Today I Learned (TIL)

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/bdcp on 2025-01-30 21:06:42.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/afeeney on 2025-01-30 19:32:15.

Original Title: TIL: The Eastgate Centre in Harare, Zimbabwe, uses passive cooling in a design inspired by termite mounds. It uses 35% less energy than comparable buildings, saving approximately 10% of the building's capital costs.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/MississippiJoel on 2025-01-30 19:24:34.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Ainsley-Sorsby on 2025-01-30 19:21:46.

Original Title: TIL Henry VIII had an illegitimate son, Henry FitzRoy. He was briefly a candidate for the English throne, and to prevent Henry VIII's marriage annulement and break from the church, the pope considered suggesting instead to allow FitzRoy to marry his own sister, Mary Tudor, and proclaimed heir

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Fine_Sea5807 on 2025-01-30 19:09:05.

Original Title: TIL although Vietnam and China share the same calendar, the one-hour timezone difference can lead to occasional mismatches. Typically, this results in only a one-day disparity, but in 1985, the difference was so pronounced that Vietnam's Lunar New Year occurred a full month earlier than in China

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/roguetowel on 2025-01-30 18:06:58.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/TheArcticBeyond on 2025-01-30 16:13:47.

Original Title: TIL in 1647, the British Parliament banned Christmas in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland. Christmas was rebelliously celebrated with men carrying spikes clubs patrolling the streets making sure shops stayed closed and riots in Norwich killing 40 people, resulting in the Second Civil War

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Double-decker_trams on 2025-01-30 16:06:13.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/wtwtcgw on 2025-01-30 02:51:50.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/OldSchoolRPGs on 2025-01-30 14:56:05.

Original Title: TIL of a disgruntled designer for SimCopter (1996) that created an Easter Egg that would spawn "shirtless men in Speedo trunks who hugged and kissed each other" in great numbers on certain dates, such as Friday the 13th. But the RNG he created for it malfunctioned, leading them to appear frequently

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/MitchConner572 on 2025-01-30 11:02:21.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/CreeperRussS on 2025-01-30 08:58:56.

Original Title: TIL John Paul Jones, famous naval officer of the American Revolutionary War, was born in Arbigland, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland, and fled the country to avoid arrest after killing a mutinous subordinate. He later killed another mutinous crew member in Tobago, and 18 months later, was in Virginia.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/GetYerHandOffMyPen15 on 2025-01-30 05:43:46.

Original Title: TIL that asafoetida, a flavoring used in some Indian dishes, is called “devil’s shit” in French, Turkish, and several other languages. Its strong odor dissipates during cooking and it imparts a mild oniony flavor.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/zahrul3 on 2025-01-30 04:17:53.

Original Title: TIL that skatole, one of the many foul-smelling chemicals responsible for the odor of feces, will instead have a pleasant, flowery smell in very low concentrations is a major contributor to the smell of jasmine and orange blossoms.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Flares117 on 2025-01-30 08:07:48.

Original Title: TIL: Ala Kachuu is a form of bride kidnapping practiced in Kyrgyzstan and can be consensual or non consensual. In 2005, 1/3 of brides were non consensual and were strangers. However, in 2007, 2 US women were bride-kidnapped, but were returned once the boys discovered they were foreigners.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/stonesthrwaway on 2025-01-30 07:57:03.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/stephenlocksley27 on 2025-01-30 07:12:18.

Original Title: TIL that in 1997, a crew member on the USS Yorktown (CG-48) entered 0 into a database field. It caused the Remote Data Base Manager to attempt to divide by zero, causing all machinery on the network to stop working, including the propulsion system.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/TriviaDuchess on 2025-01-30 06:42:35.

Original Title: TIL when Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith was murdered in 1844, he had around 44 wives. About 25 followed Brigham Young—some he married, while others were given to different men. 11 stayed with their other husbands, (yes it was polyandry) and 8 didn’t follow Brigham’s church and moved away.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/TriviaDuchess on 2025-01-30 04:17:16.

Original Title: TIL when King Charles II died in 1685, his brother James II became the King because Charles had no legitimate heirs. Charles’ wife, Queen Catherine, suffered multiple miscarriages, and all of his 12 acknowledged children were born to his multiple mistresses, making them ineligible to reign.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/kgm2s-2 on 2025-01-30 04:05:37.

Original Title: TIL that the NATO mutual defense treaty only applies to territories North of the Tropic of Cancer, meaning that an attack on Hawaii would NOT trigger a response by other NATO members...an attack on Guantanamo Bay would, likewise, not trigger a response.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/wilsonofoz on 2025-01-30 03:41:16.

Original Title: TIL Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize, founded the Green Belt Movement, which planted tens of millions of trees in Kenya. She faced imprisonment and violent opposition for her environmental and pro-democracy activism

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Acroze on 2025-01-30 01:53:51.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/weeef on 2025-01-30 01:26:25.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/not--a--redditor on 2025-01-30 00:57:46.

Original Title: TIL that since 1945, the Netherlands has sent Canada thousands of tulips every year as a thank-you for sheltering their royal family during WWII. This annual gift led to the creation of the famous Canadian Tulip Festival.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/AprumMol on 2025-01-29 22:58:40.