› added 5 years ago

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TIL Alan Turing's Bombe machine, built to crack Germany's Enigma-encrypted messages during WWII, was far too slow to decrypt messages until he realized that all encrypted messages ended with "Heil Hitler." They were then able to decrypt messages within hours, and change the course of the war.

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W7XAB TIL Japan during the 60s and into the late 80s was using a coagulant catalyst to treat hemophilia called Fibrinogen Concentrate by pooling plasma from donors. However, due to under-regulation, donors were not screened for diseases like Hepatitis, which resulted in thousands infected
awbMZ TIL: About operation "come of power" where by a coven of British witches convened in the forest in 1940 to thwart the Nazi leadership and turn the tide of the war.
KRgR TIL the avocado evolved to appeal to extinct megafauna (e.g. the giant armadillo) in order to facilitate seed dispersal via ingestion and excretion. This is why the avocado has such a sizeable seed.
NXGGM TIL the Carlton Tavern, based in London, was demolished by its owners after failing to obtain the necessary planning permission. The council subsequently ordered the pub to be rebuilt brick by brick. The pub was the only building in the street to survive the Blitz during WW2. It reopened in 2021.
neX4Y TIL when a Massachusetts mall let a Qdoba open there, another tenant -- Panera -- sued. Panera had the exclusive right to sell sandwiches and argued that Qdoba's burritos violated that right. The judge disagreed and ruled that a burrito is not a sandwich.