› added 4 years ago

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TIL that 47% of random numbers found in real life (restaurant prices, city populations, goals or touchdowns scored, etc.) begin with a 1 or a 2. This is Benford's law. It's used to detect tax fraud.

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5VwWp TIL Betty Crocker's Bisquick, "A World of Baking in a Box," is review-bombed and has lowered sales. The recipe was changed in 2022; recipes now require the addition of oil. Bisquick fans are unaware of the formula changes (following old recipes not the ones on the box).
vlK8 TIL that mollusk teeth are made of the strongest biological material in nature. At 5 times stronger than spider silk, a spaghetti-sized strand can hold the weight of an adult female hippopotamus.
wonko TIL the French writer Guy de Maupassant ate lunch at the base of the Eiffel Tower almost every day because he hated its design so much, it was the one place in Paris where he couldn't see it.
oRWYL TIL Computer Shopper magazines used to be over 1000 pages, about 2 inches thick, and weigh over a pound. While at a Comdex trade show, some of the editors and writers took a pile of the magazines to a Las Vegas gun range and were surprised to discover the magazine could not stop a .22 caliber bullet
9wAnm TIL that, inspired by the Maginot Line in France, the British built a defensive network in Hong Kong. Called the Gin Drinkers Line or Oriental Maginot Line, it was designed to hold off a Japanese invasion for six months. Hit by understaffing and a malaria outbreak, it only lasted two days.