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   Andrew (andrewt@mathstodon.xyz)'s status on Sunday, 12-Jan-2025 01:29:55 JST Andrew

   Thomas Becket is often mistakenly called "Thomas a Becket" after a medieval scribe hit the "a" key instead of "shift" on his phone keyboard

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     Andrew (andrewt@mathstodon.xyz)'s status on Sunday, 12-Jan-2025 01:29:49 JST Andrew

     in reply to

     The American Revolutionary War ended on July 4, 1776, when Horatio Gates managed to upload a computer virus to the British mothership

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     Andrew (andrewt@mathstodon.xyz)'s status on Sunday, 12-Jan-2025 01:29:51 JST Andrew

     in reply to

     Leap years exist because of a miscalculation by Pope Gregory XIII, who wanted to align the calendar and the Earth's orbit. The rockets he used were slightly too powerful and the orbit ended up almost a quarter of a day too long.

     Rocketman repeated this.
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     Andrew (andrewt@mathstodon.xyz)'s status on Sunday, 12-Jan-2025 01:29:52 JST Andrew

     in reply to

     In 1770, Wolfgang von Kempelen claimed to have built the world's first chess computer, however it eventually turned out that the machine was using humans to make moves via the AWS Mechanical Turk API

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     Andrew (andrewt@mathstodon.xyz)'s status on Sunday, 12-Jan-2025 01:29:53 JST Andrew

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     In the eleventh century, the easiest way to look up your friends' birthdays was on Domesdaybook

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     Andrew (andrewt@mathstodon.xyz)'s status on Sunday, 12-Jan-2025 01:29:54 JST Andrew

     in reply to

     Surnames exist because medieval peasants would find a bread seller they really liked but already had a "Dave" in their phone, so they put the new one in as "Dave Baker"

     follow me for more history facts