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103

TIL:The “X” in X-Box refers to the popular multimedia API “Direct X”

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VMnlZ TIL that Götz von Berlichingen, a warrior poet, lost his right arm by cannon fire in 1504. He had a mechanical arm invented so that he could still hold a sword and fought in numerous battles, led rebel armies, was attributed with coining the phrase "he can kiss my ass" and died at 82 of old age.
gMPp4 TIL a Chinese general once scared away an army of 10,000, with a flute. The well known general sat on the wall of his undermanned city playing the flute, with the gates flung open. The opposition assumed it to be a trap and retreated.
NXy6b TIL that the political terms "left-wing" and "right-wing" originated during the French Revolution. From the front of the Assembly, the aristocracy sat on the right side (or right wing) of the room, and the commoners sat on the left side (or left wing) of the room.
wLOYJ TIL that when two countries trade with each other they can both be better off by trading the good that they specialize in producing at the lowest opportunity cost. This concept is explained by comparative advantage.
RWM8 TIL that the Taipei 101 skyscraper uses a 728 ton steel tuned mass damper (basically a giant pendulum) to counter motion of the building since it is so close to a fault line.