Today I Learned (TIL)

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Ozem_son_of_Jesse on 2024-12-19 18:08:10.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Der_genealogist on 2024-12-19 17:47:46.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Durmeathor on 2024-12-19 17:29:56.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/nowlan101 on 2024-12-19 17:22:08.

Original Title: TIL about the phenomena of polyandry or “wife-sharing” in Qing Dynasty China. Due to practices such female infanticide and concubinage there was an overall gender imbalance in society that poor husbands would exploit via renting their wives out to other, unmarried men for a fee.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Local_Gur9116 on 2024-12-19 17:06:38.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/permanentburner89 on 2024-12-19 15:42:56.

Original Title: TIL that pig butchering scammers (the ones sending random texts to "wrong numbers", then befriending you until they take all of your money) are largely trafficked people forced to participate in scams.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/sithmaster0 on 2024-12-19 16:53:02.

Original Title: TIL in 1945, at 59 years old, Albert Stevens was misdiagnosed with terminal stomach cancer, and as a result was secretly injected with 131 kBq (3.55 μCi) of Plutonium as part of a human experimentation project by Joseph Gilbert Hamilton. It was later discovered the "cancer" was an inflamed ulcer.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/GabbotheClown on 2024-12-19 15:52:59.

Original Title: TIL: In the United Kingdom, Poland, Hungary, and the Netherlands, cassette data storage was so popular in the 80s that some radio stations would broadcast computer programs that listeners could record onto cassette and then load into their computer.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/ShabtaiBenOron on 2024-12-19 13:39:33.

Original Title: TIL that even though he won the Academy Awards for best picture and director for "Gandhi" in 1982, Richard Attenborough was disappointed and openly claimed that Steven Spielberg's "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" should have won. Spielberg cast him as John Hammond in "Jurassic Park" to thank him.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/TedTheodoreMcfly on 2024-12-19 12:09:17.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/zahrul3 on 2024-12-19 10:54:51.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/ProfessionalGear3020 on 2024-12-19 08:21:29.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/TZ-13 on 2024-12-19 07:59:59.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Organic_Situation401 on 2024-12-19 07:06:53.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/ProudReaction2204 on 2024-12-19 05:19:46.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/LookAtThatBacon on 2024-12-19 04:22:34.

Original Title: TIL the first UPC-marked item ever to be scanned at a retail checkout was a 10-pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit chewing gum, purchased at the Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio, at 8:01 a.m. on June 26, 1974.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/armedsnowflake69 on 2024-12-19 03:38:19.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/TAparentadvice on 2024-12-19 02:10:04.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/ObjectiveAd6551 on 2024-12-19 00:49:45.

Original Title: TIL “Jeopardy!” contestant Dhruv Gaur wrote “What is… We [love] you, Alex!” as his Final Jeopardy response while Alex Trebek was battling cancer. The message left Trebek visibly emotional and was widely shared as an example of fans’ affection for the longtime host.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/BiggieTwiggy1two3 on 2024-12-18 23:58:13.

Original Title: TIL during WWI, Allied soldiers used glowworms as trench lamps, storing the bioluminescent insects in bottles for light. Their service was so helpful, they were honored in 2004 when Princess Anne unveiled a London memorial for animals and insects that aided the war effort.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Ainsley-Sorsby on 2024-12-18 23:14:05.

Original Title: TIL Beethoven kept his hearing loss a secret. He once wrote(but never send) a letter to his brother confessing it and explained that people mistakenly thought he was antisocial: he longed for human contact but became a recluse out of shame for his condition and all this made him contemplate suicide

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Kthulu71 on 2024-12-18 22:52:46.

Original Title: TIL about the oddly-named "Doomsday Rule" which can (with practice) be used to calculate the weekday of a target date based on the fact that certain days (4/4, 5/9, 6/6...) in any given year all fall on the same day of the week.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/apworker37 on 2024-12-18 22:44:52.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/MaroonTrucker28 on 2024-12-18 22:30:05.

Original Title: TIL the first reference to the Grinch was not in How The Grinch Stole Christmas. He first appeared in the book Scrambled Eggs Super (1953). He later appeared in a 1955 poem "The Hoobub And The Grinch", before the famous story of him was published

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/EssexGuyUpNorth on 2024-12-18 20:27:47.

Original Title: TIL that Lord Nelson, one of the most successful naval commanders in British history, suffered from sea sickness throughout his career in the Royal Navy. In a letter, he wrote that "I am ill every time it blows hard and nothing but my enthusiastic love for the profession keeps me one hour at sea."