› added 11 years ago

98

TIL IBM coined and popularized the word hexadecimal because the correct latin word- sexadecimal- was too racy

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4XOgb TIL this 17-year-old boy built a nuclear reactor in his mom's backyard in 1994 and made the neighborhood radioactive
Me1ba TIL about Kiyomizu-dera, a temple where people used to jump off its 43ft stage due to a belief that those who survived the fall would have their wish granted. Of the 234 jumps recorded during the Edo period, 85.4% survived.
PAbJ TIL when the girl featured on the front cover of Vampire Weekend’s ‘Contra’ album artwork found out about the illegal use of her 26 year old photo, she sued the band. She found out when her daughter brought home a copy of the album one day.
QgAp TIL in 1992, a mentally retarded man was executed, after having saved the dessert from his last meal for later.
XRyD TIL In 1956 Spanish athlete Félix Erausquin broke the Javelin world record from 83 to 112 meters by spinning it around like a Discus. The technique was later banned by the IAAF because it was seen as too dangerous.