› added 1 year ago

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TIL the Australian constitution technically allows for the disenfranchisement of voters based on race

Read more aph.gov.au

via reddit.com

a8Epy TIL: That under the pseudonym Doctor Spin, Andrew Lloyd Webber once released a Eurodance cover version of the most famous tune in the Game Boy version of the game Tetris. The song was popular at the time and reached number 6 on the UK singles chart in 1992.
4XMlJ TIL that to promote Windows 7's launch in 2009, Burger King in Japan released the Windows 7 Whopper, which had 7 patties totaling over 1,000 kcal and weighing 2.2 lb (1 kg). Originally planned to be sold for only 7 days, unexpected popularity led to its available period being extended to 16 days.
j6jXp TIL that Australia’s Mount Wingen has been burning for 6,000 years. A lightning strike or brush fire ignited a coal seam there around 4000 B.C., and it’s been smoldering ever since.
PYx6Z TIL magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin went to French controlled Algeria in 1856 to show the power of French magic. He lifted a metal box in front of a crowd, then had a warrior that he had made "as weak as a woman" try. Turning on electromagnets in the ground, he made the metal box unliftable.
LQkVp TIL that the holes on the electrical prongs of plugs don't actually serve any function - companies that make them save a bit of metal from each plug by creating these holes. People nowadays also expect to see these holes which is another reason companies continue to produce plug prongs with holes.