› added 6 years ago

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TIL that the GPS service used globally is paid for by the U.S. Department of Defense, and costs upwards of a billion dollars annually.

Read more gps.gov

via reddit.com

N7jjP TIL During an interview with Stephen Hawking, the camera operator yanked a cable causing an alarm and Hawking to slump forward. Worried they had killed him, everyone rushed over to find Hawking giggling at his own joke. The alarm was from an office computer losing power.
QJDdE TIL the word "robot" was coined for a 1920 Czech play about a robot rebellion (which ends poorly for the human race). The word comes from the Czech "robota" meaning "forced labor".
gZe7 TIL that there’s a house in the Adirondack Mountains that’s perfectly designed to survive the end of the world.
wLo97 TIL that in many American movies, the directors often edit out many of the hits, if not all during fight scenes, and that in Hong Kong cinema, especially Jackie Chan movies, they show the hit twice.
awE4b TIL The Royal Bank of Canada is investing heavily in artificial intelligence, and now has more than 200 data scientists. It has identified a number of digital "ecosystems" where its clients live and work within which the bank believes it can play an "integral role in the future"