› added 7 years ago

102

TIL of the Antikythera mechanism, an Ancient Greek analog computer used to predict astrological events such as orbits and eclipses. Its complexity wouldn't be matched until more than 1500 years later with astronomical clocks.

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QJJM6 TIL that 666 is not actually the number of the beast - it's 616.
d8GwZ TIL that during the Spanish Civil War the International Brigades took shelter in the University of Madrid, building barricades from library books. Nineteenth century German philosophy was supposedly the most effective at stopping bullets.
o1EL TIL A man in Australia declared his farm an independent micronation called the Province of Bumbunga. He decided to plant a huge scale model of Britain using thousands of strawberries, to attract tourism.
XE1aR TIL that a National Gang Threat Assessment report conducted by the FBI in 2011 classified Juggalos as a “loosely-organized hybrid gang.” This allowed law enforcement to pull over anyone driving a car sporting Juggalo-related paraphernalia without any other cause.
KO9jR TIL in 2014, the makers of Red Bull were sued by a man who found their slogan “Red Bull gives you wings” dishonest, as the drink has less caffeine than a regular cup of coffee, meaning it provided less of an energy boost. They had to reimburse American consumers who bought Red Bull from 2002-2014.