› added 9 years ago

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TIL that in MAY 1997, an IBM supercomputer known as Deep Blue beat then chess world champion Garry Kasparov, who had once bragged he would never lose to a machine. After 15 years, it was discovered that the critical move made by Deep Blue was due to a bug in its software.

Z81ZY TIL that Darwinian theory has no explanation for why a species with mating rituals does not completely lose all male genetic variants since females are only attracted to certain specific male characteristics. This is known as the Lek paradox.
WkNBd TIL the US two dollar bill is still being produced today. It's apparent rarity is in part due to the common misconception that it is no longer being produced, causing people to collect them, thus pulling them out of circulation.
JYvRv TIL of the McCollough effect, a visual phenomenon which alters perception of horizontal and vertical lines. The effect can last for up to three months, if the viewer looks at the images that trigger it long enough.
6EdBw TIL Starbucks' "Frappucino" is a registered trademark that act as a sub-license out of the Netherlands. When you purchase a beverage, your money goes to pay a trademark fee, which Starbucks books as losses, and the entity in the Netherlands pays little to no tax on the trademark revenues.
JaL4 TIL that Reuters was founded by Paul Reuters, who in 1848 established a route of carrier pigeons to transmit information about stock news that was faster than the postal trains of the time.