› added 13 years ago

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TIL the number 42 was the random seed chosen to generate the universe in EVE Online

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V5J4 TIL there is an optical microscope which is assembled from a single piece of paper and a lens, costing less than $1 to build. It can magnify up to 2000 times and weighs 8 grams.
GQv5 TIL that Romans did not have a thumbs down for gladiators. However, they did have a thumbs up, which symbolized the death of the gladiator.
rRmex TIL of the Antikythera mechanism, an Ancient Greek analog computer used to predict astrological events such as orbits and eclipses. Its complexity wouldn't be matched until more than 1500 years later with astronomical clocks.
VXO0 TIL the Iraq war was basically started on the word of one guy, who was later revealed to have lied about the whole thing
5Vwg9 TIL in 2010, officials in Tokyo went to congratulate the oldest man in the city, Sogen Kato, on his 111th birthday, but instead found his skeletal remains on his bed. He’d been dead for 30 years but his family had kept it secret to continue collecting his pension money.