The "Today I Learned" Thread • Page 19

TIL that from 1912 to 1948, artists could win medals in the Olympic Games. Competitions were held in five categories: painting, sculpture, literature, architecture, and music. The only rule was that the artwork had to be inspired by sport.

 

Wasn’t city planning part of the Olympics at some point too?

 

indeed it was

 

TIL: The Seattle Mariners are the only MLB team that have never been in a World Series.

Meanwhile, the San Diego Padres, Colorado Rockies, Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers have all been in a World Series but have yet to win one

 

TIL: Portland, Oregon could’ve been named “Boston” instead. The city’s two founders couldn’t agree on a name and wanted to name the city after their respective hometowns (Boston, MA and Portland, ME). So they settled on a coin toss. Portland won

 

Why would they want to name the city after other existing cities?? Agents of chaos. Forever destined me to a life of wondering if it's Portland Oregon or Maine

 

Not exactly the same, but there three different Orange Counties. One in California, one in Florida and one in North Carolina

I think people automatically assume California if you mention OC, so that’s not really a problem I have. But it’s still kind of funny

 

Funny enough Disneyland is in Orange County CA and Walt Disney World is in Orange County FL.

 

Yep! I always thought that was funny

 

TIL: Utqiagvik, Alaska, the northernmost town in Alaska and the United States goes through a “polar night,” which is a 65-day period from November to January where there is literally no daylight. The sun does not hit their area, so they live in a continuous nighttime for over two months

 

They made a Vampire movie about this. You have never seen 30 Days Of Night?

 

Nope. Never even heard of it

 

True Detective season 4 also takes place in a fake town inspired by the real place

 

TIL the actress that played Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter movies was almost 40 years old

 

TIL the Guillotine was the primary judicial execution method in France until they abolished the death penalty in 1981. The last person officially executed by guillotine was in 1977.

 

TIL Kit Kat is owned by Nestle, but in the US is licenced out to and produced by Hershey's.

 

TIL that German Shepards are not recommended by a lot of dog trainers recently because I guess the breeding on them sucks nowadays. Their temperament as a breed has declined significantly.

 

TIL there is a species of Sea Slug that has evolved to be able to photosynthesize like a plant. It's the only species in the animal kingdom that can do this. It even looks like a leaf.

 

My immediate thought was "water/grass type Pokemon"

 

I recently learned that the notorious piracy in Somali actually started off as a way to protect their environment from corporations who would come to their waters to dump waste and overfish.

 

TIL that uncopyrightable is the longest common English word that contains no repeated letters.

 

TIL Pokémon stands for Pocket Monsters. I am 33 years old and shook

 

Lmao I have known this since I was 10. What did you think it meant?

Also wanna get your mind blown? You know Digimon? Digital Monsters

 

lol you know guess it just never occurred to me that it stood for anything hahah

 

TIL that there are technically seven different versions of Boss Of Me by They Might Be Giants