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TIL When developing the Macintosh computer, Steve Jobs wanted to add a small mysterious character who would appear after about every 1000 times you used an OS UI element. He would wink at you and disappear so fast that you wouldn’t be sure he was real.

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WOX9 TIL The SR-71 was made of titanium purchased from the Soviet Union through third world countries as they were the only supplier large enough. The SR-71 was used to spy on the Soviet Union for the rest of the cold war.
R5lJj TIL Tablecloths were designed to be used as one big, communal napkin during the Renaissance period. When they were first invented, guests were meant to wipe off their hands and faces on a tablecloth after a messy dinner party.
jNdDX TIL of Eva Kotchever, a Polish-Jewish lesbian émigré. Operating a lesbian tearoom in New York City, she ran afoul of the law and was deported. She died at Auschwitz.
PY5Bn TIL that when King William IV of the United Kingdom was still a prince, he lived in New York during the American War of Independence. He used to walk around the city unescorted and only started using guards after the British learned about a plot by George Washington to kidnap him.
8aZAL TIL that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were just 2 of dozens of Japanese cities subjected to massive incendiary attacks. Firestorms leveled almost 100 square miles in Japan's three largest cities (Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya) alone. Hundreds of thousands were killed and millions forced to evacuate.