Today I Learned (TIL)

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You learn something new every day; what did you learn today? Submit interesting and specific facts about something that you just found out here.

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1551
1
TIL about the CSS Shenandoah, a sailing ship used by the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War. She surrendered on November 6, 1865 on the River Mersey in the United Kingdom 6 mont... (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Blackraven2007 on 2025-01-24 17:48:04.

Original Title: TIL about the CSS Shenandoah, a sailing ship used by the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War. She surrendered on November 6, 1865 on the River Mersey in the United Kingdom 6 months after the end of the war.

1552
1
TIL the draining of Lake Agassiz 9,500 years ago may have raised sea levels up to 1M worldwide in a year, creating global flood myths. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/DominoDaddy2 on 2025-01-24 23:27:05.
1553
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TIL that a restaurant chain in Missouri and Alabama is known for throwing bread rolls to its customers. In 2015, they were sued by a customer who claimed to have suffered permanent eye damage fro... (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/GetYerHandOffMyPen15 on 2025-01-24 23:20:11.

Original Title: TIL that a restaurant chain in Missouri and Alabama is known for throwing bread rolls to its customers. In 2015, they were sued by a customer who claimed to have suffered permanent eye damage from a thrown roll. The restaurant admitted it was not the first time such a thing had happened.

1554
1
TIL that Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria posed as a mummy, for fun, in an early face-in-hole (=Photo stand in) tourist attraction in Cairo, 1894. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/abaganoush on 2025-01-24 22:33:11.
1555
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TIL that one man, Thomas Nast, created the modern illustration of Uncle Sam, the symbol for both major political parties, and the modern image of Santa Claus. He also helped popularize the dollar ... (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/32Zn on 2025-01-24 22:20:26.

Original Title: TIL that one man, Thomas Nast, created the modern illustration of Uncle Sam, the symbol for both major political parties, and the modern image of Santa Claus. He also helped popularize the dollar sign as a symbol of greed and corruption in his political cartoons.

1556
1
TIL Pope Pius XII once asserted in a speech that the Big Bang theory scientifically proved that the universe was created by a divine creator. Horrified, the physicist Georges Lemaître convinced th... (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/greatmanyarrows on 2025-01-24 21:06:41.

Original Title: TIL Pope Pius XII once asserted in a speech that the Big Bang theory scientifically proved that the universe was created by a divine creator. Horrified, the physicist Georges Lemaître convinced the Pope not to make any further statements connecting his theory and theology.

1557
1
TIL In Canada 2013, two little boys on a sleepover were strangled to death by a 100lb python. The snake came thru a vent from a pet shop below their room. The owner was eventually found not guilty... (www.cnn.com)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Cultural_Magician105 on 2025-01-24 20:33:21.

Original Title: TIL In Canada 2013, two little boys on a sleepover were strangled to death by a 100lb python. The snake came thru a vent from a pet shop below their room. The owner was eventually found not guilty of negligent homicide.

1558
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TIL Unlike most bivalves, scallops possess up to 200 small eyes along the edge of their mantles. These eyes utilize a concave, parabolic mirror of guanine crystals to focus light, allowing scallop... (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Plus-Staff on 2025-01-24 19:05:41.

Original Title: TIL Unlike most bivalves, scallops possess up to 200 small eyes along the edge of their mantles. These eyes utilize a concave, parabolic mirror of guanine crystals to focus light, allowing scallops to detect movement and changes in light, aiding in predator detection.

1559
1
TIL Computers needed only 10 Likes to predict personality more accurately than a work colleague, 70 to outperform a friend or roommate, and 150 to surpass a family member. This was in 2015! (www.cam.ac.uk)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/101UserFound on 2025-01-24 18:55:02.
1560
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TIL That the US Navy Decommissioned Its Last Combat Capable Diesel-Electric Submarine (USS Blueback) In 1990. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Lemmingmaster64 on 2025-01-24 18:54:35.
1561
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TIL that Gene Roddenberry originally did not want to cast Patrick Stewart as Picard, since he had envisioned an actor who was "masculine, virile, and had a lot of hair". (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/friendlystranger4u on 2025-01-24 18:20:53.
1562
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TIL of Derinkuyu, an ancient underground city in Turkey. 18 stories deep, it housed 20,000 people, protecting them from attacks for months. It had stables, schools & wineries, and was used for... (www.bbc.com)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Pfeffer_Prinz on 2025-01-24 17:31:51.

