› added 10 years ago

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TIL that there is a non-profit organization that provides free course books. Free, not pirated. The organization is funded by the likes of Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, Rice University and the Hewlett Foundation and aims at making higher education available to more people.

Read more openstaxcollege.org

via reddit.com

yEyV TIL A production engineer deleted the original recording of the third verse of “Stan” by Eminem. Eminem messed up on the last three lines, and the engineer accidentally re-recorded over the whole thing because he was high. When confronted by Eminem, his response was “My bad man…you wanna hit this?”
oRBBY TIL that a video game composer snuck a subliminal message to try and deter pirates with a faint message repeated in the intro song : "You will not copy this game."
DQOVj TIL: There was a scam in 2002 where people were invited to a year long reality TV show to win £100000. The participants were told to quit their jobs, leave their homes, and make 1 million within a year. Most realize they were making their own prize money quickly and left. However, some continued.
4OyN TIL in one of the earliest instances of investigative journalism (1872), a reporter with the New York Tribune had himself commited/sectioned in order to report on abuse in mental asylums. His work led to the release of twelve incorrectly diagnosed patients and a change in the “lunacy laws.”
VMEL0 TIL At 40, women's chance of conceiving a child with Down syndrome is one in 100; at 45 it's one in 30.