› added 9 years ago

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TIL we SURF the internet because of an image on a mouse pad. Jean Armour Polly wrote an article about the internet in ‘92 and was looking for a metaphor to describe how much fun and, at the same time, challenging it was to use the internet when she looked at her mouse pad showing a surfer on a wave.

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GAXPJ TIL the reason phones have letters over the numbers is because the pre-1968 hubs that calls were routed through could only handle 10,000 subscribers with unique, 5-digit numbers. Cities often needed multiple hubs that were assigned letters to serve as the first 2 digits of the phone number.
Z8OaG TIL Samuel Stanhope Smith had a theory that Africans were darker because they were covered in small freckles that when combined made a “universal freckle”
ADB8a TIL that the year 536 is considered by some scholars to be the worst year ever to be alive due to volcanos, extreme weather, and famine throughout Europe and Asia
P0Dg TIL that a ‘Loco Moco’ is a traditional meal in the cuisine of Hawaii. There are many variations, but the essential loco moco consists of white rice, topped with a hamburger patty, a fried egg, and brown gravy.
Rx71 TIL there’s a PS2 video game where you play as a mosquito and your job is to suck blood from a family.