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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176
1
TIL that camels don't store water but food reserves in their humps. Their extra water is stored in the bloodstream, (www.loc.gov)
submitted 6 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/innergamedude on 2025-05-06 13:34:17+00:00.

177
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TIL that for more than four hundred years beginning in the mid-seventh century, some 50 percent of the world’s Christians lived under Muslim rule (press.princeton.edu)
submitted 6 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Udzu on 2025-05-06 12:39:17+00:00.

178
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TIL that in 1959 the United States Postal Service tried delivering mail with a cruise missile (postalmuseum.si.edu)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Datdarnpupper on 2025-05-06 12:23:41+00:00.

179
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TIL in 1998, a 10-year-old girl in Austria was dragged into a car and kidnapped. The case was unsolved by authorities for 8 years until in 2006 she knocked on someone’s door and said “I am Natasch... (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/bendubberley_ on 2025-05-06 12:02:51+00:00.

Original Title: TIL in 1998, a 10-year-old girl in Austria was dragged into a car and kidnapped. The case was unsolved by authorities for 8 years until in 2006 she knocked on someone’s door and said “I am Natascha Kampusch.” She had just escaped the cellar she was being abused in by a local technician.

180
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TIL that some Victorians embraced the dangerous "tapeworm diet," swallowing tapeworm eggs in hopes the parasites would absorb food in the intestines, aiding weight loss. Tapeworms can live over 20... (www.atlasobscura.com)
submitted 6 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Upstairs_Drive_5602 on 2025-05-06 11:26:05+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that some Victorians embraced the dangerous "tapeworm diet," swallowing tapeworm eggs in hopes the parasites would absorb food in the intestines, aiding weight loss. Tapeworms can live over 20 years, grow as long as 80 feet, and cause severe health issues.

181
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TIL of the Gastric Brooding Frog aka Platypus frog, that swallows its eggs and broods the young in its stomach, eventually giving birth through its mouth. (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/nosedigging on 2025-05-06 07:30:05+00:00.

182
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TIL that in the early 20th century, Danes living under Prussian rule were banned from displaying the Danish flag. To protest this, they bred pigs with a red and white color pattern similar to thei... (www.mentalfloss.com)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/EuphoricNecessary864 on 2025-05-06 05:15:21+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that in the early 20th century, Danes living under Prussian rule were banned from displaying the Danish flag. To protest this, they bred pigs with a red and white color pattern similar to their flag. The breed is now called the Danish Protest Pig

183
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TIL that out of 20,000 people the Khmer Rouge sent to Cambodia's notorious S-21 prison, only 12 survived (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/JoeyZasaa on 2025-05-06 04:31:39+00:00.

184
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TIL it takes orders of magnitude greater computational resources to recognise a loved one in a photograph than it does to perform a complex arithmetic calculation. This is called Moravec's paradox... (www.alphanome.ai)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/RatedArgForPiratesFU on 2025-05-06 02:51:01+00:00.

Original Title: TIL it takes orders of magnitude greater computational resources to recognise a loved one in a photograph than it does to perform a complex arithmetic calculation. This is called Moravec's paradox. We effortlessly do as humans what computers find incredibly demanding, and vice versa.

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TIL that in 1995, a man received a "check" for $95,000 as junk mail. Jokingly, he deposited it into his account. The "check" met all of the legal criteria for a check and was cashed. (www.sfgate.com)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/bendubberley_ on 2025-05-06 02:24:45+00:00.

186
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TIL Emilia Clarke read the words that revealed her character Daenerys Targaryen's fate 7 times in a row thinking "What, what, what, WHAT!?" because it "comes out of fucking nowhere." She also crie... (ew.com)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/tyrion2024 on 2025-05-06 02:10:11+00:00.

Original Title: TIL Emilia Clarke read the words that revealed her character Daenerys Targaryen's fate 7 times in a row thinking "What, what, what, WHAT!?" because it "comes out of fucking nowhere." She also cried & went on a 5-hr walk that put blisters on her feet. Eventually, she stands by Dany's "Mad Queen" turn

187
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TIL that standard 24 fps film creates a flicker effect; rather than use more film, projectors just show every frame twice to simulate 48 fps (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/JelloAlarming2414 on 2025-05-06 01:53:20+00:00.

