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TIL The first New Year’s Eve ball was dropped in Times Square in 1907. In response to a ban on fireworks implemented that year, an electrician built the ball as an alternative way to celebrate New Year’s Eve. He constructed a wood and iron ball that weighed 700 pounds and featured 100 light bulbs.

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xerk TIL PG-13 movies are allowed one non-sexual use of “fuck” per script.
wodaE TIL In 1969, Nixon appointed a Space Task Group which presented recommendations including building an Earth-orbiting space station, a lunar-orbiting space station, a base on the lunar surface, and a human expedition to Mars. They were too expensive, so Nixon directed NASA to build the Space Shuttle
WkKN9 TIL Martin Scorsese, after requiring 19 takes to get a scene right in his film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, praised one particular 6-year-old extra. “She ate 19 ice cream cones and didn’t get sick, that girl’s gonna be an actress!” That girl was future Academy Award-winning actress Laura Dern.
W7rX8 TIL the longest game in professional baseball history was a Triple A game, the Pawtucket Paw Sox vs. Rochester Red Wings. It lasted 33 innings, 8 hours, and 25 minutes. Future MLB Hall of Famers Cal Ripken, Jr. and Wade Boggs played in the game as well.
BYok TIL that the Hanwha Eagles, a South Korean baseball team, has robot fans. These robot fans are controlled by real fans who can’t attend the game. The bots can cheer, chant, and do the wave.