› added 12 years ago

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TIL “Friendstalker” was one of the early names considered for twitter.

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gMXVb TIL The wreck of Titanic's is disappearing at a rate that it's estimated to be completely gone in about 30 years. A microorganism called 'Halomonas titanicae' (also called the 'steel-munching bacteria') is slowly eating away the iron of the ships' wreck, causing its deterioration.
YpYlZ TIL a baby born during war is more likely to be male than one born in peacetime
O9A7 TIL when Dr. Jonas Salk (discoverer and developer of the first polio vaccine) was asked who owned the patent he replied “There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?” Forbes calculated the vaccine to be “worth” 7 billion dollars. Happy 100th birthday you magnificent bastard.
jlEp TIL President Nixon, after many years of refusing to release his tax returns for review, said “People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I am not a crook.” After the investigation, he was forced to pay $465,000 in back taxes he owed.
WwPB TIL a hacker called Barnaby Jack figured out a way to wirelessly shut down pacemakers and found an exploit to get an ATM machine to dispense all it’s money. A week before he was due to demonstrate his research, he was found dead from a drug overdose.