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TIL one of the first functional digital home computers was the Digi-Comp I from 1963. It was entirely mechanical and used no electricity. It could output 3 binary digits and programmers used thin wires to set up primitive logic. With no power, the user had to pull a lever to perform each CPU cycle.

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xVDDB TIL the Thirty Years' War could have only lasted 2 years if it wasn't for Frederick V's refusal to admit defeat, which caused Spain to invade the Holy Roman Empire and force him into exile. The other rulers within the Empire saw the removal of a hereditary prince as a threat and decide to intervene.
5YPWQ TIL of "Cat Pawsitive," a program which encourages cat shelters to teach orphan cats to do a "high-five" with humans, making cats more attractive for adoption. Over 400 cats who participated were adopted during the first two semesters of the program.
v1MAr TIL there is a festival in India called Gore Habba. Villagers celebrate by throwing & smearing cow poop at each other. Similar to La Tomatina in Spain but replace the tomatoes with cow poop. Vids in comments.
rRVGd TIL in 1898, some 73% of Alabama's entire annual state revenue came from convict leasing.
Ywrv TIL Iceland is extremely protective of their language, instead of loaning words from other languages they repurpose old ones, telephone is ‘simi’, meaning thread, jet plane is 'thota’, meaning to zoom and the word for computer, 'tölva’ translates to number priestess or numbers witch.