› added 9 years ago

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TIL there’s a waterfall where nobody knows where the water goes. Minnesota’s Devil’s Kettle Falls dumps into a giant pothole with no seeable exit. Researchers have poured dye, ping-pong balls, even logs into it, then watched the lake for any sign of them. So far, none have ever been found.

J8d4 TIL that Electronic Arts attempted to buy Valve for $1 billion, Newell (company founder) said Valve would prefer to “disintegrate” than ever sell out.
5YGEP TIL that while the Tokyo Disneyland was a success, as Disney aligned to Japanese values of "cuteness", politeness, and gift giving, Disneyland Paris was initially a failure as the retelling of European folk-tales was seen as elitist and insulting, and it's stores were only selling "cheap trinkets"
eplmg TIL about Jerusalem Syndrome, where people with no previous history of psychopathology suddenly exhibit religiously-themed obsessive ideas, delusions, or other psychosis-like experiences after visiting Jerusalem.
wLnp1 TIL in 1714, a Norwegian captain and an English captain had a 14-hour long ship fight. Afterwards, both ships were badly damaged and the Norwegian captain was running out of ammo. He sent an envoy to the English ship, asking if he could borrow some of their ammo. They said no.
kJ8YW TIL about the infamous Ash Wednesday bushfires that ravaged the states of South Australia and Victoria on the 16th of February 1983. The fires burnt 3 million acres in a single day claiming a total of 75 lives and a total insurance cost of $324 million. ($1.16 billion adjusted for inflation)