188
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TIL that in 1809, the Austrian army accidentally attacked itself during the Battle of Wagram. Confused by darkness and miscommunication, one unit mistook another for the enemy — and launched a ful... (www.worldhistory.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/RippingLegos__ on 2025-05-06 00:04:24+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that in 1809, the Austrian army accidentally attacked itself during the Battle of Wagram. Confused by darkness and miscommunication, one unit mistook another for the enemy — and launched a full-on assault. Over 10,000 men were involved in the chaos.

189
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TIL that, after he killed Julius Caesar, Brutus issued coins to celebrate the assassination, which featured a bust of Brutus himself on one side and two daggers on the other (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/ModenaR on 2025-05-05 22:35:15+00:00.

190
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TIL that Buzz Aldrin was known among his fellow astronauts to be very difficult to work with, to the point that Neil Armstrong was offered the chance to replace Aldrin with someone else for the Ap... (apollo11space.com)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Spykryo on 2025-05-05 21:17:02+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that Buzz Aldrin was known among his fellow astronauts to be very difficult to work with, to the point that Neil Armstrong was offered the chance to replace Aldrin with someone else for the Apollo 11 Moon landing. Armstrong thought it over for a day before choosing to stick with Aldrin.

191
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TIL Mel Gibson is actually American born in 1956 and his father moved to Australia in 1968 (portrait.gov.au)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/British_Rover on 2025-05-05 20:54:14+00:00.

192
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TIL about Preserved Fish, a prominent NYC shipping merchant who sailed to the Pacific in his youth aboard a whaling vessel, became Captain Preserved Fish at 21 and amassed a fortune selling whale ... (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/twotubes on 2025-05-05 19:54:29+00:00.

Original Title: TIL about Preserved Fish, a prominent NYC shipping merchant who sailed to the Pacific in his youth aboard a whaling vessel, became Captain Preserved Fish at 21 and amassed a fortune selling whale oil before his death in 1846.

193
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TIL the US occupied Iceland during WWII, after the British invaded (in order to prevent the Germans from doing the same) (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/HeavyMetalOverbite on 2025-05-05 16:03:43+00:00.

194
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TIL that Neanderthals in Paleolithic Europe may have used Manganese Oxide powder as a fuel additive to add spark and heat to kindling for fires in the cold, subarctic climate of Central Europe. Ma... (link.springer.com)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Tall_Ant9568 on 2025-05-05 13:33:54+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that Neanderthals in Paleolithic Europe may have used Manganese Oxide powder as a fuel additive to add spark and heat to kindling for fires in the cold, subarctic climate of Central Europe. Manganese reduces the temperature needed to start a fire by 80-180 degrees Celsius.

195
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TIL that the term hunky-dory was coined by Japanese Tommy, one of only a few black performers allowed on white stages before the civil war. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Front_Requirement598 on 2025-05-05 12:38:19+00:00.

196
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TIL Canada made five $1,000,000 face value coins out of pure gold weighing 221lbs (100kg), one of which was stolen during a heist, never to be found (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/EnvelopePenelope on 2025-05-05 12:32:47+00:00.

197
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TIL a Turkish Soldier Carried a Wounded Anzac Enemy to Safety During Gallipoli and After the Battle of Gallipoli, a deep bond was established between the Turks and the Anzacs. (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/kalbinibirak on 2025-05-05 10:57:23+00:00.

198
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TIL that today - May 5, 2025 - is a square root day, a phenomenon that won’t happen again for another 11 years. (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/StarryMind322 on 2025-05-05 09:59:51+00:00.

199
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TIL that in 1960, the fertility rate in South Korea was 6 children per woman, almost 10 times more than it is today (data.worldbank.org)
submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/qqruz123 on 2025-05-05 09:10:02+00:00.

200
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TIL that Germany had officially bid to host the 1942 World Cup, before the event was cancelled due to World War II (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/ModenaR on 2025-05-05 08:28:56+00:00.

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