› added 3 years ago

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TIL that China poured more concrete in the 3 years after 2010 than the US did in the entire 20th century.

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KYYV4 TIL that George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" was originally titled "The Last Man in Europe", Orwell later considered "1980" and "1982" before settling on "1984". The title was not just an inversion of the year it was written (1948) which is often suggested.
kZee TIL in 2005 the Powerball drawing produced 110 2nd-prize winners. The Multi-State Lottery Association thought it was fraud. It turned out the winners simply played the lucky numbers from their Wonton Food fortune cookies. The fortune read “All the preparation you’ve done will finally be paying off.”
ANZG7 TIL John Byner was originally cast as Mork from Ork on Happy Days, but found the premise ridiculous and quit days before filming, leading Robin Williams to be called in last minute
v1Yxx TIL of the 'Centre of the Universe' in Tulsa- If you stand in the middle of the circle and make a noise, the sound is echoed back several times louder than it was made. Those outside the circle hear the same sound but distorted.
Ooy9X TIL when economist Robert Lucas and wife Rita Lucas split up in 1989, one of the conditions of divorce was if he won a Nobel prize within 31 Oct 1995, half of the prize money would go to her. Robert Lucas won a Nobel with $1 million for his theory about 'rational expectations' on 10 Oct 1995.