› added 11 years ago

96

TIL, 30 years ago on this day Sept. 26th 1983. A Russian Colonel named Stanislav Petrov, now known as The man who saved the world, averted WW3. A Soviet early warning satellite detected nuclear launches from the US. Petrov trusted his instincts that the computers were malfunctioning and did nothing.

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gMBg4 TIL that Parmesan cheese is not vegetarian due to the inclusion of animal rennet, an enzyme extracted from calves’ stomachs which used to set the cheese
VDG TIL George Washington refused to accept a salary while in office, and instead, simply asked to be reimbursed for his expenses at the end of the war
oRNP7 TIL the term 'blood bath' references Roman bull sacrifices (2nd to 4th c.) in which a priest is entrenched below a bull slaughter to bathe in the blood - Taurobolium (Prudencius: Peristephanon)
Zp4Qo TIL that children in ancient China learned to write from "Thousand Character Text", a 1000-word poem where the characters do not repeat and cover everything from philisophy to astrology.
9YJeD TIL there are Wile E. Coyote/Roadrunner rules, such as "No outside force can harm the Coyote", "The Road Runner must stay on the road", and "No dialog ever, except beep-beep"