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TIL The shower of sparks seen during Space Shuttle launches are often assumed to be engine igniters but they’re actually part of the Hydrogen Burnoff System; a safety system designed to consume unburned hydrogen so it doesn’t damage other parts of the shuttle.

Read more nasa.gov

via reddit.com

QNDQL TIL: The native languages of Madagascar (Malagasy) and Easter Island (Rapa Nui) are in the same language family [Austronesian]. In the direction that was travelled by settlers these locations are more than halfway around the earth from each other.
ANMMa TIL of the Miracle of 1511, in which hundreds of (often sexy) snowmen and snowomen were made as a form of protest against the wealthy
j6eAp TIL in 1760s, Lazzaro Spallanzani demonstrated the first contraception and artificial insemination by fitting male frogs with tight-fitting taffeta pants. Fertilization occurred only when they retrieved semen that had been discharged into the pants and painted it onto the eggs.
oBYe8 TIL Radiohead dedicated their album 'The Bends' to the late comedian Bill Hicks
D1rQY TIL that the Malcolm in the Middle theme song and the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme song were written by the same people, They Might Be Giants.