Today I learned !todayilearned@lemmy.ml

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TIL that the Paraguayan war 1864-1870 led to the death of up to 69% of Paraguay's population. After the war there were only 28,746 adult men left in the country.

TIL that ladybugs are also called ladybirds

TIL the film industry established itself in Hollywood partly to avoid Thomas Edison's harassements. Edison had patents for key film making technology and enforced them harshly, including hiring thugs.

TIL that the red&green maritime navigational markers are the opposite in the Americas

TIL: Pill Bugs (Poly Polies) are actually crustaceans and still have gills!

TIL that the national anthem of Estonia is the same as that of Finland, but with different lyrics.

TIL that in 532, half of Constantinople was destroyed and tens of thousand died in riots between supporters of different chariot racing factions.

TIL that a 28 year old Russian man went to the doctor for coughing up blood and having chest pains. The doctors diagnosed it as cancer, but it turned out to be a fir tree growing inside his lungs.

TIL: About the Berber Queen who defied the Caliphate: Al-Kahina and the Islamic Conquest of North Africa

TIL How to subscribe to a brandnew Lemmy sub on a different instance

TIL about Photic Sneeze Relfex

TIL the English word 'lord' comes as a combination of the Middle English words for 'loaf' and 'ward'

TIL "Lemmy" comes from, indeed, the game Lemmings, as well as Lemmy from motorhead.

TIL catch and release fishing has an 18% average mortality rate

TIL that in 2017, two students in Aberdeen left a pineapple in an art gallery. It was mistaken for art and when they returned a few days later it was enclosed in glass.

TIL that “OK” is said to be the most widely spoken word in the world, having been adopted as a loanword in mamy languages. However, the etymology of the word is uncertain.

TIL that wedding rings are essentially successful ad campaign started by diamond mining companies to sell you diamonds

TIL that in the docs there is a detailed explanation for how federation and search works in Lemmy

TIL that in the 19th century some people were buried with "coffin torpedoes", explosive devices intended to deter body-snatchers that dug up the body to sell to medical schools for anatomy study.

TIL That the domesticated hamsters we now have as pets are all descended from a single pair captured in Aleppo, Syria in 1930.