TIL that Able Archer 83 was a war exercise conducted by NATO that panicked the Soviets into thinking they were really being attacked and so nearly launched a nuclear retaliation in response; it is now considered to be the nearest that mankind went into nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis https://ift.tt/2M3OX8I

TIL that MTV, the former home to music videos, now primarily airs *Ridiculousness*, during a stretch of 168 hours in late June 2020, 113 hours of programming were gobbled up by the show and during one weekend in August, episodes ran for more than 36 hours uninterrupted. https://ift.tt/RDi8Wwk

TIL Since 2011, Chinese astronauts are officially banned from visiting the International Space Station https://ift.tt/1lg7Ci8

TIL Michelle Kunimoto discovered dozens of planets while an undergraduate and Ph.D. student at age 26. She uses publicly available data collected by NASA’s Kepler Mission and studied them in a new, more sensitive way to find signals of planets that Kepler had missed https://ift.tt/Lx9eXfK

TIL in 2007 two Americans re-discovered Pure Nacional cacao trees thought to have been completely wiped out by disease in the early 20th century. The ancient Nacional varietal was cultivated more than 5,000 years ago, and is thought to produce the world’s most exquisite (and expensive) chocolate. https://ift.tt/Rgxk2Vn

TIL Metallica's "Master of Puppets" reached both the Billboard Hot 100 (no. 40) & the UK Top 40 (no. 22) for the first time ever in July 2022 after the 1986 metal classic was prominently featured in the Season 4 finale of Stranger Things. https://ift.tt/Q3BJZTu

TIL that in 2019 a law was passed in Colorado, nicknamed the Lemonade Stand law, that allows kids under the age of 18 to operate a temporary business without a license if it operates for no more than 84 days in a calendar year. https://ift.tt/HEmNLS4

TIL John Adam's daughter had breast cancer surgery with a fork, wooden razor, strapped in a chair and No Anesthesia. https://ift.tt/eHy56mE

TIL A company in Japan gives employees who don't smoke six extra days vacation to make up for cigarette break. The company found new policy gave a lot of employees the push to quit smoking https://ift.tt/6BDRKZa

TIL while making “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial”, Mars Incorporated, the company that owns M&Ms, refused to give director Steven Spielberg permission to use the candy in the movie. As a result, Spielberg used Reese’s Pieces. Sales for Reese’s Pieces jumped by 85% following the film’s release in 1982. https://ift.tt/IXGJzqP

TIL that Americans didn't brush their teeth regularly until after WWII. American GIs were required to brush their teeth, and brought the practice home with them. https://ift.tt/CfrVL0g

TIL in 1912 Teddy Roosevelt was shot on his way to his presidential campaign. Instead of seeking medical attention he continued on to give his speech, starting by saying ““Friends, I shall ask you to be as quiet as possible. I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot.” https://ift.tt/JiwhKFm

TIL Marlon Brando who played a human in the movie "The Island of Dr. Moreau" had a demand where he wanted to remove his hat at the end of the movie and reveal he was a dolphin all along, the director refused. https://ift.tt/PHXKkOb

TIL The controversial practice of docking a dog's tail (i.e. amputation) used to indicate that they they were a "working dog" in 17th-century England and therefore not subject to a luxury tax. This lead many owners to dock the tail in order to avoid the tax. https://ift.tt/aRntOd0

TIL while filming “Dirty Dancing” in Oct 1984, the Virginian cold weather caused the temperatures to drop to 40 °F (4 °C) during the swimming scene. Jennifer Grey later described the water as “horrifically cold”, and said she might not have gone into the lake, except that she was “young and hungry.” https://ift.tt/i4F1y3K

TIL Kenneth Copeland, a Christian Minister who believes in Prosperity Theology, is worth $750 million https://ift.tt/CYTQDPy

TIL that narcissistic athletes perform better in high-stakes, highly competitive situations and worse in low-stakes situations. And non-narcissistic athletes perform worse in high-stakes situations. https://ift.tt/hzNX17t

TIL that some people carry a gene called ABCC11: the “no body odor gene” which produces odorless armpit sweat and dry ear wax. https://ift.tt/GxgcRMT

TIL that there is an exposed breast on flag of the US state of Virginia. It was added to the flag in 1901 when the then secretary of the commonwealth of Virginia felt Virtus, the Roman goddess of virtue featured on the flag, who at the time wore a full breast plate, looked too manly. https://ift.tt/4FEXVYq

TIL that 50% of vinyl record buyers in the U.S. don’t own a record player to play their vinyl on. https://ift.tt/ZS1urhz

TIL about the "third eye" (parietal eye) found in some reptiles, amphibians, and fishes. https://ift.tt/zNtfgcV