Today I Learned (TIL)
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TIL mass fatality causing "humam stampedes" and "hysterical masses" are myths which shift responsibility from organisers for fatal crowd incidents which "invariably" result from poor organisation
From Wikipedia
Stampede events that involve humans are extremely rare and are unlikely to be fatal.\[5\] According to Keith Still, professor of crowd science at Manchester Metropolitan University, "If you look at the analysis, I've not seen any instances of the cause of mass fatalities being a stampede. People don't die because they panic. They panic because they are dying".\[5\]
Paul Torrens, a professor at the Center for Geospatial Information Science at the University of Maryland, remarks that "the idea of the hysterical mass is a myth".\[5\] Incidents involving crowds are often reported by media as the results of panic.\[16\]\[17\] However, the scientific literature has explained how panic is a myth which is used to mislead the attention of the public from the real causes of crowd incidents, such as a crowd crush.\[18\]\[19\]\[20\] […] [M]ost major crowd disasters can be prevented by simple crowd management strategies.\[22\] Crushes can be prevented by organization and traffic control, such as barriers. […] Such incidents are invariably the product of organisational failures.\[4\]
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NSFL: TIL about "Four D meat"
A friend was talking to a young butcher telling him about how this crazy guy comes to the supermarket to BUY rotten meat! Butcher kid can't think of WTF anybody would to do with rotten meat. My friend tells him it's probably to make dog food.
Later my friend find a post that talks about Four D meat: Dead, Dying, Diseased, or Down And how it is used to make dog food
The link above point to a dog search on the topic
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TIL how offside actually works in soccer (football)
www.nytimes.com What Is Offside in Soccer? (Published 2022)Understanding the rule can be tricky. This is your guide.
The linked article includes animations for each of the different cases
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TIL that there are home shopping radio stations
I was browsing Radio Locator and clicked on the Other category where among reading services and exactly one electronic station was a cluster of shopping stations.
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TIL The Sculptor of Mount Rushmore Had Ties to the KKK
Gutzon Borglum was the sculptor and was involved with the KKK. He was chosen because he was the sculptor of the "Shrine to the Confederacy” which was the inspiration for Mount Rushmore.
Guess it shouldn’t be too surprising given the way the land was taken from the local tribes despite it being sacred.
Credit to this comment by u/alcoholicorn that drove me to look it up.
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TIL One of the people imprisoned for threatening South Park creators later became an FBI informant and now works to counter extremism
www.pbs.org An extremist’s path to academia -- and fighting terrorismJesse Curtis Morton begins work as a counterterrorism researcher at George Washington University this fall. But his path to the position was highly unconventional: until 2012, Morton was Younus Abdullah Muhammad, a Muslim extremist who founded a radical Islamist website. His decision to go undercove...
Federal prosecutors once regarded Jesse Curtis Morton as a threat to national security.
The FBI said the pro-jihadist website he helped found, RevolutionMuslim.com, inspired a number of terrorist plots. On that website, militant training videos, bomb-making instructions, praise for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and chat rooms for discussions among members created a multi-media stew of toxic content, they said.
In 2012, Morton was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for his role in running the site.
Now, just four years later, Morton is free and has been hired as a terrorism analyst at a George Washington University-based think tank.
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TIL Soviet composer Blanter was made to hide in a closet during negotiations with Nazi Germany because a military commander objected to his civilian clothes. He fell out as the Germans were leaving.
>Blanter accompanied the Red Army to Berlin in early 1945. He was commissioned by Stalin to compose a symphony about the capture of Berlin. However, when Vasily Chuikov was meeting with a German delegation led by Hans Krebs to negotiate their surrender following Hitler's suicide, Chuikov had several uniformed war correspondents pretend to be members of his general staff in order to appear more professional and intimidating at the negotiations. But Blanter was also meeting with Chuikov at the time the delegation arrived and he could not pass as a Red Army officer as he was wearing civilian clothes. Thus, Chuikov shoved him into a closet just before the delegate entered the room. While he remained there for most of the conference, he eventually lapsed into unconsciousness from a lack of air, collapsing out of the closet and into the room just as the delegates were preparing to leave, embarrassing Chuikov and astonishing the Germans.
