TIL: UN Resolution 3379 Passed in 1975 with a vote of 72 to 35 Determined that Zionism is A Form of Racism (medium.com)
TIL the origin of the word 'dog' is an etymological mystery. (The same is true about the word 'squid' but obviously I already knew that.) (www.dictionary.com)
See also: www.etymonline.com/word/squid
TIL Many bronze age peoples forgot what stone age tools were, and thought discovered ones as some kind of mystical talismans or signs from a thunder god (www.theguardian.com)
Also mistaken for fulgurite by the more naturalistically minded, apparently. Maybe most common in the Nordics, based on viking references?...
TIL Earthworms aren't native to the northern United States; they are a recent invasive species which does significant damage to boreal forests (www.outdoorlife.com)
TIL the American Conservapedia, among other atrocities, redirects Linux to GNU/Linux (www.conservapedia.com)
I guess they have a quantum taste for GNU!
TIL Most Explosives used by Hamas Are Unexploded Israeli Bombs Dropped on Palestine (medium.com)
TIL 40 states in the US charge you $20-$80 a day for being incarcerated in prison. (en.m.wikipedia.org)
Very weird that I am so old and have literally never heard this mentioned in a TV show or book or movie or anything....
TIL if The Bare Naked Ladies had $1m when the song was recorded, and parked it in S&P500, they'd be rich.
While $1m USD in 1988 is worth only $2.6m in 2024, if they just put it in the S&P 500 back then and left it there, it’d be worth over $44.6m today....
TIL: The Phrase “Death To America” Didn’t exist Before the CIA Overthrew the Iranian Government for Nationalizing their Oil in 1953 (medium.com)
TIL the PSVR uses Linux (www.playstation.com)
just stumbled upon this license
Today I learned an oil company prevented the rescue of contracted divers working on their pipe to save money. (www.youtube.com)
en.wikipedia.org/…/Trinidad_Petroleum_Holdings#Pa…...
TIL George V Went Out Like John Belushi (www.youtube.com)
Have been on a QI binge lately, so I’ve been learning all sorts of random stuff. Here’s today’s:...
TIL White Castle was the pioneer of fast food, not McDonalds (99percentinvisible.org)
Excellent listen throughout, but you can skip to 17:30 for competition with McDonalds.
About the successor of Virtual RMS (lemmy.ml)
Thanks to this comment : lemmy.ml/comment/10591882
TIL about blindsight, a phenomenon by which visually blind people can apparently see or detect objects without using their visual cortex (en.m.wikipedia.org)
It was a footnote in an article I read about a monkey using blindsight and that there had been several experiments with humans proving blindsight existed and that surprised me. As a footnote....
TIL Feminist Icon Gloria Steinem Was An Anti-Communist CIA Operative who Kept the Feminist Movement From Discussing Class; only Gender (medium.com)
TIL the USA has "national emergencies" still ongoing that date back to 1979 (en.m.wikipedia.org)
TIL ~62% of the atoms in a human body are Hydrogen, and are as old as the universe. (en.wikipedia.org)
TIL about raisin juice concentrate - some truly Goldbergian food science (www.delightedcooking.com)
The real reason men grow beards (www.bbc.com)
Staples plan is to recycle nearly everything — and pay their customers for it (www.thecooldown.com)
Check out the full list of what staples accepts now part of their expanded recycling programs....
TIL that 'Rocky' (1976) was inspired by the true story of Chuck Wepner, a local boxer from New Jersey who was set up for a dream fight with Muhammad Ali. Wepner quit his job to train full time. (www.biography.com)
cross-posted from: lemmit.online/post/2699121...
TIL about exploding head syndrome, which causes patients to hear a loud, frightening noise when falling asleep or waking up. Up to 10% of people may have it, but cases often go undiagnosed (en.wikipedia.org)
cross-posted from: lemmit.online/post/2659121
TIL the U.S. Civil War is called "The Slave War" in Icelandic (lemmy.world)
TIL the Flag Famously Raised at Iwo Jima Was Raised Because a Commander Thought the First One Wasn’t Big Enough (lemmy.world)
The first flag was 54-by-28-inch vs the second being 96-by-56–inch....