› added 5 years ago

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TIL of the Machine Identification Code. A series of secret dots that certain printers leave on every piece of paper they print, giving clues to the originator and identification of the device that printed it. It was developed in the 1980s by Canon and Xerox but wasn't discovered until 2004.

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W5PX TIL that when the USS West Virgina was finally raised after being sunk during the bombing of Pearl Harbor, deceased men were found in an airtight storeroom. On the calendar, 16 days were crossed off in red pencil.
E14xp TIL A very tired chemist once spilled UK's entire supply of plutonium(10mg) on a table, and in order to recover it, used a saw to cut out that section of the table, then burned it. He recovered 9.5mg of the plutonium from the ashes.
B55D TIL a gay penguin couple was given an egg of their own after the biological penguin parents abandoned it and the adopted parents are doing an amazing job of raising their new baby
N7boM TIL Sandra Bullock accepted in person the Razzie for Worst Actress one day, and the Academy Award for Best Actress the next.
4Rg6 TIL China killed at least 800,000 of its own citizens when it purposefully opened dikes to flood the Yellow River.