Today I Learned (TIL)

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Morella1989 on 2025-08-02 21:04:51+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/DAL59 on 2025-08-02 20:53:35+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/tyrion2024 on 2025-08-02 20:37:11+00:00.

Original Title: TIL each year roughly 0.3% of all college applicants in the US are accepted into at least one Ivy League school, whereas only 0.0004% of college applicants get accepted into all eight Ivy League schools. 19 known students accomplished the latter between 2014-2022.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Fighterpilot108 on 2025-08-02 20:23:41+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/SuperMcG on 2025-08-02 19:08:32+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Morella1989 on 2025-08-02 18:42:50+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that Dummy, a deaf-mute fortune teller from Sible Hedingham, was accused of cursing Emma Smith in 1863. A mob beat him and threw him in a brook as an “ordeal by water.” He died of pneumonia in a workhouse. Two men were convicted of assault and sentenced to six months’ hard labour.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/tyrion2024 on 2025-08-02 18:15:45+00:00.

Original Title: TIL after boxes of booster packs containing unreleased Magic: The Gathering cards were opened online, the publisher Wizards of the Coast sent Pinkerton agents to the home of the presenter to retrieve them. They confiscated 22 boxes after a confrontation that reportedly made the presenter's wife cry.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/tyrion2024 on 2025-08-02 18:11:44+00:00.

Original Title: TIL after receiving many letters from blind fans of his video games, Kenji Eno sought to create one that both sighted & blind players could experience equally. So he made the blank-screen game, Real Sound: Kaze no Regret. Sega got the rights by agreeing to donate 1K consoles to the visually impaired

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Sailor_Rout on 2025-08-02 17:39:19+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/temujin77 on 2025-08-02 17:03:33+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Ghosts_of_Bordeaux on 2025-08-02 16:44:08+00:00.

Original Title: TIl of "Bruceploitation", a subgenre of martial arts films made in the wake of Bruce Lee's death to capitalize on his popularity, where "look-alike" actors with their names changed to sound like Lee's (Bruce Li, Bruce Le) starred in movies such as Re-Enter the Dragon and Enter Another Dragon.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/bawlhie62a2 on 2025-08-02 16:18:22+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that Elvis Presley’s cousin was paid $18,000 by the National Enquirer to secretly photograph Elvis’ corpse after his open-casket funeral. The issue went on to become the magazine’s best-selling edition ever, with a record 6.7 million copies sold.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Resident_Tackle9041 on 2025-08-02 16:15:22+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/BadenBaden1981 on 2025-08-02 12:39:15+00:00.

Original Title: TIL the first yelling at Rocky Horror Picture Show screening happened after 5 months in midnight screening. Upon seeing a character place a newspaper over her head to protect herself from rain, someone yelled, "Buy an umbrella you cheap bitch!"

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Loki-L on 2025-08-02 11:24:04+00:00.

Original Title: TIL about epaulette sharks, who can walk on land and survive for hours with little or no oxygen from their gills. They are well camouflaged apex predators that live in the waters (and sometimes land) near Australia.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/idkmoiname on 2025-08-02 10:49:08+00:00.

Original Title: TIL Operation LAC (Large Area Coverage) was a United States Army Chemical Corps operation which dispersed microscopic zinc cadmium sulfide particles over much of the United States and Canada in order to test dispersal patterns and the geographic range of chemical or biological weapons

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/CreeperRussS on 2025-08-02 10:23:56+00:00.

Original Title: TIL The Deer Hunter pioneered "prestige pictures" where the films would only be screened at the end of the year to qualify for Academy Award recognition, then would have a full-scale release after the nominations.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Pozzolana on 2025-08-02 09:31:05+00:00.

Original Title: TIL whilst filming of The Island of Dr. Moreau multiple disasters occurred including radiation poisoning, floods and the suicide of Marlon Brando’s daughter. As director Richard Stanley was on the phone to his Mum in Ireland at the time explaining this, her house was struck by lightning.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/wenonah_ on 2025-08-02 09:20:48+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that the heavily outnumbered British won the pivotal Battle of Plassey that started their conquest of India because they knew how to deal with rain. They covered their gunpowder while the Siraj's gunpowder got wet and unusable.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Flubadubadubadub on 2025-08-02 08:47:50+00:00.

Original Title: TIL That a Contronym is a word that can have two opposite valid meanings, for example Cleave, to split something and also hold on to something, or another example is Bolt, to affix something and also to get away. There are many others.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Morella1989 on 2025-08-02 06:55:01+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that Margaret Fleming (1980–c.2000), who had learning difficulties, was murdered by her carers Edward Cairney and Avril Jones in Inverkip, Scotland. She had not been seen for 17 years before her disappearance was investigated. Cairney and Jones were convicted in 2019; her body was never found.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/kusti85 on 2025-08-02 05:37:08+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Own-Bullfrog7362 on 2025-08-02 04:54:46+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that In 1947, engineers working on the Mark II computer at Harvard University found a moth stuck in one of the components. They taped the insect in their logbook and labeled it "first actual case of bug being found." The words "bug" and "debug" soon became a standard part of programming.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Objective_Horror1113 on 2025-08-02 04:46:51+00:00.

Original Title: TIL Freddie Mercury was born with four extra teeth, causing a prominent overbite. Despite being self-conscious about them, he never got them fixed, believing the extra space in his mouth contributed to his vocal ability. He feared altering his teeth might change his voice.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Morella1989 on 2025-08-02 03:50:51+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that Mary Frith (c.1584–1659), alias Moll Cutpurse, was a notorious London pickpocket and fence. Defying gender roles, she dressed in men's clothes, moved in criminal circles, and became a legendary figure in the 17th-century underworld.