› added 11 years ago

1067

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

D147Y TIL about Robert Antley, a bike shop owner who was waiting for burglars in his store. When they broke in, he was waiting with a gun where he made the men strip naked and brutally beat them for hours.
MeWNa TIL That in 945, Igor of Kiev, while attempting to collect tributes from the neighboring Drevlians, was murdered by being attached to two bent birch trees, which when released in opposite directions, tore his body in half.
pEy8 TIL that the “Sheng Long Hidden Character” in Street Fighter II was a Mistranslation Myth
Ooaa TIL that goddess Aphrodite is the product of Uranus’ castrated ballsack being thrown into the sea.
9wV6m TIL of a species of Pitcher Plant that has developed a symbiotic relationship with Tree Shrews. The Tree Shrews feed on the nectar produced by the Pitcher Plant and defecates into the pitcher while the Pitcher Plant gets its needed nitrogen from the shrew poo