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jamescookenotthatone

TIL Simeon Stylites lived on top of columns for 37 years. Simeon did this as a form of asceticism because when he lived in a cave people kept making pilgrimages to him and asking him religious questions. Ultimately his column life drew in even bigger crowds who would climb ladders to talk to him.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_124kuqk on March 28, 2023 at 10:55 AM in todayilearned

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TIL The aardwolf knows not to destory its food sources. Aardwolves eat part of a termite mound, leaves it, and return a few months later when the colony has rebuilt so it can have another meal. An aardwolf keeps track of mounds it attacked and can eat 250,000 termites in a single night.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_11zh2up on March 23, 2023 at 11:10 AM in todayilearned

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TIL In the West the largest meal of the day has historically been eaten at midday. It was not until Napoleon's empire there was the "abominable habit of dining as late as seven in the evening" as British travelers reported. The British adopted later dinners by 1850 from changes in work schedules.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_127hmlf on March 31, 2023 at 11:06 AM in todayilearned

51 comments

852

TIL Early drones were developed during the First World War. These radio controlled planes were primarily for target practice but by 1942 a drone with a built in TV camera was capable of delivering a torpedo to a ship 20 miles from the controller.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_125kl1d on March 29, 2023 at 11:05 AM in todayilearned

71 comments

2,150

TIL A coal seam in Australia is believed to have been burning for 6,000 years, making it the oldest coal fire. The site's name is Mount Wingen but is commonly called Burning Mountain and the fire is traveling south 1m per year discoloring the ground as it goes.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_11xdorh on March 21, 2023 at 11:09 AM in todayilearned

154 comments

2,729

TIL The Dick Van Dyke Show was originally written entirely by Carl Reiner, about stories from Reiner's life, and starred Carl Reiner. The pilot was unsuccessful so it was reworked with Dick Van Dyke playing Robert Petrie.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_11yf7ff on March 22, 2023 at 10:52 AM in todayilearned

43 comments

317

TIL In the history of the Catholic Church there has been over a decade without a Pope on the throne. The longest continuous time the throne was empty was two years ten months from 1268 to 1271.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_11viuvp on March 19, 2023 at 11:26 AM in todayilearned

58 comments

419

TIL Texas A&M University used to have an annual bonfire. In 1999, 12 students died when the Aggie Bonfire collapsed upon them during construction. The deaths led to the end of the tradition as the University faced a series of lawsuits and couldn't afford the expected $2 million per year insurance.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_11apnhh on February 24, 2023 at 11:55 AM in todayilearned

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TIL Shift work is associated with cognitive decline. Shift work throws of the circadian rhythm which causes hormonal irregularities and various neurobehavioural issues. Decline was seen in processing speed, working memory, psychomotor vigilance, cognitive control, and visual attention.

oem.bmj.com

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_114ih9t on February 17, 2023 at 11:47 AM in todayilearned

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TIL In the 1970s East Germany had a coffee shortage so they made Vietnam into a supplier. East Germany invested the equivalent of tens of millions of dollars into Vietnam in exchange for half of Vietnam's coffee harvests for 20 years. By the first harvest in 1990 East Germany was already dissolved.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_10rnoe5 on February 2, 2023 at 11:29 AM in todayilearned

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TIL Anvil firing is the practice of exploding an anvil into the air. Anvils are typically fired as a celebration, be it to honor St. Clement's (the Patron Saint of blacksmiths) or in a 21 anvil salut as found in New Westminster, British Columbia.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_11e410x on February 28, 2023 at 11:44 AM in todayilearned

41 comments

545

TIL of Macadam roads. These roads were convex, raised a few inches, and made of layered crushed rock; they were state-of-the-art for the 19th century. The rise of automobiles led to the dust issues that were solved by binding the roads with tar, leading to the invention of tarmac.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_1181yq6 on February 21, 2023 at 12:09 PM in todayilearned

64 comments

1,838

TIL Eating every course seperately is Service à la russe. Before this meals were service à la française where all courses were served at once. Ambassador Alexander Kurakin introduced Service à la russe to France in 1810 and it became the norm by the 1880s.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_110deg1 on February 12, 2023 at 11:13 AM in todayilearned

27 comments

420

TIL The Marvel No-Prize is a empty envelope that Marvel awarded fans for "meritorious service to the cause of Marveldom". Typically it was won by submitting an explanation for an error in a comic, but rules varied from author to author. The prize was inspired by George R. R. Martin.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_119vmlu on February 23, 2023 at 11:38 AM in todayilearned

6 comments

222

TIL Monty Python reunited for Monty Python Live (Mostly) (2014) because they suddenly owed £800,000 pounds to Mark Forstater over Spamalot royalties. The ten shows were their first live ensemble performances in 34 years.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_10ngvmm on January 28, 2023 at 2:53 PM in todayilearned

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TIL After hurricane Katrina Brad Pitt set up the Make It Right Foundation to build homes for those effected. The project had famous architects but the homes were not designed or constructed for a New Orleans environment. By 2022 only 6 of the 109 houses were deemed to be in "reasonably good shape."

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_10eaep1 on January 17, 2023 at 11:52 AM in todayilearned

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TIL New York City had a rat population of approximately 2,000,000 rats in 2014, but this number has likely decreased due to 2021 Tropical Storm Ida causing mass drownings.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_103wvu1 on January 5, 2023 at 11:38 AM in todayilearned

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TIL At the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri, an angry mob burned down an arena and rioted following the last minute cancelation of a bullfight. Manuel Cervera Prieto was later murdered over lack of payment by fellow bullfighter Carleton Bass.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_10hpj7e on January 21, 2023 at 11:52 AM in todayilearned

6 comments

TIL Public nativity scenes are often the victim of baby Jesus theft. Some churches have had to chain their baby Jesus down to deter theft while others have added GPS tracking to their baby Jesus.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_zvlsm2 on December 26, 2022 at 12:02 PM in todayilearned

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TIL The first man to report a rogue wave was Jules Dumont d'Urville in 1826, d'Urville was then publicly ridiculed because such a wave was believed impossible. A rogue wave was not measured until 1995 and the lack of earlier reporting is likely due to few wooden ships surving the encounter.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_zqmv45 on December 20, 2022 at 12:14 PM in todayilearned

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TIL Winston Churchill opposed the American use of napalm during the Korean war but still allowed Americans to publish claims of British support for American napalm attacks.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_zweufi on December 27, 2022 at 12:45 PM in todayilearned

83 comments

959

TIL Catnip effects big cats aswell (cougars, leopards, lions, etc.) but 1 in 3 cats are unaffected by catnip and it is a hereditary behavior.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_ztdcwo on December 23, 2022 at 11:46 AM in todayilearned

32 comments

572

TIL The Stranger (1946) was the first Hollywood film to include footage of the Holocaust. The film's director, Orson Welles, who saw footage at the United Nations Conference on International Organization in May 1945, described the newsreels as "putrefaction of the soul, a perfect spiritual garbage"

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_ze4gxg on December 6, 2022 at 11:45 AM in todayilearned

8 comments

345

TIL Stan Lee made the X-Men mutants because he didn't want to come up with a reason for their super powers, instead they were just born with them. Additionally the 1963 comic was initially a flop until the 1975 reboot by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_zsk6me on December 22, 2022 at 11:43 AM in todayilearned

78 comments

1,307

TIL The 2011 prequel to The Thing (1982) primarily featured practical effects with digital effects planned to enhance them. In post-production the practical effects were almost entirely covered up by digital effects.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_zloira on December 14, 2022 at 11:26 AM in todayilearned

8 comments

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