› added 11 years ago

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TIL in 1941, movie starlet Hedy Lamarr invented and patented an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping, necessary for wireless communication. This is the basis of WiFi, CDMA, Bluetooth and other modern communication technologies.

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LQ0Pp TIL that the first female on record to circumnavigate the globe did so twice, surviving two or three shipwrecks. She was a milk-goat with no name on record, just called "The Well-Travelled Goat" in her 1772 obituary.
9Y5GQ TIL the president and vice-president can't be from the same state.
Bl8b TIL of the Hungarian pengő, a currency that was so weak, that when it was replaced by the forint, the value of 1 forint was 400 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 (400 octillion) pengő.
rN4aW TIL the island of Zannone, Italy became known as 'Orgy Island' when a secret diary revealed the names of billionaire and celebrity attendees, after the host (Marquis Camillo Casati Stampa di Soncino) shot his wife, her lover, and himself.
XEpMP TIL in 2016, Alex Trebek, the host of "Jeopardy!", donated a total of $7.5 million to his Alma mater, University of Ottawa, to fund a Forum for Dialogue and a Speaker Series. The goal is to expose students to different world views through discussions and panels by speakers from around the world.