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Today I Learned (TIL)

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TIL that Oliver North accidentally inverted two digits on a Swiss bank account number, sending $10m meant for the Contras, solicited from the Sultan of Brunei, to an unsuspecting Swiss businessman.

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TIL in 1994, Tian Mingjian, a PLA officer, went rogue. After killing his superiors, he escaped his military base and went on a shooting spree, killing at least 24 people and injuring over 80.

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TIL that there is currently an anti-pope

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TIL a judge sentenced a 21-year-old with no criminal record to 10 days in jail for oversleeping and missing jury duty

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TIL in 2019, a Florida woman sold a grilled cheese sandwich with an image of the Virgin Mary on it, and a bite missing, for $28,000

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TIL: within 8 months three different members of Fleetwood Mac died, independently of each other. They were all named Bob.

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TIL Papua New Guinea has ~840 living languages, the most of any country and around ~12% of all living languages in the world

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TIL Bhutan, a small Himalayan country, does not have any traffic lights; one was installed in 1995 but removed after 24 hours

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TIL that the eyelashes of men are actually longer than women's eyelashes

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TIL that in Georgia, Florida, and North and South Carolina, there is a group of African Americans that preserved much of their culture and language called the Gullah people.

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TIL in 2019, a Florida woman sold a grilled cheese sandwich with an image of the Virgin Mary on it, and a bite missing, for $28,000

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TIL: within 8 months three different members of Fleetwood Mac died, independently of each other. They were all named Bob.

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TIL I learned that Whitney Houston holds the record for most consecutive number 1 songs.

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TIL Papua New Guinea has ~840 living languages, the most of any country and around ~12% of all living languages in the world

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TIL Bhutan, a small Himalayan country, does not have any traffic lights; one was installed in 1995 but removed after 24 hours

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TIL that the eyelashes of men are actually longer than women's eyelashes

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TIL that in Georgia, Florida, and North and South Carolina, there is a group of African Americans that preserved much of their culture and language called the Gullah people.

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TIL that Oliver North accidentally inverted two digits on a Swiss bank account number, sending $10m meant for the Contras, solicited from the Sultan of Brunei, to an unsuspecting Swiss businessman.

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TIL that Africa has most of the world’s human genetic diversity in fact more than the rest of the world combined.

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TIL various Rochester restaurants offer their own version of the "Garbage Plate" under different names to avoid trademark infringement. One local vegan place offers the Compost Plate.

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TIL that the 1967 Wimbledon Championships was the first colour television broadcast in the UK

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TIL that astronomer Tycho Brahe had affixed a brass nose after losing his original one in a student duel with his third cousin over who was the better mathematician

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TIL if current policies hold, the ozone layer is projected to return to 1980 (pre-hole) levels by around 2066 over Antarctica, 2045 over the Arctic, and 2040 for the rest of the world.

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TIL that the 1967 Wimbledon Championships was the first colour television broadcast in the UK

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TIL that Africa has most of the world’s human genetic diversity in fact more than the rest of the world combined.

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TIL various Rochester restaurants offer their own version of the "Garbage Plate" under different names to avoid trademark infringement. One local vegan place offers the Compost Plate.

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TIL "Swiss cheese" was invented in the USA.

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TIL The Texas city of El Paso was the first American city to individually restrict cannabis in 1915.

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TIL that before World War One, it was common for Canada to be without a Prime Minister for 5-10 days at the end of their term or at their death.

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TIL The Texas city of El Paso was the first American city to individually restrict cannabis in 1915.

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TIL An estimated 10.7 million enslaved Africans arrived alive to the Americas out of an estimated 12.5 million embarked, leaving 1.8 million dead at sea

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TIL that before World War One, it was common for Canada to be without a Prime Minister for 5-10 days at the end of their term or at their death.

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TIL An estimated 10.7 million enslaved Africans arrived alive to the Americas out of an estimated 12.5 million embarked, leaving 1.8 million dead at sea

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TIL the oldest ever filmmaker was Manoel de Oliveira. He made his first film in 1931 and his last film in 2014. He died in 2015 aged 106.

