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TIL The Vikings used a stone which helped them track the sun for up to 40 minutes after it had set to aid navigating their warships

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nMdB TIL the first animal to ask an existential question was from a parrot named Alex. He asked what color he was, and learned that it was “grey”. (pdf)
d8oZK TIL An A.I. developed for a Japanese bakery check out system was successfully adapted to detect cancer cells
ep48D TIL: there is a “Minimal Turing Test” and the best word to convince a judge you’re human is “poop.”
0wpxy TIL Scott Fahlman is credited with originating the first ever smiley emoticon, which he thought would help people on a message board at Carnegie Mellon to distinguish serious posts from jokes. He proposed the use of :-) and :-( for this purpose, and the symbols caught on.
0dQOL TIL In the sixteenth meeting between Wisconsin and Minnesota in 1906, President Roosevelt had to intervene by canceling the game because too many deaths and injuries occurred on the field.