› added 10 years ago

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TIL that all GPS units sold in the civilian market have to be programmed to deactivate themselves if they detect they are traveling faster than 1200 MPH or are above 60,000 feet in altitude to prevent them being used in intercontinental ballistic missiles.

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Yp5YA TIL U.S. President Ronald Reagan is responsible for the drinking age being set at 21 years in 1984, prior to which many states had a lower drinking age at 18 or 20 only.
oRwgY TIL that while filming "The Mandalorian" in 2019, the production ran short of Stormtrooper costumes. To solve this, they contacted a local Star Wars fan group, who showed up on set in their own meticulously crafted costumes, helping out the production.
ONQe TIL Jim Henson operated Kermit from a cramped diving bell underwater with an air hose to the surface for The Rainbow Connection intro to The Muppet Movie. Filming took 5 days.
mxVlM TIL when Dungeons & Dragons was released, various groups believed it was a front for murderous Satanists. This lead to Tom Hanks’ first starring role in the TV propaganda movie Mazes and Monsters, in which he becomes his D&D character and stabs a hobo in Manhattan because he thought it was a goblin.
XE4RQ TIL of Arfa Karim, who at the age of nine became the youngest Microsoft Certified Professional. After an epileptic seizure resulted in cardiac arrest, Bill Gates directed his doctors to adopt "every kind of measure" for her treatment.