› added 7 months ago

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TIL that VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program, was also the first "killer app" (a program that makes people buy a computer just to run the software). VisiCalc was so revolutionary, and so powerful, that people bought the $2000 Apple II (the only computer it ran on) to run the $100 application.

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via reddit.com

N7NMQ TIL The Beatles filed preliminary legal papers against the Beastie Boys for their numerous Beatles samples on 1989's Paul's Boutique. Mike D of the group's response was "What's cooler than getting sued by the Beatles?" Over 105 tracks were sampled on the album, including 24 on the last song alone!
wLreP TIL that the term “spook” was a popular slur for black people during WII. Its use was especially prevalent in the military. Nazi Germany’s Air Force was called the “Luftwaffe” so some people referred to the African-American Tuskegee Airmen as the “Spookwaffe”, including the pilots themselves.
9wrVp TIL that animals lacking teeth to grind their food (eg. birds, fish) have a specialized stomach containing rocks to replace that function.
Nm5N TIL that the earliest surviving depiction of Jesus portrays him as a donkey on a cross.
QJK9e TIL in Ontario, anyone living within 50km of a nuclear plant can order free iodine tablets for use in the event of a nuclear accident. Anyone within 10km receives them by mail automatically.