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TIL: The IRS uses two 58 year old computer systems for its Individual and Business Master Files, and they are written in assembly code, with data stored on tapes. The Individual Master File is the source where taxpayer accounts are updated, taxes are assessed, and refunds are generated.

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kmRB TIL that because of an old superstition, several ravens are kept at the Tower of London at all times. These ravens are enlisted soldiers of the Kingdom, and have occasionally been dismissed for bad conduct. While wild ravens live for 10-15 years, Tower ravens can live past 40 years.
OoOkR TIL the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak was ended when they discovered the source was a single water pump and simply removed the handle
xVwYo TIL that Fakhruddin Razi (d.1210), a Persian Polymath, decentred our universe-centric ideas with his conception of a multiverse. This astonishing idea happened 300 years before Copernicus' more well-known revolution of moving western astronomical knowledge from geocentric to heliocentric
ADZXd TIL Mikhail Kalashnikov regretted creating the AK-47. In a letter to the Russian Orthodox Church in 2012, he said never intended for the rifle to become the preferred weapon in conflicts around the world.
Z5Kp TIL that veterinarians used to believe that dogs saw only in black and white, but studies suggest that they actually do have some color vision. Dogs see the colors of the world as yellow, blue, and gray. Many common colors used for dog toys are actually hard for a dog to see.