› added 11 years ago

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TIL The Great Pyramid is aligned with Machu Picchu, the Nazca lines and Easter Island along a straight line around the center of the Earth

6ElAY TIL The term 'Slapstick' arises from a device developed for use in a physical comedy style in 16th-century Italy. The "slap stick" consists of two thin slats of wood, which make a "slap" when striking another actor.
kJYO7 TIL Panasonic software developed a computer program 'Secret Writer's Society' to teach kids to write. Due to a bug in the code, double clicking 'Read' instead of reading back what you wrote, would instead read back the swear filter.
x60kb TIL that the old euphemism for a positive pregnancy test, "the rabbit died", came from a test developed in 1931 wherein the urine from a human female was injected into a rabbit. Soon after, the rabbit was euthanized and dissected to check for the reaction of the hormone hCG in its ovaries.
8LlV TIL that in September 2006, Chinese Border Patrol guards opened fire on a group of Tibetan pilgrims moving slowly in deep snow, killing a 17-year-old girl. The incident is only known in the West because a Romanian mountain climber secretly recorded it
arMM TIL Canada’s Constitution was permanently stained red after a student poured paint on it in protest. He was sentenced to only 3 months in jail, to be served on weekends, as the court believed his actions had shown that he was “an excellent student, with a possibly brilliant artistic future.”