› added 11 years ago

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TIL March 1993 blizzard dubbed the “Storm of the Century” affected more than 40% of the US population, killed 300 people, and caused 10 million to lose power, despite the fact that much of the media hesitated to broadcast the forecast due to the enormous numbers predicted by the weather models.

0loA TIL the Titanic’s coal stores had been burning for weeks before she set sail, damaging the starboard side of the ship where the iceberg hit. There was not only a cover-up, but evidence that the fire damaged the hull enough to be a large contributing factor to why the iceberg caused such damage.
7rvpZ TIL John Krasinski wore a wig in season 3 of The Office so he could film Leatherheads. Krasinski pitched the idea to the producer who rejected it because it would be too obvious. John, who was wearing the wig during the meeting, told him it wouldn't be, took off the wig, and was granted approval.
nrKr TIL that under the American Blue Laws of the time, ice cream sodas weren’t allowed to be sold on Sundays. To circumvent this rule, they invented the ice cream sundae.
JYMnV TIL that Bill Gates didn't create MS-DOS from scratch. He just bought Q-DOS (Quick and Dirty Operating system) for $75,000. Q-DOS was a rip off of CP/M, the standard OS of most PCs in early 1980s. The virtual clone of Q-DOS, MS-DOS was licensed to IBM in a historic deal and the rest is history.
dadE TIL that Janis Joplin drank so much Southern Comfort that they sent her a fur coat