› added 4 years ago

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TIL the term factoid originally meant a piece of information that was accepted as a fact but wasn't true, or a made up fact that is accepted as true due to it appearing in print.

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R1jj TIL that the reason the snooze on a clock is 9 minutes is because in the 1950s, they had to make snooze gears fit onto the existing clock mechanics. Unable to use 10, they chose 9 minutes.
XrbE TIL The first man to finish the 1904 Olympics marathon rode in a car most of the way. The winner was carried across the finish line after ingesting poison. Fourth place took a nap en route. One of the two first black Olympians came in ninth after being chased a mile off course by wild dogs.
7r8yx TIL that on April Fools' Day 2006, Brian Shaffer, an Ohio State med student, was captured by CCTV entering a campus bar — but NOT coming out again. He's been missing for 10 years. Police wonder if he somehow escaped, others believe his body is still inside the bar.
9YyQp TIL that prehistoric European often connected Oak trees to their respective lightning gods. Modern scientific evidence points to Oak trees as being more likely to be struck by lightning.
D8mD TIL that around 1.5 million people were evicted in Beijing in preparation for the 2008 Olympics