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TIL that 45 years ago today, on October 29, 1969, at what can justifiably be called “The Birth of the Internet”, a UCLA computer connected for the first time via phone line to a Stanford one, sending the first host-to-host message, logging on with the two letters: “LO” at 2230 PST, before crashing.

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J8EV TIL: From 1641 to 1652, over 500,000 Irish were killed by the English and another 300,000 were sold as slaves. Ireland’s population fell from about 1,500,000 to 600,000 in one single decade.
j6gKM TIL in 1994, prior to creating the BlackBerry, the two founders won an Emmy and an Oscar for their DigiSync film reader technology, saving hours of post-production film editing.
dDmVj TIL There is a mosque in Birmingham, England, built in 1988, that was originally named the President Saddam Hussein Mosque. Saddam Hussein had donated £2 million for its construction. In 2003, it was renamed the Jame Masjid Mosque in response to growing anti-Muslim sentiment after the 9/11 attacks.
yVGga TIL: Feng Lung, upon discovering her husband's infidelity, cut off his penis. He was rushed to the hospital and they reattached it, while he was recovering she snuck in and cut it off again and threw it out the window. The husband chased her outside and staff found him beating her while bleeding.
N6A1 TIL that when Joseph Stalin’s wife died he stated, “This creature softened my heart of stone. She died and with her died my last warm feelings for humanity.” He became so distraught during her burial that he threw himself into her open grave and had to be dragged out.