› added 1 year ago

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TIL that in 2005, Japanese investment bank Mizuho Securities lost the equivalent of $285 million in just a few minutes due to one typo. The firm tried to sell 1 share for 610,000 yen but ended up selling 610,000 shares for 1 yen each. Mizuho was almost bankrupted.

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epMQJ TIL that recurring eyelash lice in children is an indicator of probable child SA.
1aNEr TIL the most abundant vertebrate genus in the world is not chickens but probably the bristlemouth fish numbering in maybe quadrillions of members. Basically these tiny fish are everywhere deep in the ocean and even gave strange false bottom readings by sensors of ocean depths when first discovered.
b9O6p TIL that female tennis player Esther Vergeer went on a decade long winning streak in wheelchair singles ended only by her retirement. Her streak lasted 470 matches and brought her 7 Paralympic gold medals and 21 grand slam singles titles.
8VYX TIL In WWII The Soviet Airforce had an all women’s bombing division. They flew outdated airplanes (which had no parachutes) in the cover of night behind enemy lines, turning off their engines, they would drop their bombs. They were nicknamed “Night Witches” by Nazi’s and did 8-10 missions daily.
l7gXA TIL of the 1997Jarrell, Texas "Dead Man Walking" tornado, a slow-moving F5 twister that sat over a subdivision for three full minutes, subjecting it to 260+ mph winds. It erased everything, killed 27 people, plus hundreds of cattle, and blended their remains together unrecognizably.