› added 8 years ago

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TIL that a professor in Japan found that lightning strikes can double the size and amount of mushrooms in the wild. He decided to research this based on how consistently the myth of this phenomenon was found throughout the world. They suspect the electricity powers an enzyme that spurs growth.

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via reddit.com

4aXX TIL that Google had to change the unlock pattern to require four connecting dots instead of three because Steve Jobs insisted that if users could connect the bottom three dots of the grid to unlock their phone, it would mimic the iPhone’s patented slide-to-unlock feature
gMW9 TIL Google has a “unsupervised” neural network that learned what a cat was while searching the Internet
Rxoj TIL fly ash emitted by a coal power plant carries 100 times more radiation into the surrounding enviornment than a nuclear power plant producing the same amount of energy.
gMexD TIL Larry Flynt considered buying the Playboy Mansion for well below the $200 million asking price in 2016. However, the deal fell apart as Flynt's Hustler company would not accept the condition that Playboy boss Hugh Hefner must be allowed to continue living at the site after the sale
5VYnQ TIL of Northstar Island, a 20,000 m^2 artificial island used for oil production in the Beaufort Sea