TIL Jacques Lusseyran went blind at age 7. At age 14, alarmed by the Nazi's rise to power, he learned German to understand Hitlers speeches. At age 17 he was leader in the French resistance, and was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. He was among the 990 out of 2000 French prisoners to survive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Lusseyran
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1bj1un4/til_jacques_lusseyran_went_blind_at_age_7_at_age/

TIL that Mike Tyson went bankrupt in 2003. Despite having earned $400 million from boxing, examples of reckless spending included $6.3 million on luxury cars and $580K on his 30th birthday party. He has improved his financial situation and now receives $900K/month from his cannabis company, however.

https://www.unilad.com/celebrity/how-mike-tyson-went-bankrupt-and-rebu…
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1c26vic/til_that_mike_tyson_went_bankrupt_in_2003_despite/

TIL that in 1996, Bindu Jua, a female gorilla in Brookfield zoo cradled a 3 year old child, who fell into her enclosure and broke his arm, with much care until he received medical attention

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/gorilla-carries-year-boy-safety-fell-enclosure-1996/story?id=39479586
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1bmxra2/til_that_in_1996_bindu_jua_a_female_gorilla_in/

TIL, Jumbo the elephant was not named such because of his size. Instead, Jumbo the word, meaning exceptionally large, was only introduced into the english language because of Jumbo the elephant. He was so big and so well known that his name became synonymous with size.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumbo
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1bipzyo/til_jumbo_the_elephant_was_not_named_such_because/

TIL: a former Italian porn star, Carlo Massi, quit porn to do research in applied mathematics, got his PhD, taught real analysis, became a professor, and then got sacked for being a former porn star. He sued and won against the university.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Masi
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1basvx3/til_a_former_italian_porn_star_carlo_massi_quit/

Italian mathematics lecturer and pornographic actor

^{Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)}

TIL there is a circular island in Argentina, called El Ojo, almost 400 feet in diameter, floating in a slightly larger circular lake.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Ojo
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1ax6p9p/til_there_is_a_circular_island_in_argentina/

TIL that on Valentine's Day, a group of embittered singles in Shanghai bought up all the odd-numbered seats in the theater, forcing couples to sit apart.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/feb/14/valentines-day-odd-numbered-cinema-seats-china/
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1aqgtgb/til_that_on_valentines_day_a_group_of_embittered/

TIL about Duck Shit oolong which the discoverer of, named it so that he could keep all the leaves to himself.

https://www.curioustea.com/tea/oolong-tea/dan-cong-organic-ya-shi-xiang/
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1amn65d/til_about_duck_shit_oolong_which_the_discoverer/

So apparently the term "patch" in software development comes from punched paper tape.

"Small corrections to the programmed sequence could be done by patching over portions of the paper tape and re-punching the holes in that section."

https://chsi.harvard.edu/harvard-ibm-mark-1-language

#til #computers #development #language #history

Did you miss the excellent office hours with @emitche all about the Message Context Menu? Now you can watch it on TIL! https://tilvids.com/w/2KRrfrGGzs2jsBhNfv4XUY

And keep up to date all our @tilvids video content by following our TIL account at @thunderbird@tilvids.com!

#Thunderbird #TIL #OpenSource

TIL about Yan Tan Tethera, a “language” used traditionally for sheep counting in the British Isles, derived from now extinct languages such as Cumbrian

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yan_tan_tethera
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/192el99/til_about_yan_tan_tethera_a_language_used/

#til

* very few land places have a land antipode #maps (Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipodes)

TIL the photo of Salvador Dalí jumping and painting while water and live cats fly through the air took 5 hours and 26 tries because they couldn't get the timing right. The "floating" objects hung from wires or were held up off-camera. Dalí’s canvas frame was empty in the pic; he painted it in later.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dal%C3%AD_Atomicus
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/18ucg0b/til_the_photo_of_salvador_dalí_jumping_and/

« Je vais poser une question à CanardCanardVasY… C'est bizarre comme nom, quand même… »

Donc, finalement, j'ai cherché d'où venait le nom "DuckDuckGo" au lieu de faire ma recherche (c'était quoi déjà ???).

C'est donc écrit dans l'histoire sur Wikipédia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuckDuckGo

Et… ça vient du jeu "Duck, duck, goose" qui n'est rien d'autre que… "le facteur n'est pas passé" : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck,_duck,_goose

Truc rigolo appris aujourd'hui !

#TIL #DuckDuckGo

TIL German mental calculator Gert Mittring broke the world record for taking roots when he successfully calculated the 89247th root of a million-digit number.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gert_Mittring
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/18ebfg1/til_german_mental_calculator_gert_mittring_broke/

TIL of the "Shoe Fitting Flouroscope" or "X-Ray Shoe Fitter" which existed in shoe stores up until the 70's - Allowing customers (mostly children) to look through a viewer at a live X-Ray of their feet, to see the bones of their toes and how they lined up with the stitching of the shoe's sole.

https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe-fitting_fluoroscope
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/18698vq/til_of_the_shoe_fitting_flouroscope_or_xray_shoe/

TIL country star Merle Haggard got his start in music after seeing Johnny Cash play while he was an inmate at San Quentin Prison at age 21

https://www.loudersound.com/features/johnny-cash-merle-haggard-and-the-true-story-thats-almost-too-good-to-be-true
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/180hvea/til_country_star_merle_haggard_got_his_start_in/

#TIL that one of the most commonly played street vendor “jingles” in #Mexico City was created by a father-daughter #clown team (English with Spanish).

Hoy me enteré de que una de las canciones de los vendedores ambulantes más tocadas en #CDMX fue creada por unos #payasos —un padre y su hija (inglés con español).

https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-siren-of-scrap-metal/

#Clowns #Payaso #DF 🤡

The Siren of Scrap Metal - 99% Invisible

Amid the noisy bustle of Mexico City, there is one iconic sound echoing on repeat in the background. A recording that blares from trucks looking to buy old household items and appliances, either to fix and resell or to sell for scrap.

^{99% Invisible}

Boot procedure of modern Intel CPUs #til

https://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/66109.html