Today I Learned (TIL)
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TIL the Treaty of Versailles ending World War I also included a clause establishing concert pitch as A = 435 Hz
> [T]he multilateral treaties, conventions and agreements of an economic or technical character enumerated below … shall alone be applied as between Germany and those of the Allied and Associated Powers party thereto: > > . . . . > > (22) Convention of November 16 and 19, 1885, regarding the establishment of a concert pitch.
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TIL the height of the Eiffel Tower varies by up to 15 cm (6 in) depending on the temperature
engineering.purdue.edu Eiffel TowerPurdue University's Materials Engineering's academic programs have been developed around all major classes of artificial materials, ceramics, metals, glasses, polymers, and semiconductors. The undergraduate and graduate programs integrate our faculty strengths across the field's four cornerstones: s...
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TIL ceiling fans generally have a setting you're supposed to switch to make them blow down in the summer and up in the winter
That way you get a draft to cool you off more in the summer and avoid such in the winter. I even noticed that switch before but never thought about what it might do...
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TIL Michael Hart started Project Gutenberg by manually typing in the texts of 313 books on his own
www.theguardian.com Michael Hart obituaryHe invented ebooks and made them freely available through Project Gutenberg
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TIL that Bolivia has 37 official languages
www.constituteproject.org Bolivia (Plurinational State of) 2009 Constitution - ConstituteBolivia (Plurinational State of)'s Constitution of 2009
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TIL that IQ test scores globally rose significantly from their introduction until the mid-1990s, after which they likely have started to decline
To clear up confusion, IQ tests are standardized so that the mean is always 100, but if a person today take a test from 30 years ago he'll probably score poorly and if he takes a test from 80 years ago he'll score great.
No one knows why the trend started or stopped.
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TIL Roman hours were not a fixed length of time but always just ¹⁄₁₂th of the daytime, so during the summer an hour could be 1½ modern hours while during the winter it could only be 40 minutes
> Roman hours were not of a fixed length because they simply equal to the amount of light or darkness on a given day divided by twelve. Since the amount of daylight varies greatly from day to day over the course of the year—with perhaps as many as 15 hours of daylight in the summer and only 8 or 9 in the winter—a Roman hour in the summer might be equivalent to a modern hour and a half, and, similarly, in the winter, a Roman hour might be only 40 of our minutes long.
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TIL that in 1866, one year after the end of the Civil War, one fifth of Mississippi's budget was spent on prosthetic limbs
www.supertalk.fm The Civil War: Just How It Affected Mississippi - SuperTalk MississippiJACKSON, Miss.– The American Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865, to determine the survival of the Union or the independence of the Confederacy. The seven slave states known as the Confederacy initially seceded from the rest of the country. The 150th anniversary of the end of the C...
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TIL 70% of Saudi Arabia's electrical consumption is used for air conditioning
refindustry.com Measures for more energy-efficient air conditioning in Saudi ArabiaAccording to a recent article, Saudi Arabia has the world’s highest share of air conditioning (AC) in household electricity consumption, at 70%. This compares with 57% in the United Arab Emirates, 25% in the U.S., 20% in Malaysia, 18% ...
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TIL charged alkaline batteries don't bounce but dead ones do
YouTube Video
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> As an alkaline battery is discharged, the anode undergoes oxidation from Zn to ZnO. > > … > > The battery most likely begins to bounce because of displacement of water by solid ZnO bridges between particles of zinc in the gel. These bridges provide less impeding and attenuating paths for pressure waves, in turn making the battery bouncier.
Bhadra, S.; Hertzberg, B. J.; Hsieh, A. G.; Croft, M.; Gallaway, J. W.; Van Tassell, B. J.; Chamoun, M.; Erdonmez, C.; Zhong, Z.; Sholkapper, T.; Steingart, D. A. The relationship between coefficient of restitution and state of charge of zinc alkaline primary LR6 batteries. J. Mater. Chem. A. 2015, 3, 9395–9400.
