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TIL that the content delivery network CloudFlare uses a wall of 100 lava lamps as a way to generate entropy for a random number generator

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19LV TIL in 1953, Swanson had 260 tons of leftover turkey from Thanksgiving and didn’t know how to get rid of it. They asked their workers for ideas, and one man thought they should package it in individual trays with sides and freeze it. The TV dinner was born.
OGZda TIL Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) is considered by many to be the first computer programmer and her method describing an algorithm to compute Bernoulli numbers has been called the world's first computer program
a8xxM TIL that Australia (at 7,682,300 sq km) is actually slightly larger than the continental USA (which is 7,663,942 sq km) when measured by land area only, excluding bodies of water.
a8e0J TIL that The Royal Game of Ur is the oldest known board game in the world. The oldest set found is of Ancient Sumerian from the 3rd millennium BC. It was popular for several thousand years, and for good reason. Here is the game explained by Dr. Irving Finkel (it actually looks fun)
X0DRQ TIL that Helga Estby made a bet for $10000 that she could walk across the United States to save their farm. After she and her daughter did so, she received no money and found that two of her children had died in the meantime.