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TIL that 'nose art', or the practice of painting pin-ups or cartoons on the front of war planes, died out in the early 1970s when Air Force Chief of Staff John Ryan called for a moratorium on the practice. It's been quietly making a comeback in recent years, albeit now strictly controlled.

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BxXb TIL Gaius gracchus, the ancient roman politician, had a bounty put on his head to the price of the head’s weight in gold. Although the head was delivered, the prize was never paid, as it was discovered that Gaius’ captor had emptied out his brain and replaced it with molten lead.
XE1b8 TIL that marrie Currie notebook is so radioactive it has to be stored in a lead box, and visitors have to sign a waiver before they can see it.
xGp7 TIL only 9 US military officers have held the 5-star rank. It was created during WW2 because US officers were often commanding allied officers of higher rank. A 5-star officer cannot retire and remains on active duty for life. It was retired in 1981 on the death of General Omar Bradley.
QDNk TIL The game show Match Game was set to be cancelled and with nothing left to lose a question writer for the show started writing risque questions. As a result the ratings picked back up and the show was uncancelled.
kOEr1 TIL (and also fucked up) that you can use your shoelaces to unlock your car when you lock your keys in like I did today