› added 11 years ago

1088

TIL that the distorted words in CAPTCHAs (the anti-spam feature) are all taken from old books and newspapers. By identifying the words, users are actually helping to transcribe these printed sources to the internet. As a result, the entire New York Times archive is now searchable back to 1850.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

xQO5 TIL A ten-year-old in Missouri formed a stable molecule previously unknown to scientists during class, and was credited as co-author in a paper written about it.
PYewJ TIL Lincoln originally invited Ulysses S. Grant and his wife to the Ford Theater. Grant accepted, but later backed out because their wives' hated each other. If Grant had gone, his security detail would likely have prevented Lincoln's assassination.
x67p5 TIL Retro Studio‘s idea for an open world Metroid game where Samus receives rewards for captured criminals was shot down because nobody at Nintendo knew or understood what a bounty hunter was, despite labelling her as such since 1986
E1YdP TIL about Blue Babe, a 36,000 year old mummified steppe bison found in Alaska in 1979. After scientists painstakingly dug up the specimen and prepared it for display in the University of Alaska Museum, they decided to celebrate by taking a piece of meat from its neck, stewing it, and eating it.
kOx67 TIL that the oldest genetic proof of malaria was found in King Tutankhamun’s body. He had more than one strain of malaria, indicating that he had multiple infections throughout his life. The strains belonged to the most virulent and deadly form of the disease.