› added 4 years ago

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TIL that all a copy of all the open source software code on Github is stored in a decommissioned coal mine in Svalbard archipelago (right next to the Global Seed Vault) long-term preservation. The archive designed to last at least 1,000 years.

Read more archiveprogram.github.com

via reddit.com

neneb TIL John Snow, considered to be one of the fathers of the field of epidemiology, also pioneered the use of ether and chloroform as surgical anesthetics. Anesthesia was still considered an unethical practice, however, until Queen Victoria asked him to administer sedatives for one of her births.
kO8a1 TIL that Samuel Rowbotham who created the Flat Earth Society dropped out of school at the age of 9.
9Yg96 TIL the tubular cavity of a chimney is called a flue and was JK Rowling's inspiration for naming Floo Power (despite her not knowing exactly what it referred to)
rRDVx TIL about hypertumors, a type of tumor that forms on top of an existing tumor and kills it. This happens more on larger animals, which may explain why blue whales don't die of cancer often.
V09m TIL In the Vietnam War, the US military produced recordings of ghostly voices and eerie sounds to play to the Vietcong, who believed that if a body wasn’t buried, the person’s soul would wander the Earth forever