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TIL that Irish writer George Bernard Shaw had a rotating office that he could turn to face the sun in the winter and give himself more shade in the summer.

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Z81Qa TIL Following the first successful powered flight in 1903, the Wright Brothers took their invention to a cautious War Department, who were skeptical due to past false claims. Incensed that their good word was not accepted, and worried about weak patent laws, the Wrights hid their invention away.
1aR1X TIL during the development of Space Harrier, the president of SEGA insisted that if the graphics were done, a game was ready for release. To properly finish the game, the lead designer rigged a secret switch to the bottom of his desk that would mess up the colors whenever giving a demonstration.
v0jr TIL the development of the golf tee was the last major change to the rules of golf. Before this, golf balls were teed up on tiny heaps of sand provided in boxes.
n1Vr TIL that comparatively little is known about Bełżec, a Nazi extermination camp at which ~0.5 million people died, because evidence of the camp’s existence was almost entirely erased before the war’s end and only 2 survivors were able to give testimony.
L88d TIL Billiards is called “Pool” because of horse race poolrooms. In the 1800s betting parlors were called poolrooms, “pool” referring to a collective bet. Billiard tables were installed in poolrooms for people to pass time between races. Eventually the phrase “shooting pool” meant playing billiards.