Original Title: TIL of Derinkuyu, an ancient underground city in Turkey. 18 stories deep, it housed 20,000 people, protecting them from attacks for months. It had stables, schools & wineries, and was used for millennia til the 20s. It was found by a man whose chickens kept going in a crevasse & never coming back

1563
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TIL that just outside of St. Louis, MO, around 1100AD, was a city of 20,000 people, larger than London at the time, and the largest pre-Columbian site north of Mexico. (cahokiamounds.org)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/g3nerallycurious on 2025-01-24 17:02:32.
1564
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TIL Duke Nukem Forever spent more than 14 years in development, from 1997 to 2011. It was released to mostly negative reviews (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/wilsonofoz on 2025-01-24 16:37:50.
1565
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TIL there were just 5 surviving longbows from medieval England known to exist before 137 whole longbows (and 3,500 arrows) were recovered from the wreck of the Mary Rose in 1980 (a ship of Henry V... (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/tyrion2024 on 2025-01-24 14:03:31.

Original Title: TIL there were just 5 surviving longbows from medieval England known to exist before 137 whole longbows (and 3,500 arrows) were recovered from the wreck of the Mary Rose in 1980 (a ship of Henry VIII's navy that capsized in 1545). The bows were in excellent finished condition & have been preserved.

1566
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TIL that, due to an infection in his youth, famed agricultural scientist George Washington Carver had such a high pitched voice that it “startled all who met him.” (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/GetYerHandOffMyPen15 on 2025-01-24 13:47:58.
1567
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TIL about “Thought Broadcasting”, a type of delusion that centers on the fear that others can hear their thoughts, or that they are not private. (www.verywellmind.com)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/IHatePeople79 on 2025-01-24 13:23:04.
1568
1
TIL The Government of Canada's toll-free telephone number is 1 800 O-Canada (www.canada.ca)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/amazingbollweevil on 2025-01-24 12:26:54.
1569
1
TIL that the orange color, strength and high sharpness of Komodo dragons' teeth are due to the high iron content in the enamel (www.nature.com)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Minimum_Impact_5031 on 2025-01-24 11:40:57.
1570
1
TIL The XNBL-1 "Barling Bomber" was an experimental American bomber that was nicknamed “Mitchell's Folly". It was so underpowered that on a flight from Dayton, Ohio to an airshow in Washington, DC... (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/UndyingCorn on 2025-01-24 11:04:19.

Original Title: TIL The XNBL-1 "Barling Bomber" was an experimental American bomber that was nicknamed “Mitchell's Folly". It was so underpowered that on a flight from Dayton, Ohio to an airshow in Washington, DC, it failed to achieve enough height to get over the Appalachian Mountains and had to turn around.

1571
1
TIL the most common state of matter in the universe isn't solid, liquid, or gas, but plasma (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/theboyd1986 on 2025-01-24 08:33:57.
1572
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TIL the Kerguelen Islands, nicknamed the "Desolation Islands," host WWII’s southernmost German war grave. A sailor from the cruiser Atlantis died there in 1940 while painting the ship's funnel. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/BezugssystemCH1903 on 2025-01-24 06:28:23.
1573
1
TIL the Soviet Union nearly launched a nuclear attack on China in 1969, only the intervention of the United States stopped them (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/JeffJefferson19 on 2025-01-24 04:06:29.
1574
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TIL strength training also involves the nervous system, where your strength is not only determined by how big your muscles are, but by how well the nervous system can recruit muscles, synchronize ... (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/poopie_pants on 2025-01-24 02:45:42.

Original Title: TIL strength training also involves the nervous system, where your strength is not only determined by how big your muscles are, but by how well the nervous system can recruit muscles, synchronize their firing, and prevent mechanisms designed to prevent your body from tearing itself apart.

1575
1
TIL a 240 acre island off the coast of Scotland supplies half the world's curling stones. (Which are actual stones) (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 5 months ago by bOt@zerobytes.monster to c/todayilearned@zerobytes.monster
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The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Overall_Lavishness46 on 2025-01-24 02:00:34.
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