German/Austrian standards and it would be too ridiculous to have a death machine from the future come back in time and sound like a hillbilly.
GOnE TIL Each of the suits on a deck of cards represents the four major pillars of the economy in the middle ages: heart represented the Church, spades represented the military, clubs represented agriculture, and diamonds represented the merchant class