Today I learned

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TIL why Palpatine loves democracy

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TIL about the 2018 US Prison Strike, an attempt by prisoners to end US Prison Slavery

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Strike participants, their families, and advocacy groups reported that the leaders and organizers of the strike were punished with solitary confinement, loss of communication privileges, and prison transfers.[4][5][6]

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TIL about the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF), an anti-communist organization created by the CIA to sway Intellectual opinion against communism

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Video: https://lemmy.ml/post/39416509

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TIL about abogen. A tool to generate audiobooks from EPUBs, PDFs and text with synchronized captions.

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TIL The ability to count is universal in the animal kingdom. Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it.

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TIL about The Lobby, a 2017 Docuseries about AIPAC, whose second series was blocked

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Film also claims that Adam Milstein funds Canary Mission

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TIL that there was a man named William Patrick Hitler, a man who could have been a Nazi prince yet instead became an American veteran who helped defeat his uncle's empire.

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TIL that there was a man named William Patrick Hitler, a man who could have been a Nazi prince yet instead became an American veteran who helped defeat his uncle’s empire.

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Today I learned that the top 10% of earners in the US account for almost 50% of consumption

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TIL why the USA is borked in terms of rare earths

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Spoiler: it was American private equity, as usual.

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TIL About the 1985 MOVE bombing, where the Philadelphia Police Department bombed and burned 61 houses, murdering 11 and leaving 250 homeless

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TIL About the Jeju Massacre, where South Korean forces wiped out 10 percent of the island of Jeju for the crime of organizing a General Strike

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TIL that Sacramento CA hosts a heavy metal and rock festival every year.

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2023 looked like a killer year to go.

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A group of Irish grocery workers banning grapefruit led to Ireland being the first county to pass BDS against Apartheid South Africa

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TIL Girls of the Kayan tribe start wearing neck rings at around 5 years old. The rings can stretch their necks to a length of about 15 inches (38 cm).

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TIL there are extensions to automatically expand abbreviations in Firefox

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edit: nevermind this, it’s just a subset of what a dictionary extension could do. I’m just stupid.

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Stainless steel can self-heal a bit

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TIL of the Battle of Athens (1946)

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TIL the famous Socrates quote about children being disrespectful and having bad manners was actually a fabrication written by a Canadian college student in 1907

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Fascism was founded by an illegal immigrant

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"De retour en Suisse, il fut expulsé du canton de Genève en avril 1904 pour avoir falsifié la date de validité de son passeport..."

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TIL In 1975, the US overthrew the democratically elected leader of Australia for his opposition to the war on Vietnam.

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A few more articles on this:

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TIL the United States has 94 nuclear power plants.

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In 2024, U.S. utilities operated 94 nuclear reactors with a total net generating capacity of nearly 97 gigawatts (GW), the largest commercial nuclear power generation fleet in the world.

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TIL zombo.com still exists, and no longer requires flash

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TiL that only seven countries make up more than half of the world's human population

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TL;DR: India, China, US, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Brazil. Aggregated percent of total: 50.4

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TIL that Chile, Argentina, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Taiwan, Greenland, and the Phillipines are the only countries that you can tunnel through to hit another land mass. All others lead to water.

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Today I learned that the "KNIGHTS" scene from Shrek 2, the scene parodying the 'COPS' TV show, was based off of the car chase with OJ Simpson in 1994, where he fled the scene in a white Ford Bronco.

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They made Donkey a stallion and made him white, and during the episode of 'KNIGHTS' showcasing the chase with Shrek, Donkey, Puss in Boots, and the others, they call Donkey a 'white bronco' on the police radio while the chase unfolds.

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Today I learned that Barilla created Spotify playlists that are the length of time needed to cook pasta to al dente

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Drop the pasta, start the playlist, when the music is over, you've got perfectly cooked pasta

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@ todayilearned Today I learned about the "village homosexual" in Tahitian culture who is always available when there are no women

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@todayilearned Today I learned about the "village homosexual" in Tahitian culture who is always available when there are no women.

