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TIL early movie projectors utilized primitive arc lights which were very bright but had a tendency to flicker, especially if they were not properly maintained. It is because of this flickering that movies came to be called "flicks".

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RpD6 TIL China returns all illegal immigrants from North Korea which usually imprisons them in a short term facility. Women who are suspected of being impregnated by Chinese fathers are subjected to forced abortions; babies born alive are killed, sometimes by exposure or being buried alive.
4Xgaw TIL: The band Chicago was so fond of cocaine that during a tour in the 1970's they put a fake phone booth on stage called the "Snortitorium" so they could do lines mid-concert without going backstage.
9YNd7 TIL that before the 20th Century the word “computer” meant a person who performed large mathematical calculations by hand.
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