› added 7 years ago

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TIL that in 1997 supercomputer Deep Blue made a completely counter-intuitive move against chess player Garry Kasparov that got into his head and may have caused him to lose the match; It was later revealed that a bug caused the computer to make the move at random

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v1Omx TIL APOPO, a Tanzanian wildlife agency trained African Pouch rats to sniff out landmines and diagnose tuberculosis by smelling sputum samples. The rats were so effective that the US Fish and Wildlife Department spent $100,000 on a program where Pouch rats were trained to combat wildlife trafficking.
4XRAo TIL about MARAUDER, a real plasma cannon developed by the United States Air Force in 1993. The device could fire a ring of plasma with the force of 5 pounds of TNT. Impact effects included a high temperature explosion with x-ray radiation and EMP.
xplB TIL the city of Sao Paolo implemented a “Clean City Law” in 2006, which banned all outdoor advertisements. No billboards, no ads on buses, no posters. This ‘uncovered’ problems such as illegal workers living in bad conditions but also lead to more street art and more visible city architecture.
R5vRl TIL Michael Jackson explored the possibility of opening Neverland to visitors like a museum but its location and the applicable zoning regulations prohibit opening it up to the public
emlb TIL after the Battle of Kalka River, Genghis Khan had large wooden boards constructed, placing 6 Russian princes underneath them. Khan and his generals ate and drank to their victory, crushing their prisoners to death as they feasted.