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TIL that Taiwan isn't the only Chinese province controlled by the Republic of China

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It seems that the Republic of China also control a few islands in the Fuchien/Fujian province as well, which are quite close to the People's Republic of China

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TIL there are "libraries" in London where you can borrow gadgets

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The Library of Things offers Londoners the chance to get their hands on the random tools, gadgets, and household items they need, in a far more sustainable way than buying them brand new. From camping gear and carpet cleaners to party supplies and pressure washers; the Library of Things is packed full with handy items to borrow at affordable prices. And with 19 libraries now scattered across the city; it’s never been more convenient to borrow rather than buy.

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TIL ska originated in the 1950s and is the precursor to reggae

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@ todayilearned Today I learned that the Archbishop of York had a piece of Louis XIV's mummified heart in a locket

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@todayilearned Today I learned that the Archbishop of York had a piece of Louis XIV's mummified heart in a locket. In 1848 he showed it to the Dean of Westminster, who ate it. westminster-abbey.org/abbey-co

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TIL of the Donner Party who were a group of pioneers including women and children who had to resort to cannibalism after an early snowfall cut off their destination, just one mountain pass over.

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TIL the tallest statue in Australia is a 15 M high sheep known as big merino

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TIL that, when traveling overseas, Queen Elizabeth II did not need a passport. Since all passports were issued in her name, it was unnecessary for The Queen to possess one.

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TIL that axolotls, a salamander native to Mexico, can regenerate entire limbs, spinal cords, and even parts of their brains without scarring.

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TIL that Norman Borlaug, an agricultural scientist, developed high-yield, disease-resistant wheat that helped prevent famine and is credited with saving over 1.2 billion lives. He won the Nobel Prize

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TIL evidence of a precursor to warfare has been found at Nataruk in Kenya. Remains of at least 27 individuals have been found and dated to 7550–8550 BC. The skeletons were bound and beaten.

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TIL two men conned €55m from wealthy people by asking for aid posing as French minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in online meetings by wearing a silicone mask of Le Drian & sitting at a fake official desk.

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TIL that in 2015, Seal released an official explanation of the lyrics to "Kiss from a Rose." It read: "I have avoided explaining these lyrics for 25 years. I am not going to start doing it now."

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@ todayilearned Today I learned that Wernher von Braun (of Nazi Rocket Scientist infamy) wrote a sci-fi novel about Mars colonisation

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@todayilearned Today I learned that Wernher von Braun (of Nazi Rocket Scientist infamy) wrote a sci-fi novel about Mars colonisation. In 1971 a South African racist named his son after the book's Martian Leader: Elon

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(sorry if this doesn’t fit) i don’t speak russian, so today i learned “lunch” and “dinner” apparently use the same word (although dinner also has ужин)

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i know someone who is a native russian speaker and said they were “eating lunch” at 5pm despite already having eaten lunch. i was confused, and either figured they were having a second or late lunch, when i found this:

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TIL After Joan of Arc was executed on charges of heresy, her mother spent 25 years clearing her name. She convinced the pope to reopen Joan's case and attended the retrial - in her 70s.

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TIL Danny Trejo has a clause in his movie contracts that requires his villainous characters to die by the end of the film. He wants children to learn that crime doesn't pay.

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TIL, that the largest arthropod in the world is a spider crab with a width of over 12 feet and weighing in at nearly 45 pounds! Known as the Japanese Spider Crab.

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TIL Robert Kehoe discovered reports that the chemical benzidine caused bladder cancer. His client, DuPont, made benzidine. Instead of alerting the American public, Kehoe stuffed the report in a box. T

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TIL that two libraries in Portugal allow bats to nest in them, because they eat bugs that would eat the books.

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TIL in 1945 after a compulsory viewing of a film on the holocaust, 1000 German POWs at Camp Butner burned their German uniforms in disgust

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TIL optical telegraphs (at the turn of the 19th century) had many features now commonplace in modern networks, including control characters, routing, error control, flow control, message priority, and

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TIL April 8th 1945 a prisoner at Buchenwald rigged up a radio transmitter and sent a message in a desperate attempt to contact the allies for rescue. 3 minutes after his message the US Army answered "

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TIL a poll of 1,000 US visitors to Scotland found 33% thought haggis was an animal; 23% said they came to Scotland believing they could catch one. Haggis is traditionally made out of a sheep's stomach

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TIL During the height of Frasier's popularity, Moose, the dog who played Eddie, received more fan mail than any of his human costars.

