› added 11 months ago

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TIL: North Korea had a covert cargo ship named the Chong Chon Gang, which was a front to conduct illicit activities around the world such as smuggling. It was chased by pirates in 2009, detained by Ukraine and Egypt in 2010, and seized by Panama in 2013. The NK gov paid $700k to release it.

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0wERR TIL that more than 100 tons of space dust falls to Earth every single day. They are tiny (50 µm to 2 mm) meteoroids that survived entry through the Earth's atmosphere. Some land on our rooftops as well and can be captured using a strong magnet placed in the rain gutter.
a8eDL TIL Christa McAuliffe, who was the teacher who died on the Space Shuttle Challenger, was 1 of 11,000 applicants in NASA's search to find an "ordinary person" to put their first civilian in space. She later remarked, "If you're offered a seat on a rocket ship, don't ask what seat. Just get on."
g6nb TIL the U.S. government has an FBI-led group called the Domestic Surveillance Alliance Council (DSAC), which shares vast streams of personal data with over 200 of the largest corporations in the world, including Citibank, Coca-Cola, and Federal Express.
Jk01 TIL the container ship Tokio Express lost nearly 5 million pieces of lego due to a massive wave in 1997. Coincidently, most pieces have an oceanic theme and continue to wash ashore to this day.
joLR TIL - “The Blue Marble” is the only whole-earth photo taken by human hands. No one has since been far enough from earth to take a similar picture.