› added 11 years ago

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TIL that in 1988 when the american Internet was paralyzed by computer virus, quick thinker Pål Spiller saved the Norwegian Internet by literally pulling the plug

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via reddit.com

PXpJ TIL a battle, involving over 30,000 Roman troops and a larger Pontic opposition, resulted in a tie, after both sides withdrew from the field scared, as they witnessed a ‘silvery-hot’ meteor bombarding the middle ground between them.
jN5RR TIL a new national park was created at the end of 2019
AmZB TIL the equals sign was not invented until 1557 by a Welsh mathematician. He only invented it because he was fed up with the ‘tedious repetition’ of the phrase is 'is equal to’
J8Ll TIL the shortest correspondence in history was between novelist Victor Hugo and his publisher, after the publication of Les Miserables. Wishing to learn how sales were going, Hugo sent a telegram with only one character. “?”. As the book had already sold out, the publisher responded: “!”
GAoG TIL Chuck Yeager, the first man to break the sound barrier in a plane, did it with a broken arm and two broken ribs and had to close the plane’s cockpit with a broomstick.