› added 11 years ago

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TIL the word hexadecimal should really be sexadecimal (proper latin) or hexadecadic (proper greek) but hexadecimal was used so that computer hackers wouldn’t abbreviate it as “sex”.

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7rW0b TIL of Niwot's Curse. The idea that when people see a beautiful area they'll want to stay, which contributes to the undoing of the area's beauty.
MebZA TIL cashews are in the same family as poison ivy and they cannot be sold in their shells because they can cause a similar itchy skin reaction due to a chemical called urushiol
wLDnE TIL that the man that came up with the password recommendations regrets it.
Me5yA TIL the expression "avoid like the plague" originates from priest and theologian Saint Jerome (c. 347–420), who wrote, "Avoid, as you would the plague, a clergyman who is also a man of business.” Back then, clergymen were also politicians.
rNm9d TIL Light (from a laser) can pick up and levitate tiny pieces of diamond powder