› added 5 years ago

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TIL the gold medalist in the men's triathlon in the 2016 Olympics ran the 10k portion in around 31 minutes. This is the same as running a mile in around 5 minutes for six times. The 10k portion of triathlon takes place after a 1.5 km swim and 40 km cycle with no breaks in between.

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gM6oW TIL George Lucas was fined $250,000 and "The Empire Strikes Back" was nearly pulled from theatres because he put screen credits at the end of the movie (which was rare) to preserve the dramatic opening sequences.
PYZmE TIL about Vickrey auction, a type of sealed-bid auction. Bidders submit written bids without knowing the bid of the other people in the auction. The highest bidder wins, but the price paid is the second-highest bid. This was first described academically by Nobel winner William Vickrey in 1961.
EWdP TIL that during the first week of the first Star Wars: Episode I trailer’s release, many theatres reported up to 75% of their audiences paying full price for a movie, then walking out after the Star Wars: Episode I trailer was shown.
5ppB TIL that in an experiment conducted(on a guillotined man) by Dr. Gabriel Beaurieux in 1905, he quite reliably proved(to his satisfaction) that a severed head (that of convicted murderer, Henri Languille) remains conscious and alert for some time after being separated from a body.
xVJEk TIL San Francisco had a bubonic plague epidemic in 1900-04, but the governor ignored medical experts and denied that it existed, because he feared its impact on businesses