› added 11 years ago

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TIL Cliff Young, 61 year old Australian farmer took part in world’s toughest ultramarathon (875km from Sydney to Melbourne). He won by almost 2 days, because unlike other runners he didn’t stop to sleep.

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LE5v TIL that “Washington Monument Syndrome” refers to the habit of governmet agencies to shut down their most visible and valued services first when facing a budget shortfall, to gain support for tax increases the public would otherwise be against.
7nJO TIL that after the entire national Soviet hockey team was killed in an airplane crash in 1950, Stalin’s son Vasily, the manager of the team, covered up the disaster and replaced everyone on the team to avoid his father’s wrath. Stalin never noticed.
yKvp TIL that the compellingly challenging difficulty curve of Space Invaders (many slow enemies which become faster the fewer are left) wasn’t a design choice, but a hardware limitation. Furthermore, some historians attribute the runaway success of the game entirely to this single error.
ANZKx TIL of the ship MS Hans Hedtoft which hit an iceberg in January 1959. After sending urgent SOS messages, the ship then sunk in a matter of hours with all 59 aboard perishing. It is the most recent ship to have been sunk with casualties by an iceberg.
0mo5 TIL The US has had a Native American vice president