› added 13 years ago

152

TIL: The US has a higher poverty rate than Vietnam

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nWMgr TIL that "algorithm" comes from the mathematician Al-Khwarizmi, also pronounced Algorismi. He lived in Chorasmia (central asia) in the 10th century. He developed the mathematical principles that algorithms function after today.
OGPQ6 TIL that when crossword puzzles were first introduced to the US, they became an object of cultural hysteria. Newspapers warned of a crossword craze gripping the country's minds. The trend was described as an epidemic, a virulent plague, and a national menace.
Ogx4 TIL that death row inmate Sean Sellers was executed despite a Court of Appeal ruling that he may be “factually innocent” but that “innocence alone is not sufficient to grant federal relief”
4XNXw TIL that the original iphone prototypes were so secretive that the engineers had their own OS called the 'skankphone' only a few engineers got to see the real OS and worked together debugging code through a curtain.
Y48r TIL that during WWII, other candy manufacturers donated their sugar rations to keep Life Savers in production so that the little candies could be shared with Armed Forces as a “tasty reminder of life at home”.