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TIL that since MIT doesn't issue honorary degrees, Matt Damon received an honorary pirate certificate for his 2016 commencement speech
alum.mit.edu Arrrr! MIT Pirates—and Matt Damon—CertifiedThe “swashbuckling" Institute has certified more than 350 students and alumni as official MIT pirates after they completed specific PE courses, but actual pirating is limited to entertainment purposes only.
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TIL that, although rhubarb leaves are poisonous, you would have to eat several pounds in one sitting to reach a potentially lethal level
www.nationalgeographic.com Does Rhubarb Deserve Its Killer Reputation?Rhubarb is next to impossible to kill. Here in northern Vermont, rhubarb is about the first thing that …
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TIL people generally can't pantomime turning the steering wheel for a lane change
psychsciencenotes.blogspot.com What miming a steering wheel tells us about what we learnPro-tip - keep your eyes open while doing this One of my favourite podcasts is ' 99% Invisible ' by Roman Mars . It's about design, and ...
Although almost everyone does it all the time, when trying to pantomime it without visual feedback, we essentially always forget to turn back to straight and just something like a 45° turn.
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TIL the word "jalopy" most likely comes from a mispronunciation of the Mexican city Xalapa, where old American cars were imported into Mexico
www.americanheritage.com And Why Do We Call Them That?Every American knows that the word jalopy means an elderly, decrepit automobile. Though the word undoubtedly originated in the United States, it is now (Issue: April/May 1986)..
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TIL in 2013, an Italian mafia "Ndrangheta" made more money than McDonald's and Deutsche Bank combined (€53bn / £44bn)
www.theguardian.com 'Ndrangheta mafia 'made more last year than McDonald's and Deutsche Bank'Study finds crime network made billions of euros from drug trafficking, illegal rubbish disposal and other activities
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TIL that Volkswagen also makes and sells its own brand of sausage
www.politico.eu It’s the Wurst! Schröder slams sausage-free Volkswagen menu‘I don’t want to do without it,’ the German ex-chancellor said about the popular sausage dish.
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TIL that following the Roman departure from Britain (410 CE), systematic construction of paved highways in the UK did not resume until the early 18th century
>After the Romans departed, systematic construction of paved highways in the United Kingdom did not resume until the early 18th century. The Roman road network remained the only nationally managed highway system within Britain until the establishment of the Ministry of Transport in the early 20th century.
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TIL India still officially recognises 5 sub-national monarchies, known as the 'Kings of Dangs'. They receive payment from the government every year during Holi
> As per the treaty signed in 1842 the British were allowed to use the forests and their natural products against which they had to pay around 3,000 silver coins to the five kings. Currently the kings receive a monthly political pension by the Government of India, which is the main source of their income. This payment is continued even though all privy purses for the Princely states of India were stopped in 1970 since the agreement was between then monarchy of Dangs and the British
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TIL of Cáin Adomnáin, "Europes first human rights treaty". Created in 697 CE, were a set of laws - which kings across Ireland & Scotland agreed to follow - guaranteeing safety of non-combatants in war
>The Cáin Adomnáin, also known as the Lex Innocentium (Law of Innocents), was promulgated amongst a gathering of Irish, Dál Riatan and Pictish notables at the Synod of Birr in 697. It is called the “Geneva Accords” of the ancient Irish and Europe’s first human rights treaty, for its protection of women and non-combatants, extending the Law of Patrick, which protected monks, to civilians. The legal symposium at the Synod of Birr was prompted when Adomnáin had an Aisling dream vision wherein his mother excoriated him for not protecting the women and children of Ireland.
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TIL of the Kingdom of Bailundo, a non-sovereign monarchy located in Angola. Its king was notably deposed in 2021 after being charged of involvement in a murder
>Ekuikui V sometimes dubbed himself as the "king of (all) Ovimbundu". In early 2021, Ekuikui V was sentenced to six years in prison by the Provincial Court of Huambo (TPH) for his implication in a murder in 2017. Ekuikui V had issued a judgment in a traditional court case, finding Jacinto Kamutali Epalangana guilty of killing a child. Following the judgment, Jacinto was beaten to death.
