› added 6 months ago

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TIL there is an international competition for writing obfuscated code. The contestants are judged on the aesthetic of the unreadable source code (like a Christmas tree) and so on. The code should still be compliable and run.

Read more ioccc.org

via reddit.com

8a4RP TIL scientists have made microparticles of twisted spikes out of cysteine, arranged into a ball a few microns across, more complex than what is found in nature. It is capable of absorbing UV energy and transforming it into circularly polarized visible light through quantum mechanical interactions.
N7Rm1 TIL when Dr. Joyce Brothers was a contestant on The $64,000 Question the show’s sponsor Revlon tried to get rid of her because she didn’t wear makeup on air. She was asked increasingly obscure questions but was able to answer them all correctly and became the show’s first woman to win the top prize.
xjm0 TIL Estonian Parliament (Riigikogu) members are paid a fixed multiple of the national average wage.
9YW0D TIL that during World War I, a series of wolf attacks made Russian and German soldiers team up to fight wolves. After seeing wolves attack wounded soldiers and children, the commanders on both sides signed a temporary armistice, and killed hundreds of wolves. They then resumed fighting each other.
0prL TIL that sloths can swim 3x faster than they can move on land and can hold their breath for up to 40 min.