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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201
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TIL The Jane's Addiction song "Jane Says", about Jane who had a heroin addiction and hoped to move to Spain after kicking her habit: Jane actually did exist, she did kick her habit, and she did mo... (americansongwriter.com)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/stumpyturk on 2024-12-16 06:26:53+00:00.

Original Title: TIL The Jane's Addiction song "Jane Says", about Jane who had a heroin addiction and hoped to move to Spain after kicking her habit: Jane actually did exist, she did kick her habit, and she did move to Spain. However, she was not a sex worker as the song intimated.

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TIL the Apollo 11 astronauts couldn’t get life insurance (for some reason), so they signed autographs for their families to sell in case they didn’t return. (www.npr.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/magicmushrooms_pune on 2024-12-16 05:53:54+00:00.

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TIL The Wisconsin River used to flow "backwards" into the Great Lakes basin instead of into the Mississippi River. (pbswisconsin.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/peterezgo on 2024-12-17 02:04:58+00:00.

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TIL that in 1789, during an attempted execution by breaking wheel in Versailles, a sympathetic crowd stormed the scaffold, rescued the condemned man, and burned the wheel—effectively halting the e... (www.executedtoday.com)
submitted 6 days ago by bot@lemmit.online to c/todayilearned@lemmit.online
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/BiggieTwiggy1two3 on 2024-12-17 00:46:07+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that in 1789, during an attempted execution by breaking wheel in Versailles, a sympathetic crowd stormed the scaffold, rescued the condemned man, and burned the wheel—effectively halting the execution.

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TIL that on the planet Mercury there is a crater named after George Balanchine because it looks like one of his tutus. (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Tech-no on 2024-12-16 23:49:45+00:00.

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TIL in the American Civil War, the Union Army used 175,000 lb (80,000 kg) of opium tincture and powder and about 500,000 opium pills (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Double-decker_trams on 2024-12-16 23:12:31+00:00.

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TIL IBM holds the record for most annual US patents generated by a business for 29 consecutive years (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/TheRedOwl17 on 2024-12-16 21:28:55+00:00.

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TIL that the Puritans banned the celebration of Christmas, believing it to be 'popery'. In England, the ban was from 1647 to 1660 and pro-Christmas rioting occurred. In Boston, the ban was from 16... (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/arcedup on 2024-12-16 19:35:26+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that the Puritans banned the celebration of Christmas, believing it to be 'popery'. In England, the ban was from 1647 to 1660 and pro-Christmas rioting occurred. In Boston, the ban was from 1659 to 1681 but it was unfashionable to celebrate Christmas there until the 19th century.

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TIL that before modern safety regulations, the rule of thumb was that one person would die per $1M spent on a construction project (www.npr.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/SchuleinZoeZS905 on 2024-12-16 16:26:28+00:00.

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TIL Alberta King, the mother of Martin Luther King Jr., was murdered six years after his assassination (1974). She was shot and killed while playing the organ in Ebenezer Baptist Church, where her... (www.atlantamagazine.com)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Pathetic_lriG43 on 2024-12-16 18:59:40+00:00.

Original Title: TIL Alberta King, the mother of Martin Luther King Jr., was murdered six years after his assassination (1974). She was shot and killed while playing the organ in Ebenezer Baptist Church, where her husband and son both preached.

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TIL the first chemotherapy drug was derived from mustard gas (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/dbxp on 2024-12-16 17:29:03+00:00.

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TIL the original Holes screenplay by Donnie Darko writer Richard Kelly was a dystopian, R-rated thriller set in a post-nuclear world. It had no Kissin’ Kate or yellow-spotted lizards, and The Ward... (archive.bookstr.com)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/ObjectiveAd6551 on 2024-12-16 16:26:14+00:00.