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TIL Explosion welding exists, a process able to attach two metals that may not be compatible through other welding methods

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TIL The Star-Spangled Banner wasn’t adopted as the US national anthem until 1931

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TIL that Byzantine Emperor Basil I died in 886 after his belt got caught in a deer’s antlers during a hunt. The animal dragged him 16 miles through the woods before he later died from his injuries.

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TIL: That Kowloon Walled City reached a population density of 1,300,000 people per km², making it the most densely populated place ever on earth

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TIL the oldest ever filmmaker was Manoel de Oliveira. He made his first film in 1931 and his last film in 2014. He died in 2015 aged 106.

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TIL Explosion welding exists, a process able to attach two metals that may not be compatible through other welding methods

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TIL that Frogs Can't Vomit, So They Eject Their Entire Stomachs

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TIL that Byzantine Emperor Basil I died in 886 after his belt got caught in a deer’s antlers during a hunt. The animal dragged him 16 miles through the woods before he later died from his injuries.

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TIL: That Kowloon Walled City reached a population density of 1,300,000 people per km², making it the most densely populated place ever on earth

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TIL The Star-Spangled Banner wasn’t adopted as the US national anthem until 1931

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TIL that the James Webb Space Telescope operates at -233°C, colder than most of deep space, because its infrared sensors need to be cooler than the objects they’re observing to detect them accurately

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TIL that there is a city in Canada that is 52.4% South Asian

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TIL there has never been a confirmed case of human-to-human rabies transmission via bite.

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TIL there has never been a confirmed case of human-to-human rabies transmission via bite.

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TIL the Portuguese fought Somali sultanates for nearly 40 years in the 1500s but never succeeded in colonizing Somalia.

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TIL that Jaswant Basuta stopped for a drink at the airport bar and missed Pan Am Flight 103 by just minutes. Everyone aboard was killed. Watch him tell his story in the linked video.

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TIL the Portuguese fought Somali sultanates for nearly 40 years in the 1500s but never succeeded in colonizing Somalia.

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TIL that in 2023, a group of tech students with no restaurant experience made a steakhouse in NYC as a practical joke.

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TIL Rocky’s apartment is located at the southern end of Tusculum Street in Philadelphia. The owner was paid $50 for the use of her home’s exterior in Rocky and then $500 for Rocky II

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TIL that since 2005, tennis courts in the US Open have been painted blue inside the lines to make the ball easier to see. The color was even trademarked as "US Open Blue."

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TIL that Claudia Cardinale was cast in "Once Upon A Time In The West" (1968) partly because Sergio Leone reckoned he would get a tax break for casting an actress of Italian nationality.

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TIL that in 2023, a group of tech students with no restaurant experience made a steakhouse in NYC as a practical joke.

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TIL Rocky’s apartment is located at the southern end of Tusculum Street in Philadelphia. The owner was paid $50 for the use of her home’s exterior in Rocky and then $500 for Rocky II

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TIL that Claudia Cardinale was cast in "Once Upon A Time In The West" (1968) partly because Sergio Leone reckoned he would get a tax break for casting an actress of Italian nationality.

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TIL that Thomas Edison, inventor of the phonograph, was mostly deaf. Despite this, he exercised tight controls on record production based on which musical artists he thought "sounded good."

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TIL Nunavut, Canada has a sub-census division larger than California with a population of 18.

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TIL that during the 1970s and 1980s, movies often used real human skeletons instead of plastic replicas because medical-supply bones were significantly cheaper to buy than to manufacture.

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TIL the American South has been plagued by hookworm parasites for centuries. They are largely responsible for the stereotype that Southerners are lazy and stupid.

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TIL that Liechtenstein’s first election didn’t have any political parties. The election was almost entirely focused on a candidate’s personality instead.

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TIL that since 2005, tennis courts in the US Open have been painted blue inside the lines to make the ball easier to see. The color was even trademarked as "US Open Blue."

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TIL The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004) is heavily based on Homer's Odyssey

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TIL the classical guitar piece Cavatina from The Deer Hunter was originally conceived by composer Stanley Myers as a piece for piano until the guitarist John Williams convinced him to rearrange it.

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TIL between 1904 and 1908, Germany committed the Herero and Nama genocide in present day Namibia, killing an estimated 80% of the Herero people and half of the Nama people.

