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TIL of the Halcyon, a $2500, LaserDisc-based video game console from 1985. It was entirely voice-activated, and the manufacturer claimed it was as ‘intelligent’ as the HAL 9000. It never saw commercial release, and fewer than a dozen still exist.

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xVDrg TIL that Martin Luther King Jr. considered running for president in 1968 after being urged to by anti-Vietnam Democrats, but ultimately decided against the proposal as he felt uneasy with politics and considered himself better suited for his morally unambiguous role as an activist.
mKaP TIL James Cameron was the person who sketched Jack’s nude portrait of Rose for Titanic (1997). The nude scene was also DiCaprio and Winslet’s first scene together.
Bgegy TIL a 2013 study estimated that classified-ad buyers in the US saved $5 billion from 2000-2007 as a result of Craigslist entering the market. In addition, local newspapers lost out on billions in revenue as readers who historically posted their classified ads in the paper posted them on Craigslist.
wlEY TIL Charles Darwin suggested that the appendix may have been used for digesting leaves but, over the course of evolution, has degraded into nothing. This theory is supported by koala and horse appendixes which do just that.
x68x1 Til The letters of last resort are 4 identically worded handwritten letters from the prime minister of the UK to the commanding officers of the 4 British ballistic missile submarines. They contain orders on what action to take if an enemy nuclear strike has destroyed the British government.