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TIL Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr., was the first African American astronaut. The project he worked on would go on to become the International Space Station. He died in the backseat of his plane while teaching a cadet how to fly 50 years ago this past Friday (December 8, 1967). He was 32 years old.

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4Xano TIL many of the accient Greek and Roman statues were painted
X079D TIL so many Royal English babies died that when Alfred of Great Britain died at age 1 in 1780 there was a policy against mourning the deaths of Royal children under age seven.
QJEy9 TIL that David Bowie was a huge fan of the show “Peaky Blinders,” and let the creators hear his final album “Blackstar” a week before its existence was made public. They honored his devotion and subsequent passing by incorporating “Lazarus” into the 3rd season.
GYGD7 TIL a circle is used to represent a city on a map since early maps would draw small bird's-eye views of cities, and walled cities during that time were usually circular. Eventually the drawing was dropped and only the circular outline remained.
rNdMW TIL before his career took off, Patrick Swayze and his wife had a carpentry business. Though Swayze didn’t know much about carpentry at first, he learned a lot through books, and their business ended being very profitable. At one point, they even renovated the kitchen of actress Jaclyn Smith.