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7

TIL that an American cybersecurity company used the floating patterns in lava lamps to create a random number generator for encryption purposes.

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m1L5E TIL in the 1906 book 'John Dough and the Cherub' the titular Cherub was a child of indeterminate gender; the editors created a contest to guess the gender and second place argued girl as "if it had been a boy he would have eaten the ginger-bread man at once whether it agreed with him or not"
yOVV TIL The Fire Temple theme from Ocarina of Time was changed in later versions because it resembled islamic prayers.
D1LED TIL that the confusing and maze-like layouts of stores like IKEA is called "The Gruen Transfer", and is meant to force shoppers to see more merchandise than they planned. It is named after mall architest Victor Gruen, who actually hated such manipulative techniques.
LnL9 TIL that David (of the Bible’s David & Goliath) declared that he loved his friend, Jonathan, “more than any woman”. But many Christians refuse to accept any possibility that it could’ve been a gay relationship.
69y8J TIL that a blind amateur historian's attempt to publish a history of the Ming Dynasty in 1660 was received so poorly that over 70 people involved were executed and thousands of people arrested.