› added 7 years ago

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TIL a man from Mali stole $242million from a bank in Dubai by promising to double it using genies and black magic. Then spent it on a Miami shopping spree.

Read more bbc.com

via reddit.com

8evBG TIL that HP still sells the HP12C, a 40 year old financial calculator which had a chip named R2-D2 and was designed to have a battery longevity of over 12 years
9YD4G Today I learned that the bagger 293 existed, a 315 foot tall, 738 foot long construction vehicle used to mine coal. It moves 8,500,000 cu ft of earth a day using a 70 foot long circular saw bucket mechanism.
VM74Z TIL that in 1795 the Dutch navy was defeated near the island of Texel when the French army found out they were stuck in ice. So the French army simply rode up to them on horseback and the Dutch were forced to surrender.
XKBk TIL the Chinese government forced prisoners to farm World of Warcraft gold. “There were 300 prisoners forced to play games. We worked 12-hour shifts in the camp. I heard them say they could earn 5,000-6,000rmb [£470-570] a day. We didn’t see any of the money. The computers were never turned off.”
j6NXR TIL That Harold Ross — co-founder and editor of The New Yorker magazine — dropped out of school at 13. He edited every issue of the magazine from the first until his death—a total of 1,399 issues.