› added 8 years ago

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TIL Shredded documents can be put back together easily using computer software. Once scanned, an automated program then assigns a unique ID to each piece, and analyzes a number of characteristics, including size, color, indentation, and font using a matching algorithm.

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wxp7 TIL that André The Giant had an operation in 1987 in which his size made it impossible for the anesthesiologist to estimate a dosage via standard methods; consequently, his alcohol tolerance (“it usually takes two liters of vodka just to make me feel warm inside”) was used as a guideline instead.
4XnZa TIL Sweden had colonies in New Jersey and Delaware, and one of the legacies of this colony is the introduction of the log cabin to American architectural tradition.
d8YmZ TIL that only specific types of sand are useful in important building materials like concrete. This has creates a shortage of sand in some areas leading to black markets for illegally mined sand run by sand mafias and sand pirates.
KRME TIL the iconic promotional image of Willem Dafoe with his hands raised in anguish from movie “Platoon” was inspired by a real photo from the Vietnam War by Art Greenspon who traveled to Vietnam in his 20s to document the war
Mem6A TIL that the red-crested tree rat, thought to have gone extinct 119 years ago, showed up out of the blue at a hotel in Colombia where two conservationists were staying and let them photograph him for a few hours before disappearing again.