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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76
2
TIL in 2009 a Maryland wastewater treatment plant was found to be inhabited by over 100,000,000 orb-weaving spiders, the largest recorded aggregation in history. The entire facility was covered in... (www.researchgate.net)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/dooodaaad on 2025-06-24 18:24:48+00:00.

Original Title: TIL in 2009 a Maryland wastewater treatment plant was found to be inhabited by over 100,000,000 orb-weaving spiders, the largest recorded aggregation in history. The entire facility was covered in dense sheets and volumes of webbing, leading to it being nicknamed it the "Back River Arachnotopia".

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TIL when the Luxembourgish runner Josy Barthel unexpectedly won gold in the 1500 metres in the 1952 Helsinki Olympic games, the band improvised a tune since they didn't have the sheet music for th... (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Double-decker_trams on 2025-06-24 17:30:46+00:00.

Original Title: TIL when the Luxembourgish runner Josy Barthel unexpectedly won gold in the 1500 metres in the 1952 Helsinki Olympic games, the band improvised a tune since they didn't have the sheet music for the anthem of Luxembourg

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TIL: Tom Lehrer (he of The Elements Song and Poisoning Pigeons In The Park) has placed all his songs in the public domain. (tomlehrersongs.com)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/cj_winters on 2025-06-24 11:37:07+00:00.

79
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TIL that ‘Gone With the Wind’ was the only novel by Margaret Mitchell that was published in her lifetime. She wrote a novella which wasn’t published until four decades after her death, a novelette... (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/NiceTraining7671 on 2025-06-24 23:06:57+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that ‘Gone With the Wind’ was the only novel by Margaret Mitchell that was published in her lifetime. She wrote a novella which wasn’t published until four decades after her death, a novelette which was rejected by publishers and a novel which is now considered lost.

80
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TIL in demonology, among guys with such names as Azazel or Paimon, there is a demon named "Leonard" (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/adiplotti on 2025-06-24 22:56:53+00:00.

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TIL in 1994, prior to creating the BlackBerry, the two founders won an Emmy and an Oscar for their DigiSync film reader technology, saving hours of post-production film editing. (globalnews.ca)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/mikechi2501 on 2025-06-24 21:30:59+00:00.

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TIL in 1975 the Hōkūleʻa, a modern but performance-accurate Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe, sailed from Hawaiʻi to Tahiti using only ancient Polynesian wayfinding techniques (non-instrume... (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/logicalconflict on 2025-06-24 21:11:31+00:00.

Original Title: TIL in 1975 the Hōkūleʻa, a modern but performance-accurate Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe, sailed from Hawaiʻi to Tahiti using only ancient Polynesian wayfinding techniques (non-instrument navigation), likely saving those techniques from extinction.

83
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TIL that The Simpsons Movie was banned in Myanmar because the ruling junta had prohibited the colours red and yellow from appearing in any imported films. The colours were associated with the flag... (collider.com)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/DangerNoodle1993 on 2025-06-24 20:37:54+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that The Simpsons Movie was banned in Myanmar because the ruling junta had prohibited the colours red and yellow from appearing in any imported films. The colours were associated with the flag of the National League for Democracy, a rebel group pushing for democracy.

84
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TIL that San Francisco had a population of 200 people in 1846. The California gold rush grew the population to 36,000 within six years. (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/PodfatherIII on 2025-06-24 13:44:40+00:00.

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TIL John F. Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby, and Abraham Zapruder all died or were declared dead at the same hospital: Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/n_mcrae_1982 on 2025-06-24 13:11:59+00:00.

86
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TIL the world’s first 3D computer animation — a rotating hand and face made of polygons — was created in 1972 by two students at the University of Utah. (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/a_splintered_mind on 2025-06-24 10:31:10+00:00.

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TIL that the Galapagos penguin, a penguin endemic to the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador, is the only penguin found north of the equator (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/SteO153 on 2025-06-24 20:06:15+00:00.

