› added 17 minutes ago

TIL that Japan's rapid industrialization was driven by massive family-owned conglomerates called "zaibatsu," which were so powerful they were essentially dismantled by the Allies after WWII to democratize the nation.

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oBnlW TIL a drifter named Theodore Coneys, AKA the Denver Spider Man, broke into a man’s house and hid in the tiny attic, ended up murdering the man, then continued to hide in the attic for months during the murder investigation, while the murdered man’s wife still lived in the house.
0wX1 TIL North Korea has used Nazi-style human experiments on its citizens in the past and is unknown if they still do so today.
VNo4 TIL The Gell-Mann Effect is when we believe everything the media tells us except for anything for which we have direct personal knowledge, which they always get wrong.
J1vJ8 TIL that the first webcam was invented to monitor a coffee pot at the University of Cambridge, allowing researchers to see if the coffee was ready without leaving their desks.
neg0W TIL that actor, director, and producer Orson Welles refused admission into Harvard at age 16 so he could travel. When he landed in Dublin he convinced everyone that he was a famous Broadway star and began producing plays. When he grew bored of the farce, he went to North Africa to draw pictures.