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TIL In 1863 Copperhead leader Clement Vallandigham was exiled across enemy lines to the Confederacy by order of Abraham Lincoln, who considered him a “wily agitator” but did not want him to become a m

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TIL Australia is home to 10% of the world's reptile species, which is more than any other country.

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TIL In 1315 the republic of Florence abolished direct taxation, which was perceived as oppressive. The city was funded instead by indirect taxes, like tariffs and consumption taxes but also adopted a

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TIL "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on my Head" was first written for *Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid*

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TIL "god damn" doesn't actually refer to God.

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It's just another French word we fucked up.

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TIL that as you increase your walking speed there is a point where walking any faster would take more energy than running

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TIL that the OBS logo is a Japanese taiko drum symbol.

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TIL the voice actor for Marshmellow on Bob's Burger was David Herman for the first 8 seasons and now is done by Jari Jones

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She killed Seabird on the new episode "Hope N' Mic Night".

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TIL there is apparently a $43,652 chandelier on Amazon, and there are only 20 left in stock so invest now!!!

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Today I Learned that letters with round tops (Q, O, S, etc.) are drawn a smidgeon higher than letters with flat tops (E,T,F, etc.). This 'overshoot' makes them appear equal to our perception

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TIL that all those videos about the old Hollywood accent are absolute BS.

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TIL that the "Blowing smoke up my ass" phrase probably didn't come from a medical usage, but North Americans did use tobacco for health reasons.

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That unusual therapy is all very well—or perhaps not—but its existence among some pre-Columbian peoples of the Western Hemisphere and some post-Columbian peoples of eighteenth-century Europe does little to explain why the slang expression "blow smoke up [someone's] ass" emerged only in the 1940s or later. My guess is that the historical practice is only coincidentally related to the modern expression.

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TIL about "Dubbing", the practice of removing part of a farmed birds earlobes or other parts attached to the head. It is usually done without any anesthetic

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TIL of Waldorf schools

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I mentioned to someone how I think there should be more hands-on learning in schools and he told me to look up Waldorf schools. Very interesting to say the least. Rudolf Steiner had very unique philosophies, some very weird or outright morally questionable, but some that I think were an appropriate reaction to the “thinking in the box” that is often dolled out in school.

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TIL that Gwyneth Paltrow is not just a harmless grifter

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I never went as far as to defend Gwyneth Paltrow, but after her Hot Ones appearance I created a post (which I will link in the comments) where I suggested that she's done no more harm than male grifters and that the dislike of her as a person was primarily due to misogyny. That's before I learned about her promotion of these unproven "vampire facials". Now an unlicensed clinic performing this procedure has given at least three women HIV. You guys were right and I was wrong.

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TIL March is Irish American heritage month, but we don't have a British-American, or Scottish-American heritage month.

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TIL: Eating pine nuts can occasionally cause some people to experience a bitter or metallic taste lasting from a few days up to 2 weeks

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The symptoms normally disappear after several days and there are no adverse health effects.

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There are French controlled islands off the coast of Newfoundland (Canada)

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…a self-governing territorial of France

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Some owls have skinny long legs

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Vladamir Putin played the piano and sang 'Blueberry Hill' in English

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I don't like the guy, I just found this on YouTube and decided to share it

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TIL about the concept of Weaponized Incompetence, a psychological concept wherein you strategically fail to perform something you don't actually want to do

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TIL a woman delivered three minutes of Patton Oswalt's 9-minute Parks and Rec Star Wars filibuster speech at a real Michigan city council meeting in 2019.

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TIL that a year after an officer pleaded guilty to lying to a judge to get the warrant to search Breonna Taylor's apartment, no one involved has served a day of jail time

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Kelly Goodlett admitted that police did not have the evidence that they presented to a judge in order to get the warrant, including fabricating testimony from the postal inspector that a known drug dealer was sending packages to that house. Goodlett has been convicted and is free while awaiting sentencing. Joshua Jayne, Kyle Meany and Brett Hankison are charged with various crimes surrounding the false testimony and are awaiting trial. They have had their trials pushed back multiple times each. It has been over three years since Breonna Taylor was murdered by police and even those who admitted to crimes are still free.

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TIL - The Library of Congress has a collection of slave stories, records and photos

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I was looking for a folk song from Oh Brother Where Art Thou and it sent me to this. I thought it would have the song, but it was this particular slave's story.

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