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TIL Seoul 1988 was the first Olympics to have condoms distributed, with a supply of 8500 with increases ever since. However there is no research evidence that athletes competing in the Olympics would
TIL Seoul 1988 was the first Olympics to have condoms distributed, with a supply of 8500 with increases ever since. However there is no research evidence that athletes competing in the Olympics would be more likely to seek out casual sex
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TIL that Target's original name in 1902 was Goodfellow Dry Goods.
www.qualtrics.com The Original Names of 25 Famous CompaniesDo you ever wonder how different life would be if you had been named something different? When it comes to branding, the right name can make or break the outcome of a company’s trajectory.
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TIL In a 2022 survey by FlexJobs, 45% of remote workers reported saving at least $5,000 annually and one in 5 remote workers estimated saving $10,000 a year.
www.usatoday.com How much is that remote job worth to you? Americans will part with pay to work from homeAmerican workers save thousands of dollars when they work from home and will accept a lower salary for a remote position, research shows
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TIL 18th Century Norwegian swashbuckler Peter Tordenskjold once ran out of ammo during a sea battle so he sent his enemy a letter thanking him for "a fine duel" and asking him to send more ammo so the
TIL 18th Century Norwegian swashbuckler Peter Tordenskjold once ran out of ammo during a sea battle so he sent his enemy a letter thanking him for "a fine duel" and asking him to send more ammo so they could carry on. The two crews then toasted each other's health and went their separate ways.
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TIL Colorado isn’t a rectangle and actually has 697 sides, mostly due to poor measurement tools
www.atlasobscura.com Colorado Is Not a Rectangle—It Has 697 SidesThe Centennial State is technically a hexahectaenneacontakaiheptagon.
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TIL that lobsters can discard their limbs in a process called "reflex amputation": new limbs then grow to replace them.
www.fisheries.noaa.gov Fun Facts About Luscious LobstersFascinating facts about our tasty lobster friends.
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TIL about 'B', the programming language
> B is a programming language developed at Bell Labs circa 1969 by Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie.
> Influenced by BCPL, PL/I, TMG > > Influenced C
> B was designed for recursive, non-numeric, machine-independent applications, such as system and language software. It was a typeless language, with the only data type being the underlying machine's natural memory word format, whatever that might be. Depending on the context, the word was treated either as an integer or a memory address.
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TIL Stephen King used to do so much cocaine that he had to shove gauze in his nose to keep blood from leaking onto his typewriter.
detoxtorehab.com Stephen King: Alcoholism, Drug Addiction and Fame - Detox To RehabStephen King, the World-Acclaimed Author Battled With Alcohol and Drug Addiction for Many Years. King's Story is One of Heart-break, Struggle and Triumph.
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TIL the hippocampus has a kind of internal switch that flips the brain between "learning mode" and "remembering mode".
neurosciencenews.com A Switch Telling the Brain When to Learn and When to Remember - Neuroscience NewsStudy reveals a neural signal in the hippocampus that enables the brain to alternate between learning and remembering modes.
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TIL about 'Dark Oxygen', which is produced on the Ocean Floor by Lumps of Metal
www.smithsonianmag.com Scientists Discover 'Dark Oxygen' on the Ocean Floor Generated—Surprisingly—by Lumps of MetalResearchers found that electric currents from polymetallic nodules are behind this alchemy—the same minerals that deep-sea miners are targeting
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TIL Cassandra Durham disappeared in 1987 leaving mysterious notes and phone calls to her family stating “she was in trouble”. 37 years later, her family is looking to find her.
www.insideedition.com Dad Hopes to Learn What Happened to Daughter Who Left Home in 1987Cassandra Durham's father, Michael, tells Inside Edition Digital he last saw her at their home in Baltimore, Maryland, in August 1987.
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TIL During the London Olympics, the Military placed anti-aircraft missiles on the tops of apartment buildings
www.theguardian.com London 2012: missile defence deployment goes ahead despite protestsGovernment confirms that ground-based air defence systems will be stationed at six London sites for duration of Games
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TIL LEGO buys back bricks with giftcards
legobricktakeback.com LEGO® Brick Take BackGot a LEGO® stash gathering dust? For a limited time, our LEGO Brick Take Back program turns your spare bricks into rewards. Trade in your pre-loved bricks and score a LEGO e-Gift Card in the process!
