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TIL One of the reasons satellite phones never became the 'norm' despite having almost universal network coverage is time delay. These phones communicate through geostationary satellites that are 30,000+ km above Earth, which causes a time lag while talking to someone on the phone.

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6MGl TIL that, in the late 980’s, Vladimir the Great chose to Christianize Russia rather than Islamisize it partly due to Islam’s ban on alcohol, saying, “Drinking is the joy of the Rus’, we can’t go without it.”
vPdoB TIL about Lauri Törni who fought for the Finnish Army during the Winter War and Continuation War, fought for Germany during WWII, and fought for the US during Vietnam War, where he was killed. He is the only known Waffen-SS to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
nAQr TIL Arunachalam Murugananthan invented cheap and durable menstruation pads purely because it saddened him that his wife, and women across India, could not afford them. In the process, his wife left him, he nearly lost all of his money and was ostracized by his own community.
QlL6 TIL Japanese WWII soldiers were found on an island in 2005 thinking the war was still going on
bbm0 TIL that the words ‘under God’ were added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954 in response to the Communist threat of the times.