› added 5 years ago

74

TIL In 1941, the NKVD (precursor to the KGB) executed around 100,000 people in the space of 5 months.

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p8WlZ TIL that X% of Y is the same as Y% of X, so for example 32% of 50 is the same as 50% of 32, which is 16.
7rpZb TIL about "one of the biggest companies you've never heard of". Acxiom gathers information on some 700 m people, with up to 1,500 data points per person, for ultra targeted marketing. Down to the list of people who buy particular brands of cereal in your local supermarket.
0bVN TIL that there is journalism equivalent to the Bechdel Test. An article about a female scientist fails the “Finkbeiner Test” if it mentions one of seven topics regarding her womanhood
GEL4 TIL that flipping a coin isn’t a 50/50 odd… It is actually around 51/49 to the side up when you flip
9ADD TIL that Seymour Cray (the genius behind the Cray Supercomputer) claimed that elves in a tunnel he was digging under his house would give him advice.