› added 11 years ago

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TIL that ‘Black Swan Theory’ is the idea that rare catastrophic events which are beyond the realm of normal expectation or predictability (but later inappropriately rationalized by hindsight) play a vastly larger role in the course of history than any predictable or foreseeable occurrence.

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4Xvm6 TIL that Physicist Ted Taylor was the first person to light a cigarette using a nuclear bomb. During a bomb test in 1952, he used a parabolic mirror to concentrate the light of the blast enough to heat a cigarette suspended from a tiny wire.
mxDax TIL that in 2017 "Killer Mike" (of Run The Jewels fame) was awarded a day in his honor on July 17th in Atlanta. Additionally fellow Atlanta rapper "Big Boi" suggested he run for Mayor of the city
P1rQZ TIL the last black widow spider bite fatality was in 1983 💀 add that in with quicksand as things I really truly believed I would perish from 🤦‍♀️
VMvZ4 TIL one of the founders of The Church of Jediism was removed from a Tesco supermarket in North Wales for refusing to remove his hood on a religious basis. The owner justified Jones's ejection by saying, "Jedis are very welcome to shop in our stores although we would ask them to remove their hoods."
b6B8Q TIL: In the 1950s, the Army to built a bunker close to Washington DC so that Congress could go there if there was a nuclear attack. Engineers built a facility 700 ft below a golf course - 2 stories and over 100,000 sq ft - kept secret until 1992, when the Washington Post revealed its existence.