TIL about the North Sea Flood of 1953, when a night time storm surge overwhelmed sea defences in the Netherlands, north-west Belgium, and eastern England and Scotland, with a mean flood height of 5.6m/18'4" over sea level, resulting in over 2,000 deaths on land and over 200 at sea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sea_flood_of_1953?repost
TIL that Linda, a widely used synchronization model for parallel computation, employed in both academia and industry, is named after Linda Lovelace, a porn actress who appeared in the iconic 70s porn film "Deep Throat"
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Linda_(coordination_language)&oldid=1143559878#History
TIL that inflation is an increase in the general price of goods & services - when the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services 👀
https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation
TIL Los Alamos, New Mexico has the highest concentration of millionaires in the U.S. 12.4% of households have assests greater than $1 million
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Alamos,_New_Mexico#Economy
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/153ayox/til_los_alamos_new_mexico_has_the_highest/
TIL: Skippy peanut butter jars were redesigned to include a dimple at the bottom of the jar. This made it hard for people to see they were paying the same for a reduced amount of peanut butter.
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2008/nov/10/shoppers-getting-less-paying-same-price-20081110/
TIL Mouthbreathing makes your teeth crooked
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1539ns2/til_mouthbreathing_makes_your_teeth_crooked/
TIL that egg donors are often mislead about the dangers of the procedure because the industry is so lucrative. Reported long-term effects include "aggressive breast cancer, loss of fertility, and fatal colon cancer."
https://www.publichealthpost.org/viewpoints/egg-donation-risk-and-reward/
TIL Aspirin and Ibuprofen work by Blocking COX Enzymes, preventing pain messengers from being sent to the brain, but Acetaminophen works by Preventing COX Enzyme Production in the first place.
https://www.goodrx.com/healthcare-access/medication-education/cyclooxygenase
TIL that on May 1, 2014, the stock exchange was fined $4.5 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle charges that it had violated market rules
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Stock_Exchange
TIL that after Colonel Sanders sold KFC, he still made surprise visits to KFC restaurants. If the food disappointed him, he’d denounce it as "God-damned slop" or knock it on the floor. In 1973, KFC’s owner sued him for libel after he publicly called their gravy "sludge" with a "wall-paper taste.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_Sanders
TIL After the 5th decade of life, there begins a noticeable reduction in body hair especially in the legs and the reason is unknown
TIL France hadn't become a linguistically unified country (under French) until the end of the 19th century. By 1914, almost all French could read and understand the national language, though 50% still understood or spoke a regional language of France compared to today's 10% of French who can do that
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_in_the_long_nineteenth_century
TIL that 160 years ago Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and many more members of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment were killed during the American Civil War, in an attack on confederate stronghold Fort Wagner. They were one of the first African American regiments in the war.
https://www.nps.gov/articles/54th-massachusetts-regiment.htm
TIL Neil Armstrong thought they had a 90 percent chance of getting back to Earth but only a 50-50 chance of making a successful moon landing on the first attempt. There were too many unknowns in descending from lunar orbit down to the surface that hadn't been demonstrated by testing
TIL that during the Gulf War, American made color copiers that copied Iraq's war plans were transmitting their locations to US forces for more accurate bombing.
TIL The songwriters wrote "What A Wonderful World" for Louis Armstrong because he brought people together. A record exec hated it, was kicked out after trying to stop the recording, and wouldn't promote it. A 1968 #1 hit in the UK, it was a US hit because of 1988's "Good Morning Vietnam!".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_a_Wonderful_World
TIL The blue of the sky is more saturated when you look further from the sun but sky appears almost white near the sun due to Mie scattering. It also produces the white light from mist and fog
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/atmos/blusky.html
TIL that during the launch of Boat 6 from the Titanic, it was determined that there were not enough men on board, so Arthur Peuchen was closed upon to climb down the ropes and into the lowering boat, losing his wallet in the process. In 1987, his wallet was found in the wreck site.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Godfrey_Peuchen
TIL: Momofuku Ando, the inventor of insta ramen believed his noodles could cure world hunger. Over the decades he would shout quotes to his employees which includes, "Mankind is noodlekind", "What are you doing now?", and "Peace will come when people have food" which are in the employee handbook.
https://www.vox.com/2015/3/5/8150929/momofuku-ando-ramen-instant-noodles
TIL that mosasaurs, marine animals contemporary with dinosaurs that went extinct after Cretaceous period, are most closely related to snakes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxicofera
