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TIL Apple's Siri means "beautiful woman who leads you to victory" in Norwegian and was named by Dag Kittalaus. Steve Jobs didn't like it, but couldn't come up with something better. It's also shorthand for "Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface".

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mxA0p TIL about the modern 300 - in 1821, during the Greek War of Independence, 120 Greek men held out against 8,000 Ottoman soldiers, causing 900 casualties against 6 of their own deaths. This bought time for the Greek army to regroup.
OLm6 TIL the memory technique that Sherlock Holmes uses, known as a “Mind Palace”, is a real technique and that most of the people who have mastered this practice are of average intelligence.
xGZD TIL of Zarif Khan, an Afghan man who came to Sheridan, WY in 1909 and began peddling tamales. By 1915, he acquired the nickname Hot Tamale Louie and opened a restaurant, Louie’s. In addition to his food, Khan was also famous for serving any customer, regardless of race, profession, or social class.
6rNY TIL there are more slaves today than at any time in history. While American slaves in 1809 were sold for around $40,000 (inflation adjusted), a slave nowadays can be bought for just $90, making replacement more economical than providing long term care.
R7O7Q TIL The moon was created in a huge planetary collision 4.5 billion years ago. It was initially 22,000 km away, and an Earth day was 5 hours long. Due to tidal action, the moon has gradually moved away to 400,000 km, and slowed the Earth's spin to a 24 hour day.