› added 6 years ago

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TIL that the containment structure built during the Chernobyl disaster to prevent further release of radioactive material was the largest civil engineering feat in history, involving a quarter of a million construction workers who all reached their official lifetime limits for radiation.

gMeQb TIL of a brawl involving 50 congressmen on the US House floor in 1858. It ended when someone knocked off a man's wig and the man accidentally put it back on backwards, causing both sides to laugh and stop fighting.
ADkMw TIL that a professor asked his students to either flip a coin 200 times and record the results or give the fake results of 200 coin tosses. The students were amazed at how the professor easily identified the real results by seeing if they had six heads or tails in a row.
LQMrd TIL that a Third-Pounder burger failed because the average American did not understand that 1/3 was larger than 1/4.
1ayvX TIL about the Eight Immortals, members of the Communist Party of China who held substantial power during the late 20th century. Their descendants possess extensive wealth, outrank and possess greater prestige than most party officials due to their lineage, and can overrule most party decisions.
PYaOO TIL nostalgia takes us back around 30 years, which is why there are so many 80's references these days. This is because a critical mass of people who were consumers of culture when they were young, are the creators of culture in their adulthood.