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TIL that Thomas Edison, inventor of the phonograph, was mostly deaf. Despite this, he exercised tight controls on record production based on which musical artists he thought "sounded good."

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TIL that 'Jethro Tull' was an actual person, an English agricultural inventor from the 1700s

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TIL Nunavut, Canada has a sub-census division larger than California with a population of 18.

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TIL that during the 1970s and 1980s, movies often used real human skeletons instead of plastic replicas because medical-supply bones were significantly cheaper to buy than to manufacture.

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TIL the American South has been plagued by hookworm parasites for centuries. They are largely responsible for the stereotype that Southerners are lazy and stupid.

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TIL that Liechtenstein’s first election didn’t have any political parties. The election was almost entirely focused on a candidate’s personality instead.

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TIL between 1904 and 1908, Germany committed the Herero and Nama genocide in present day Namibia, killing an estimated 80% of the Herero people and half of the Nama people.

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TIL that Hawaii has the 6th highest elevation point of all US states - higher up than the highest points in Utah, Montana, and Idaho

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TIL that two homes in the US state of Texas were accidentally demolished when the demolition company followed the GPS to the wrong address

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TIL that in 1995, a man robbed two banks after rubbing lemon juice on his face, believing it would make him invisible to security cameras because lemon juice is used as invisible ink

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TIL that synthetic musk—one of the most common base notes in modern perfume—was discovered completely by accident in 1888 while a chemist was trying to invent a more powerful form of TNT.

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TIL the classical guitar piece Cavatina from The Deer Hunter was originally conceived by composer Stanley Myers as a piece for piano until the guitarist John Williams convinced him to rearrange it.

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TIL that when companies get breached, the average time before they even notice is 200+ days

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TIL that Apple coined the term "Podcast". It is a combination of the words "iPod" and "broadcast".

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TIL that Hawaii has the 6th highest elevation point of all US states - higher up than the highest points in Utah, Montana, and Idaho

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TIL that two homes in the US state of Texas were accidentally demolished when the demolition company followed the GPS to the wrong address

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TIL that in 1995, a man robbed two banks after rubbing lemon juice on his face, believing it would make him invisible to security cameras because lemon juice is used as invisible ink

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TIL that synthetic musk—one of the most common base notes in modern perfume—was discovered completely by accident in 1888 while a chemist was trying to invent a more powerful form of TNT.

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TIL that Andrew and Tristan Tate's father, Emory Tate, was an American chess International Master who won the U.S. Armed Forces Chess Championship five times.

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TIL the line "This town ain't big enough for the both of us" comes from the 1932 movie The Western Code

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TIL utopia literally translates as "no place" in Greek, meaning it doesn't exist

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TIL that Andrew and Tristan Tate's father, Emory Tate, was an American chess International Master who won the U.S. Armed Forces Chess Championship five times.

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TIL the line "This town ain't big enough for the both of us" comes from the 1932 movie The Western Code

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TIL utopia literally translates as "no place" in Greek, meaning it doesn't exist

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TIL that some ancient scholars theorized that only the first 23 books of the Odyssey were composed by "Homer", with the final book being composed by a different person.

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TIL that Russian cows that have been given virtual-reality glasses increase their milk production.

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TIL the first book Dr. Seuss illustrated but didn’t write was *The Pocket Book of Boners*

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TIL that, according to Chinese legend, the founder of the second dynasty of China decided to overthrow the first known dynasty after the king forced him to eat a meat dish made from his own son.

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TIL about Saroo Brierley, a 5-year old boy who fell asleep on a train in India and woke up 1,400 km from home. He found his mother 25 years later using satellite images on Google Earth.

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TIL: The 1907 Peking to Paris Car Race took 2 Months and the Second Place Racer was Arrested for Fraud

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TIL that onions are the only agricultural commodity that is banned from futures trading in the US

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TIL about Roy Sullivan, a U.S. park ranger who was struck by lightning seven times between 1942 and 1977 and survived all of them, earning him the nickname "Human Lightning Conductor.

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TIL that Greece and Albania are technically still at war. The Greek parliament declared a state of war in October 1940 after Italian-occupied Albania attacked Greece. The law still remains.

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