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TIL The infamous Contra game cheat code "UP, UP, DOWN, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, B, A, START" was created by Kazuhisa Hashimoto to give himself a leg up in the game, but forgot to remove the code when the game was shipped to masses.

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APVB TIL Nike made a commercial depicting a Samburu tribesman saying “Just Do it” in his native language. An American anthropologist called them out. The spoken phrase actually meant, “I don’t want these, give me big shoes.” Nike’s response: “We thought nobody in America would know what he said.”
9YdQm TIL that In 1980 Keele University, in response to education spending cuts, issued a unilateral Declaration of Independence. The “Free Republic of Keele” declared themselves independent of the UK and issued students with new passports, enforced border control and wrote a new national anthem
78pQP TIL that in 1689, in response to the English Glorious Revolution, New York experienced a period of revolutionary anti-Catholic turmoil
loG47 TIL that a significant contribution to the 2003 NE blackout was the tendency of high-voltage lines to sag under high current. As one power line sagged, touched an unmaintained tree and faulted, the load on remaining lines increased, causing a cascade of sagging onto trees and faulting.
k5oE TIL that cockroaches experience performance anxiety. A study found that cockroaches running through a hard maze will have more difficulties if other roaches are watching them.