› added 4 years ago

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TIL of the Sloot Digital Coding System which allegedly could compress a whole movie to 8kb, but the creator died before releasing the code and only parts of it have been recovered

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Z8mPG TIL that in 2006, some army units used Silly String to check enemy encampments for trip wires. Before entering a building, soldiers would squirt the string across the room. If it fell to the ground, it was safe. But if it hung in the air, they knew the room had trip wires.
W91d TIL A moderate level of ambient noise (70 dB), such as the volume found in a coffee shop, promotes creative productivity.
E1wR7 TIL the first concentration camp in Nazi Germany was used for communists, socialists, and other political prisoners.
x6edB TIL on Valentine's Day in 1991 during the Gulf War, the RAF attempted to airstrike a bridge in Fallujah with laser guided missiles, but they malfunctioned and hit a local marketplace. The RAF apologized and subsequently attacked the bridge again, hitting a different marketplace.
p891A TIL that in 1898 doctors began to suspect that smoking caused lung cancer, despite the fact that there were only 140 published cases of the then rare disease in 1900