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565

TIL there exists a massive abandoned supercollider in Texas.

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x6X87 TIL that one of the worst droughts in recorded history occurred in Texas during the 1950's. Huge lakes and rivers dried up completely, grass nearly died out leading to massive dust storms, and 50% of Texas' farming industry was dead by the end of the decade.
QJdyE TIL about Eric Lundgren who went to prison for a year because he was said to have violated copyrights and counterfeiting Microsoft Windows Restore CD's which he distributed with refurbished PC's. Corporations such as MS, Dell and HP give these discs away for free.
dDnaE TIL the spherical cow is a humorous metaphor originating in theoretical physics. The metaphor refers to some scientific tendencies to develop toy models that reduce a problem to the simplest form imaginable, even if the simplification hinders the model's application to reality.
QJ4Kk TIL that the USS Arizona had the guns of her #2 turret salvaged, relined and placed upon the USS Nevada. These guns were later fired in anger upon the Japanese at Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
p8AGA TIL of Mr. Skygack, from Mars. Running from 1907 to 1911, it is considered to be the first science-fiction comic, featuring the first extraterrestrial character in comics history. It also inspired the first cosplay, where a man wore a Mr. Skygack costume to a masquerade in 1908.