› added 12 years ago

100

TIL that many people have experienced “cryptomnesia”, which is what happens when you think you’ve come up with something original, such as an idea or a joke, but it was actually something you’d seen before and forgotten about.

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v1O4 TIL A man in China used 50 years to hand-carve 6000 steps into the mountainside so that his wife could have an easier walk.
9YmLp TIL that in 1988, the CIA paid $2 MM to Chad in order to extract an advanced Soviet attack helicopter (Mi-25) from an abandoned Libyan air base using two MH-47 Chinook transport helicopters, flying a total of 500 miles under the cover of night
Orb7 TIL that the ancient Greeks used the term barbarian for anyone who didn’t speed Greek, including ancient Egyptians, as another language sounded like ‘bar bar bar’ to the Greeks which lead to the term 'barbarian’
pojA TIL In the original script of the Matrix film, Switch changed genders upon entering the Matrix, which coined their name, Switch. This may be a reflection of Lana Wachowski’s struggles with her gender identity, which were unknown to the public at the time.
4kbJa TIL that the Afro-Bolivian people have their own, separate monarchy