TIL that in Melbourne, a 1 : 1 000 000 000 scale model of the solar system includes a mini-Proxima-Centauri that is one-time-around-the-entire-world away at this scale. ( stkildamelbourne.com.au )
From the pdf:...
TIL That reddits "most addicted city" is eglin air force base FL ( lemmy.world )
https://www.reddit.com/r/Blackout2015/s/vMRsaTdMn0
TIL about the TRAPPIST-1 Star System ( en.wikipedia.org )
(it's not a solar system because Sol is our star, specifically; we're the only Solar system)...
TIL about Roko's Basilisk, a thought experiment considered by some to be an "information hazard" - a concept or idea that can cause you harm by you simply knowing/understanding it ( en.wikipedia.org )
Roko's basilisk is a thought experiment which states that an otherwise benevolent artificial superintelligence (AI) in the future would be incentivized to create a virtual reality simulation to torture anyone who knew of its potential existence but did not directly contribute to its advancement or development, in order to...
TIL: How Henry Ford’s Strange Social Program Aimed to Control The Personal Lives Of Workers ( medium.com )
TIL that there is a global, time traveling radio (sort of) ( radiooooo.com )
You can choose anywhere on earth, pick a decade, and hear music from that time and place. Pretty neat.
TIL Haydn's "Surprise Symphony" was NOT written to wake up sleeping audience members; that was just a myth
Back in school I heard the story that Haydn wrote the "Surprise Symphony" because he was sick of people sleeping through his music, and wanted to startle them awake. It seems like this was a myth....
TIL The candlefish is so rich in oils that when supplied with a wick it can be burned like a candle"
https://www.uapress.com/product/
TIL most cultures and peoples all over the world have historically had trouble recognizing the color blue ( www.ancientoriginsunleashed.com )
TIL Hunter S. Thomson got an early honorable discharge from the air force in part because, "Sometimes his rebel and superior attitude seems to rub off on other airmen staff members." ( en.wikipedia.org )
From Wikipedia:...
TIL India had a tradition in the 1970s of making military helicopters look like animals ( www.peepultree.world )
TIL norway has a homocide map with exact locations of murders. ( lemmy.blahaj.zone )
Link to the site...
TIL the very first animated feature film was "Creation" by Pinto Colvig, made in 1916. It has been lost and only a few frames remain, but Colvig went on to be the voice of Goofy and the original Bozo. ( blueprintdigital.com )
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/420d81f5-17c6-4060-b24b-2a53b609de4f.png
TIL the first Star Wars movie (A New Hope) was actually made after a book adaptation, which means Star Wars hype is technically literary-based in nature ( starwars.fandom.com )
TIL: How The IMF and World Bank Debt Trap Countries and Force them into Austerity ( medium.com )
TIL: A Simple Way to Remove Paywalls from Online News ( lemmy.world )
https://byebyepaywall.com/en/...
TIL: About Foxfire a Bioluminescent Fungus ( en.m.wikipedia.org )
I first heard about it as being used to mark gauges on a 1770s submersible so the operator could read them in the dark....
TIL: There is a species of penguin that lives in the southern point of Africa. (African penguin (Spheniscus demersus), also known as Cape penguin or South African penguin.) ( en.wikipedia.org )
TIL that in 2014, a photographer tried to copyright a monkey's selfie and sue Wikipedia for it. ( en.wikipedia.org )
The EFF soon created a crossword, overlaid it on top of the monkey, and featured it on their website....
A WWII Propaganda Campaign Popularized the Myth That Carrots Help You See in the Dark ( www.smithsonianmag.com )
TIL Catwoman canonically has a sidekick ( batman.fandom.com )
TIL: Gamergate's have interesting hierarchy and can replace the queen ( en.wikipedia.org )
TIL states that passed laws allowing a married person to seek a divorce without the consent of their spouse saw female suicide decline by 20 percent ( www.nber.org )
TIL in the Carboniferous Period, no fungus existed to decompose trees. They just grew on top of each other up and up.
The weight of the trees was so great that the ones on the bottom got squished and became coal. That’s where coal is from. Bonus fact: the whole time this was happening, sharks were hunting in the oceans. Sharks are older than trees and fungus!