Original Title: TIL the original Holes screenplay by Donnie Darko writer Richard Kelly was a dystopian, R-rated thriller set in a post-nuclear world. It had no Kissin’ Kate or yellow-spotted lizards, and The Warden was a male totalitarian figure. Disney rejected it for being too dark and political.

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TIL the Millennium Falcon was built in Wales (www.visitwales.com)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/SpecialistCookie on 2024-12-16 09:04:17+00:00.

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TIL Winston Churchill left behind a debt of Rs. 13/- at the Bangalore Club, India which was written off by the committee on 01.06.1899 as an ‘irrecoverable sum’. (news.bbc.co.uk)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/RayInRed on 2024-12-16 08:57:22+00:00.

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TIL that, during the 1994 World Cup, the BBC issued a public apology after its pundit said during the match between Romania and Argentina that "The Argentine defender warrants shooting for a mista... (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/ModenaR on 2024-12-16 06:11:57+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that, during the 1994 World Cup, the BBC issued a public apology after its pundit said during the match between Romania and Argentina that "The Argentine defender warrants shooting for a mistake like that", a day after Colombian defender Andres Escobar was shot and killed

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TIL Melpomene and Thalia are the muses of comedy and tragedy. Their faces are the two depicted in the drama masks. (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/boobs-4-lunch on 2024-12-16 05:04:03+00:00.

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TIL that the majority of psychological research has been found to have a “WEIRD bias,” meaning that test subjects were from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic societies. As mu... (en.wikipedia.org)
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This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/GetYerHandOffMyPen15 on 2024-12-16 04:05:08+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that the majority of psychological research has been found to have a “WEIRD bias,” meaning that test subjects were from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic societies. As much as 96% of data comes from countries with only 12% of the world's population.

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TIL The US Army considered creating the rank of Field Marshall during World War 2, but it was blocked by GEN George C. Marshall, because he didn't want to be called "Marshall Marshall." (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/No_Educator9313 on 2024-12-16 03:31:47+00:00.

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TIL that Francis Galton made a ranking system of UK women and how appealing he found them, with those from Aberdeen deemed the least attractive. (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/HallowedAndHarrowed on 2024-12-16 02:56:42+00:00.

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TIL the Halo Effect is cognitive bias claiming that positive impressions of people, brands, and products in one area positively influence our feelings in another area. (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Olshansk on 2024-12-16 01:31:17+00:00.

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TIL Actor Miguel Ferrer (Bob Morton in Robocop) was a drummer on Keith Moon's album Two Faces of Moon. (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/gogoluke on 2024-12-16 01:36:48+00:00.

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TIL: A scientific study at Cambridge found that sheep were smart enough to recognize human faces from a photo. However, their performance dropped when the picture is tilted. To conduct the study, ... (royalsocietypublishing.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Flares117 on 2024-12-16 01:16:29+00:00.

Original Title: TIL: A scientific study at Cambridge found that sheep were smart enough to recognize human faces from a photo. However, their performance dropped when the picture is tilted. To conduct the study, scientists have them treats to identify photographs. They used photos of Emma Watson.

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TIL babies cant taste salt until around 3 months old. But when they develop the the ability to, they show a preference for salty water. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/LeastPervertedFemboy on 2024-12-16 00:36:30+00:00.

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TIL that before Pope Clement VIII's endorsement of coffee, coffee was considered satanic by many people (aleteia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Ozem_son_of_Jesse on 2024-12-15 23:52:00+00:00.

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TIL: Eugene Bullard (1895–1961) was the first Black combat pilot, serving in the French Air Service during WWI. An American expatriate, he later became a jazz musician, boxer, and club owner in Pa... (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Intense-flamingo on 2024-12-15 22:53:41+00:00.

Original Title: TIL: Eugene Bullard (1895–1961) was the first Black combat pilot, serving in the French Air Service during WWI. An American expatriate, he later became a jazz musician, boxer, and club owner in Paris after escaping Jim Crowe. He used his status in Parisian high society to spy on the Nazis.

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