› added 9 years ago

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TIL that the main programmer responsible for writing and maintaining the GNU Privacy Guard (used by journalists and security professionals) almost went broke, but he received funding from Facebook, The Linux Foundation and Stripe after an internet article pointed out his dire financial situation.

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mM8O TIL in 2008, 9-year-old Nathan Thomson was stabbed in the face as he fought an armed intruder who tried to kill his mother, who was stabbed 8 times. After saving his mother from the slasher, he has been recommended for a bravery award by one of Scotland’s senior law officers for his heroic act.
OoQEg TIL The Sims was actually meant as a satire of U.S. consumer culture and creator Will Wright was inspired to create a "virtual doll house" after losing his home during the Oakland firestorm of 1991.
RZV8 TIL of a monk who had taken an old book written by Archimedes, erased the contents, and wrote over it with prayers. Scientists have determined that that monk erased a previously unknown book by Archimedes, that laid out the foundations of Calculus thousands of years before Newton and Leibniz.
6yLZ TIL that there’s a Justice League comic in which a superhero assassinates a Saddam Hussein analogue in order to end the atrocities of his regime. His actions actually end up destabilizing the country, making the quality of life for citizens much worse than it was before. The comic came out in 1999.
4XNAN [TIL] We know Earth's rotation is slowing, because of ancient records of eclipses