Today I Learned (TIL)

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/G4M35 on 2025-02-02 17:59:26.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Turbulent_Click_964 on 2025-02-02 17:59:03.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/tyrion2024 on 2025-02-02 15:42:50.

Original Title: TIL the biggest lottery scam in US history was done by Eddie Tipton, head of the Multi-State Lottery Association's IT security. He felt underappeciated & overworked, so he wrote code that narrowed his odds from 5 million to 1 to 200 to 1. He won drawings in five states worth $24m before his arrest.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/nuttybudd on 2025-02-02 12:52:37.

Original Title: TIL about Patti Lyle Collins, head of the US Dead Letter Office. She was known for her ability to deciper hard to read or incomplete addresses on mail, such as being able to deduce that a letter addressed to "Presidente Sterite, Catimoa" was meant to go to "President Street, Baltimore".

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/wilsonofoz on 2025-02-02 16:11:50.

Original Title: TIL a human skin lampshade was found in one of the houses in the Nazi SS soldier accomodation of the Buchenwald concentration camp. A speciality of the SS in Buchenwald was the production of macabre “gifts” made of human remains

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/tyrion2024 on 2025-02-02 15:47:02.

Original Title: TIL test audiences didn't like the original ending of Fatal Attraction because Glenn Close's character framed Michael Douglas' character for murder & took her own life. They wanted her to get what "she deserved." Director Adrian Lyne reportedly only agreed to film a new ending when paid $1.5 million

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/jjhunter4 on 2025-02-02 14:22:46.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/exophades on 2025-02-02 14:22:18.

Original Title: TIL that Grigori Perelman, the only mathematician to have solved a millenium prize problem, declined the US $1 million prize because it was not also offered to Richard S. Hamilton, upon whose work Perelman built.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/zahrul3 on 2025-02-02 14:14:22.

Original Title: TIL: Before CAD, semiconductor chips were designed and drawn by hand, a process that typically required 7-9 revisions. However, Bill Mench managed to singlehandedly draw the design of MOS 6502 chip (used in the C64 and Atari 2600) without any revisions!

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/bauertastic on 2025-02-02 13:33:16.

Original Title: TIL the song Entrance of the Gladiators was included as a military march in the repertoire of pieces imposed by the SS on prisoners' orchestras to accompany the departures and returns of the work Kommandos in Nazis concentration camps. Today it’s used to signify clowns.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Double-decker_trams on 2025-02-02 12:48:02.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/kdskdskinreddit on 2025-02-02 09:41:35.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/1000LiveEels on 2025-02-02 07:39:27.

Original Title: TIL from 1807 to 1890 the tiny archipelago of Heligoland in the North Sea was controlled by the British Empire. The British gained control during the Napoleonic Wars, and the islands were ceded to Germany in 1890 in return for various colonial holdings in East Africa.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Designer_Status6328 on 2025-02-02 05:04:38.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/NapalmBurns on 2025-02-02 04:55:36.

Original Title: TIL of barnacles - marine arthropods which - after a point in their life-cycle - live permanently attached to substrate - this is problematic, since they reproduce sexually - a penis of up to eight times their body length! - resolves this issue, allowing them to mate across vast distances.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/PolymathOfEsoterica on 2025-02-02 01:51:12.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/mrjohnnymac18 on 2025-02-01 21:19:59.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Careless_Spring_6764 on 2025-02-01 21:05:58.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/UndyingCorn on 2025-02-01 19:37:13.

Original Title: TIL Surfmen was the terminology used to describe members of the United States Lifesaving Service before it was merged into the US Coast Guard. It is also currently the highest qualification in the Coast Guard for small boat operations.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/supergamerdragon900 on 2025-02-01 17:32:24.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/KarlOveKnau on 2025-02-02 08:59:13.

Original Title: TIL Mavs GM Nico Harrison, while working at Nike in 2013 botched the presentation to Steph Curry, where he called him Seth, & the presentation he used was made for Kevin Durant. This, along with not offering Curry a signature shoe, caused Curry to switch from Nike & sign with Under Armor.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Double-decker_trams on 2025-02-02 08:44:40.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/No_Pianist3260 on 2025-02-02 08:39:14.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/SupermarketOk2281 on 2025-02-02 08:10:06.

Original Title: TIL Pinball was labeled a moral menace and BANNED in New York City from the 1940s-70s as a form of gambling. Police conducted raids, jailed owners, and had press conferences where the machines would be smashed with sledgehammers.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/GetYerHandOffMyPen15 on 2025-02-02 04:07:12.

Original Title: TIL that in 2003, when the Blaster computer worm was spreading, someone made another worm called Welchia that exploited the same Windows vulnerability. Welchia would delete the Blaster worm and then download Windows updates to close the vulnerability.