› added 8 years ago

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TIL in the Japanese version of Lotus 123 the audible error “beep” was removed because it would be very shameful for the computer to tell everybody that you made a mistake.

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GNMG TIL: A Swedish 20 year old once bought a military uniform with the sergeants grading still on. He managed to attend a live fire exercise for three days. [Link in Swedish]
E1rXw TIL in 1859, during a massive solar storm, telegraph operators in Boston MA unplugged their batteries and were able to send messages to Portland ME using only the auroral current.
yQRJe TIL that for a period in the 19th century, walking competitions that lasted for days was a big money spectator sport.
nWGOG TIL that spike a chihuahua mix from Ohio is the oldest dog in the world, he will turn 25 years old this Saturday
QNgge TIL the Incas had a data storage/sharing device called "quipus" [kee-poos] in which cords of different colors and sizes were used to pass information down through generations by tying knots in them at different intervals. Unfortunately the ability to translate the data has been lost.