What do you know today that you didn't know yesterday?

[Fake Messiah]

Joseph Stalin had a secret lab that analyzed the poop of foreign leaders in order to build a psychological profile for them.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

I might have known this without realising I knew it.

That because there is no gravity in space, pens will not work.

I once saw that that NASA spent $millions to solve this problem. The Russians just used pencils.

...and we STILL "won" the space race. And then lost it, but will we win it again? Idunno.

Probably because of my love of Scfi that I've always thought  it's exceedingly difficult if not impossible for a single country to have a successful long term space programme. I would define 'successful' as establishing mutually beneficial relations with the existing population, exploiting its natural resources or colonising it. I have no idea of the long terms chances of establishing a planetary government on our planet

I have no idea exactly how realistic is the idea of colonising Mars.  Before the concept was floated here, I've always thought we need a Goldilocks planet in order to colonise a planet 

Still probably because of too much sci fi, I have always thought of the space race and crafts  as rather primitive when considering the notion of interstellar travel.

[Anomalocaris]

Given that the population of London is greater than the maximum number of hairs that can be present on a human's head, then the pigeonhole principle requires that there must be at least two people in London who have the same number of hairs on their heads. (from Wikipedia; the pigeonhole principle)

I would think there are quite a few more than just two completely bald people in London.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Given that the population of London is greater than the maximum number of hairs that can be present on a human's head, then the pigeonhole principle requires that there must be at least two people in London who have the same number of hairs on their heads. (from Wikipedia; the pigeonhole principle)

I would think there are quite a bit more than just two bald people in London.

Hence the qualifier 'at least'.

Boru

[Anomalocaris]

I might have known this without realising I knew it.

That because there is no gravity in space, pens will not work.

I once saw that that NASA spent $millions to solve this problem. The Russians just used pencils.

NASA started to develop a pen that will work in space, but gave up before spending anywhere close to a  million dollars on it.     It had also occurred to NASA that pencil works in space without any further development.      During Mercury, Gemini, and early Apollo programs, NASA astronauts mechanical pencil.

The Soviets did not use pencils, at least not the variety with lead or graphite.   They originally used grease pencils that wrote on plastic slates. 

Pens that used pressurized ink cartridge that functions in space was actually invented in Austria.   But it did cost $1 million, in private, not government, funds, to develop the concept to the point of mass production by Fisher Space Pen company as the Zero-G pen.    It was meant for mass market and not NASA.    But it actually does work in space and NASA, after extensive testing, begins to use it in 1967.

Well, the Soviets knew a good thing when they saw it too.   They also purchased the very same zero-G pen from the same Fisher Space Pen company for all their future space flight use.

So from 1969 onwards NASA astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts used the exact same zero-G space pen invented by an Austrian and produced as a private venture by an American company.

Even though US Soviet relations went up and down in subsequent years, no attempt was ever made to place an embargo on the zero-G pen.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I might have known this without realising I knew it.

That because there is no gravity in space, pens will not work.

I once saw that that NASA spent $millions to solve this problem. The Russians just used pencils.

NASA started to develop a pen that will work in space, but gave up before spending anywhere close to a  million dollars on it.     It had also occurred to NASA that pencil works in space without any further development.      During Mercury, Gemini, and early Apollo programs, NASA astronauts mechanical pencil,

The Soviets did not use pencils, at least not the variety with lead or graphite.   They used grease pencils that wrote on plastic slates. 

Pens that used pressurized ink cartridge that functions in space was actually invented in Austria.   But it did cost $1 million, in private, not government funds, to develop the concept to the point of mass production by Fisher Space Pen company as the Zero-G pen.    It was meant for mass market and not NASA.    But it actually does work in space and NASA, after extensive testing, begins to use it in 1967.

Well, the Soviets knew a good thing when they saw it too.   They also purchased the save zero-G pen from the same Fisher Space Pen company for all their future space flight use starting in 1969.

So NASA astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts used the exact same zero-G space pen invented by an Austrian and produced by an American company starting in 1969.

Even though US Soviet relations went up and down in subsequent years, no attempt was made to place an embargo on the pen.

(bold mine)

They eschewed traditional clay/graphite pencils because writing with these inevitably produces tiny particles which, in zero gravity, play merry hob with electronic systems.

Boru

[Fireball]

^ That is still true, today. One may not use a pencil in the clean room during processing of a spacecraft.

[Fake Messiah]

Ronald Reagan loved the White House's squirrel population so much that on his last day in office he left a sign warning them to beware of George H.W. Bush's dog.

[Anomalocaris]

Ronald Reagan loved the White House's squirrel population so much that on his last day in office he left a sign warning them to beware of George H.W. Bush's dog.

If you can listen to astrologers,  you can write to squirrels.

[Fake Messiah]

Until 1937, it was illegal for men to be topless in the US - even on beaches.  The fine was $1 if caught in New York City or its municipal beaches.