› added 9 months ago

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TIL the US Federal Government lost $236 billion from "improper payments" in FY 2023

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via reddit.com

9Y1Gp TIL that when Paul McCartney from The Beatles met Koji Kondo, the composer of Super Mario Bros, he started singing the Overworld Background Music (aka the World 1-1 Theme) from the first game.
YDMv TIL that, outside of Washington, D.C., a Virginia man built a castle to be fully defensible in the case of nuclear Armageddon. Built entirely by its owner, it has three heating systems and a maze of underground conduits, and it has been used as a meeting place for a group of self-professed vampires.
LkV09 TIL that a Turkish Sultan offered £10000 in aid to Ireland during the Potato Famine but Queen Victoria asked him to send £1000 as she had only sent £2000 herself.
Lkw8m TIL that most cigarette tobacco is in fact "reconstituted tobacco", sheets of waste material sprayed with nicotine and other chemicals, which are then cut to look like leaf.
69Bl7 TIL In 2010, the US Air Force used 1,760 PlayStation 3 consoles to build a supercomputer for the Department of Defense. It was called the Condor Cluster. They used PS3’s because it was more cost-efficient.