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TIL the ship in Alien is named for the titular character in Joseph Conrad's "Nostromo" and means "shipmate" in Italian. The ship from Aliens, the Sulaco is named for the port-town in the novel.

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0wLyy TIL the Chinese women who presented the medals in the 2008 Olympics had to be 168-174 centimetres, weigh up to 55 kg, and have an upper to lower-body ratio of 11:13. They trained daily by balancing books on their heads, clenching chopsticks between their teeth, and jamming paper between their knees
E1V4X TIL that lie detectors are a complete hoax, they don't work at all, but the police still use them. The police are aware that they don't work, but use them to get the defendants to plead guilty.
grxgy TIL I learned that there was a suspected fifth flight on 9/11 that was thwarted by the nationwide ground stop. When the captain said the flight was returning to the gate, several first class passengers got very upset and demanded to speak to the captain. Back at the gate, they ran off the plane.
RQ8w TIL that JFK would not let Sammy Davis play in the White house in 1961 after his interracial marriage Illegal in 31 states at the time. His marriage not only made headlines, it inspired death threats and demonstrations and forced Davis to hire 24-hour armed guards.
yQpjw TIL that Sudan has more pyramids than any other country on earth – even more than Egypt. There are at least 223 pyramids in the Sudanese cities of Al Kurru, Nuri, Gebel Barkal and Meroë. They are generally 20 to 30 metres high and steep sided.