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TIL that there is a strategy for winning competitive debates called “spreading”, which involves making as many arguments as possible within a short time so that the opponent is unable to respond t... (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Vegetable-Orange-965 on 2025-06-24 19:41:11+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that there is a strategy for winning competitive debates called “spreading”, which involves making as many arguments as possible within a short time so that the opponent is unable to respond to them all. The technique has been described as unfair and as “sounding like a cattle auctioneer”.

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TIL that after the city of Tbilisi flooded in 2015, numerous animals including big cats, wolves, bears, hyenas and a hippo escaped the Tbilisi Zoo and had to be rounded up by police. An African pe... (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/CatPooedInMyShoe on 2025-06-24 18:44:57+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that after the city of Tbilisi flooded in 2015, numerous animals including big cats, wolves, bears, hyenas and a hippo escaped the Tbilisi Zoo and had to be rounded up by police. An African penguin made it all the way to the border of Azerbaijan.

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TIL that Harold Ray Presley - cousin of Elvis and a Mississippi sheriff in the 90s - was mortally wounded in a shootout in 2001, and that an 8,000 pound monument was erected in his honor. In 2008,... (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/unamazing on 2025-06-24 09:17:08+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that Harold Ray Presley - cousin of Elvis and a Mississippi sheriff in the 90s - was mortally wounded in a shootout in 2001, and that an 8,000 pound monument was erected in his honor. In 2008, the monument disappeared under suspicious circumstances, and its whereabouts are still unknown.

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TIL that the 23 year reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius is considered the most peaceful in the history of the Roman Empire. There’s no record of Antoninus leading any military action, and it’s likely... (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/waitingforthesun92 on 2025-06-24 17:28:29+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that the 23 year reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius is considered the most peaceful in the history of the Roman Empire. There’s no record of Antoninus leading any military action, and it’s likely he likely never saw or commanded a Roman army or came within 500 miles of a legion during his reign.

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TIL on November 11, 1918, the US Navy's 14-inch railway guns were last fired at 10:57:30 to ensure that the shells would impact just before the 11am armistice (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/minerman30 on 2025-06-24 16:06:13+00:00.

93
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TIL that until 2020, the official name of Rhode Island was State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/DangerNoodle1993 on 2025-06-24 09:54:41+00:00.

94
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TIL that our teeth can have stones- they’re called pulp stones and up to 1/2 of all teeth have them! (www.sciencedirect.com)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/jamielandon on 2025-06-24 04:46:11+00:00.

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TIL that Kabang, a stray dog Aspin from Philippines, became a national hero in 2011 after she deliberately leapt in front of a speeding motorcycle to save her owner’s daughter and niece, resulting... (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/SheilaSchlatt on 2025-06-24 08:08:00+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that Kabang, a stray dog Aspin from Philippines, became a national hero in 2011 after she deliberately leapt in front of a speeding motorcycle to save her owner’s daughter and niece, resulting to losing her upper snout in the process. She passed away in 2021 at age 13.

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TIL an African Grey Parrot named Alex was the first non-human animal to ever ask a question when he looked in a mirror and asked “What color?” learning the word “grey” (wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Harry-Twotter on 2025-06-24 07:16:47+00:00.

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TIL that in 2020, an Oregon man driving a stolen car crashed into a woman driving another stolen car (www.foxnews.com)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/racc15 on 2025-06-24 16:05:52+00:00.

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TIL that in the Middle Ages, scholars and alchemists were alleged to be assisted by a Brazen Head, an automaton that could answer any question asked of it. (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/9tailNate on 2025-06-24 12:33:05+00:00.

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TIL of Bill Morgan, who survived clinical death, won the lottery, and then won again while reenacting it on camera. (www.news.com.au)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Particular_Cut_198 on 2025-06-24 13:28:21+00:00.

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TIL comedian Redd Foxx would often pretend to have a heart attack and pratfall for laughs. Years later, Foxx would have a heart attack for real, with many people thinking it was a bit as he fell t... (en.wikipedia.org)
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/PerfectUpstairs4842 on 2025-06-24 13:18:44+00:00.

Original Title: TIL comedian Redd Foxx would often pretend to have a heart attack and pratfall for laughs. Years later, Foxx would have a heart attack for real, with many people thinking it was a bit as he fell to the ground. He died from the heart attack.

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