› added 10 years ago

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TIL that when setting up the Jeopardy! challenge involving the Watson supercomputer, IBM repeatedly expressed concerns that clue writers would exploit cognitive deficiencies in order to turn the show into a sort of Turing test. A neutral third party had to be brought in to select the questions.

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NKp6 TIL of Ralf Bialla, a German magician who was famous for performing the “bullet catch,” using his teeth. He was seriously injured nine times, which caused constant dizziness, which eventually led to his death when he fell off of a cliff.
mxOp TIL the U.S. Department of Education prohibits schools from spending its funding on D.A.R.E. because the program is completely ineffective in reducing alcohol and drug use
XblQ TIL more than 40 percent of the Fortune 500 companies in 2010 were founded by an immigrant or the child of an immigrant
lo5RG TIL: Delta airlines no longer allows snub nosed dog breeds such as bulldogs, pugs, shar pei, etc. because of the breeds' breathing difficulties.
ar9L TIL Indigenous Australians weren’t considered Australian citizens until 1967. Until this point they were listed as “fauna”.