› added 5 years ago

346

TIL The US Military still uses 8 inch floppy disks on outdated IBM computers to run the nuclear missile systems. It's because they are incredibly hard to hack. The computers are essentially air-gapped and the old IBM computers are reliable. They could run for another 40 years with spare parts.

Read more npr.org

via reddit.com

VMQ0D TIL that Jesse Pinkman's (Breaking Bad) character was planned to be killed at the end of the first season. The fact that it was so well received prompted the show runners to continue with it
e005g TIL during the recording of U2's "Where The Streets Have No Name", producer Brian Eno got so annoyed with how difficult it was to record that he was about to erase the tapes. When a studio engineer saw him about to do this he dropped the tea tray he was holding and physically restrained Eno.
QNK49 TIL about sesquizygotic twins, which are neither identical nor fraternal, but a rare middle ground with a split egg and two separate sperm.
WkaLo TIL that wolves get 7 hours of sleep on average per day, while mice get 14.5.
JYK11 TIL that medieval Iceland had a law against writing love poems to women, they were called "Mansöngr" or "maiden songs." If found guilty you were branded a full outlaw and banned from the island.