>On the 3 March, 2021, he was ousted from the throne following a meeting of the Angolan Association of Traditional Authorities (ASSAT). Ekuikui V had previously claimed to be the president of ASSAT, despite no election confirming him as such. He was accused of various offences, such as forcing a son of his predecessor, Ekuikui IV, to walk around Bailundo naked. He was also accused of witchcraft, concentration of powers, and illegal sales of land. It was elected at the time that João Kawengo Kasanji would replace Ekuikui V as king, and that he would take the regnal name of Tchingala TChangungu Vangalule Mbulu. Ekuikui refused to accept the decision to remove him from the throne, and denied all of the aforementioned accusations.
>In March 2021, it was announced that Isaac Francisco Lucas Somaquesenje had been installed as king of Bailundo, with the regnal name Tchongolola Tchongonga Ekuikui VI. The enthronement ceremony was attended by the provincial governor and other guests. Part of the ceremony included the newly-appointed king sitting at the entrance of his official residence and collecting a basket containing white cornmeal (omemba). This was then fed to an animal which was later sacrificed. The king later received a sword (ondelia), signifying his traditional power. Tchongolola Tchongonga is a grandson of the former king, Ekuikui IV. He was elected to the throne by the court of Ombala (a council of elders[1]) in May 2021, receiving 153 votes out of a total of 206 voters. João Kawengo Kasanji in contrast, only received 31 votes.
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TIL when Robert De Niro sought Italian citizenship, he was opposed by the largest Italian-American group for damaging the reputation of Italians by playing gangsters
www.theguardian.com Don't honour wise guy De Niro, say US ItaliansAn influential Italian-American organisation has appealed to Silvio Berlusconi, asking the prime minister to cancel Italy's plan to award De Niro honorary citizenship.
On the other hand, apparently the Italians loved him:
> In Ferrazzano, the village which De Niro's great grandparents left in search of the US dream in the late 19th century, most of its 3,280 residents are among his greatest fans and are adamant that he should be formally made an Italian. He does not officially qualify for a passport because neither his parents nor his grandparents were Italian born.
> De Niro was born in New York in 1943, and has never visited the village.
> Every August for eight years, the village's now wealthy population of lawyers, doctors and office workers, most of who commute to work in the nearby town of Campobasso, has turned out for a week long festival of De Niro films.
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TIL in 2011 the Argentine government is believed to have begun making McDonald's underprice the Big Mac specifically to cover the country's high inflation on The Economist's Big Mac index
www.economist.com Overcooked, undercookedWhat do burger prices tell us about the reliability of official inflation figures?
The Big Mac index started as a joke, but became a somewhat respectable—if still highly informal—way of measuring Purchasing Power Parity. Argentina took advantage of this by making it really cheap but hiding it so no one would order it, artificially improving the country's score.
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TIL treadmills originated as a form of punishment in prisons
www.mentalfloss.com The Treadmill Originated in PrisonsExercising on a treadmill often feels like torture, and that’s not exactly a coincidence.
Hence why they're called tread-"mills"—they were used to power mills to pump water or grind grain.
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TIL that no one knows what the "p" in "pH" stands for
www.nature.com Urban legends of chemistry | Nature ChemistryMichelle Francl reminds us that even a rigorous scientific discipline such as chemistry has its own myths and legends — and explains why this isn't such a bad thing.
"Power" (or "Potenz" or "puissance") is the most common claim, but potential, pondus, and percent are also common. When the original author designated it, he implied that it was just a random mathematical letter, akin to x, and that it didn't stand for anything, although from context one could argue it stood for potential?
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TIL the Soviet Union still produced advertisements, often of fake products, to make itself look more prosperous
www.rbth.com Soviet spiel: Why the USSR produced ads for non-existing productsBecause the government required all companies to spend one percent of their revenue on advertising, the Soviet Union’s sole ad agency churned out...
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TIL Big Bird's puppeteer navigates by a TV inside the suit, showing what is being recorded by the camera
YouTube Video
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TIL that Civilloquy.com is an instance, ha
Quite a unique domain name and nice focus that the instance has, cool!