Today I Learned (TIL)

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Agreeable-Affect3800 on 2025-07-23 12:16:38+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/LookAtThatBacon on 2025-07-23 15:50:16+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/jakduff on 2025-07-23 16:59:27+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/RkeiStudio on 2025-07-23 15:07:15+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/MrMojoFomo on 2025-07-23 15:03:06+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that the Portugese Man o' War (Physalia physalis) is not a single organism (like a jellyfish) but a colony of clones. The creature is made up of multiple genetically identical organism, each of which alters itself to take on a different form/function to create the individual parts of the colony

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/NewlyDiscoverdMe on 2025-07-23 15:17:34+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that pet cats form attachments with their human owners that are similar to the bonds formed by children and dogs with their caretakers. It's the first time that researchers have empirically demonstrated that cats display the same main attachment styles as babies and dogs

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/PenelopeJenelope on 2025-07-23 13:25:05+00:00.

Original Title: TIL about the Theory of Spontaneous Generation , a idea that maggots just spontaneously manifested themselves on decaying meat, which was widely accepted before Louis Pasteur discredited it and developed germ theory

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Crazy_Objective_7509 on 2025-07-23 11:20:11+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that South Korea’s constitution claims sovereignty over the entire Korean Peninsula and does not officially recognize North Korea as a separate state. Despite functioning as two independent nations since 1991, both Koreas claim to be the sole legitimate government of the entire peninsula.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/HomeWasGood on 2025-07-23 12:59:54+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that FBI agents advised radio stations not to play "Sixteen Tons" in the late 1940s because they considered it subversive and accused Merle Travis of communist sympathies. Tennessee Ford's version later became one of the best selling singles in history.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Caraway_Lad on 2025-07-23 12:47:26+00:00.

Original Title: TIL world-renowned herpetologist Karl Schmidt was fatally bitten by a boomslang (an arboreal African elapid). To get some data out of the situation, he described every symptom in detail almost until the point of death.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/No-Environment6103 on 2025-07-23 12:38:05+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Torley_ on 2025-07-23 11:41:17+00:00.

Original Title: TIL Hexie Maxie was the sole survivor of the worst single-vehicle car accident in American history. On July 31, 1954 a Buick's brakes failed — it hit a cliff, overturned, and burst into flames. 11 people were killed, including Maxie's own family. Severely burned, he still tried to save others.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/shenalster on 2025-07-23 12:00:00+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/ThomasNiuNiu on 2025-07-23 11:26:59+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Karthak_Maz_Urzak on 2025-07-23 10:05:22+00:00.

Original Title: TIL: Malcolm Caldwell was a Scottish academic who was a campaigner for Asian communist and socialist movements and a supporter of the Khmer Rouge. He frequently attempted to downplay reports of mass executions. Caldwell was murdered a few hours after meeting Pol Pot in Cambodia.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Supercar_Blondie on 2025-07-23 10:06:29+00:00.

Original Title: TIL Bill Gates paid a $28 fine every day for 13 years, from 1988 to 2001, to keep a Porsche 959 that was impounded by US Customs. By the time he got his hands on the car, he'd paid more than $133,000 in total from the fines.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Hrtzy on 2025-07-23 09:37:32+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/SteO153 on 2025-07-23 09:28:24+00:00.

Original Title: TIL about Japan’s kei cars, tiny vehicles limited to 660cc engines and max dimensions of 3.4 m/11.2 ft long, 1.48 m/4.9 ft wide, and 2 m/6.6 ft high. Created in 1949, they make up over a third of car sales in Japan due to tax breaks, insurance discounts, and city-friendly design

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/geoffreyireland on 2025-07-23 09:20:46+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Inevitable_Pea8729 on 2025-07-23 08:49:01+00:00.

Original Title: TIL That Benito Mussolini was given a ceremonial weapon called “Sword of Islam”, recieved the title “Protector of Islam” and saw himself as being a heir to the authority of Ottoman Caliphs since he took over Libya.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/drunk_conductor on 2025-07-23 08:20:15+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Bossitron12 on 2025-07-23 06:36:41+00:00.

Original Title: TIL of the siege of Beitang cathedral during the Boxer rebellion, where 41 Italian and French marines managed to hold off thousands of Chinese troops for months until Japanese allies arrived to relieve the siege, saving the lives of 3,900 Christians who took refuge inside the cathedral.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/BackpackJack_ on 2025-07-23 06:05:15+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Vegetable-Orange-965 on 2025-07-23 05:49:40+00:00.

Original Title: TIL there used to be a “joke restaurant” in Japan that served curry specifically formulated to have similar taste and texture to human feces. The curry was served in toilet-shaped bowls. The restaurant was founded by Ken Shimizu, who is also one of Japan’s best-known adult media stars.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Algrinder on 2025-07-23 04:51:10+00:00.

Original Title: TIL 17 y.o Matthew Scheidt a billing clerk intern spent days posing as a physician's assistant at a Florida hospital. He performed CPR, and even examined undressed male patients without anyone questioning him for days after convincing the hospital badge office that he had recently been promoted.