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TIL that before modern safety regulations, the rule of thumb was that one person would die per $1M spent on a construction project

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J1ne8 TIL that there is a World Championship for Microsoft Excel, (an e-sport!) which consists of solving mathematical problems and complex financial models on Excel quicker than your opponents. The 2023 winner, 'Andrew the Annihilator', got a wrestling-style belt, a trophy, and $3,000.
7997 TIL the only actor who wasn’t physically wiped out from filming in the demanding Jaeger cockpit harnesses in “Pacific Rim” was Rinko Kikuchi, the female Jaeger pilot. Director Guillermo del Toro asked for her secret and she replied “I think of gummi bears and flowers.”
XEQD6 TIL that the abbreviation RIP originally comes from the Latin phrase “Requiescat In Pace” and not “Rest in Peace”
VB7ED TIL that Ernest, Jim Varney's Character, was originally dreamed up to star in advertising commercials for years before his first movie.
JYk98 TIL the first known mention of the word abracadabra was in a second century AD book (written by a physician) which prescribed that malaria sufferers wear an amulet containing the word written in the form of a triangle and the power of the amulet would make lethal diseases go away.