Recent comments in /f/todayilearned

fish4096 t1_j6n1k74 wrote

Reply to comment by Muscleflechisseur in TIL Morocco has built a huge wall splitting the Western Saharan territory in half lengthwise. The wall features garrisions of up to 40 men and a radar system linked to active artillery. by Iwamiyama

...today.

but you give up land forever. just look at how jelous everybody is of Norway, l because they were given some seemingly worthless ocean for next to nothing.

Besides, giving up territory to invaders just because "too pricey to defend" sets really bad precedent.

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technicalityNDBO t1_j6mzcdl wrote

Reply to comment by TheReal_AlphaPatriot in TIL your computer keyboard is 20,589 times dirtier than a toilet seat. The average office keyboard has 3,543,000 colony-forming units (CFU) of bacteria per square inch while your average toilet seat only has 172 CFU per square inch by SappyGilmore

Exactly. The bacteria got onto your keyboard from your hands. The same hands you'd use to rub your eyes, or pick a popcorn kernel out of your teeth.

It's just a stigma like with saliva. We spend all day swallowing our own saliva. But if we spit into a glass and drank it out of there, it would be gross for some reason.

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Anti-theist999 t1_j6myxz6 wrote

Reply to comment by bcbodie1978 in TIL tomb raiding is a big problem in China that looters sometimes find historically significant sites first. For instance the tomb of the famed 3 Kingdoms-era general, Cao Cao, was discovered in 2008 after police inspected the stolen goods of a bunch of robbers, who then led them to an unknown tomb. by Khysamgathys

Lol nope that would be the Olmec civilization. An ancient civilization from central / North America.

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zebulonworkshops t1_j6mxz59 wrote

Reply to comment by Pay08 in TIL that between 1895 and 1908 the population of the Belgian Congo declined by between 2 and 13 million due to colonial brutality and diseases caused by colonialism. by hetkleinezusje

Holy shit you people in this sub love your downvotes. And sure, whatever. That wasn't my statement. I'm no tankie or Stalinist or whatever. But it's frustrating seeing someone claim that only faulty ideology caused that downfall. Life isn't nearly that black and white, and capitalism in history has very notably sought to snuff out socialism and communism whenever possible and by whatever means was feasible. It makes sense, it's a threat to their system of governance. It's why FDR was literally called a class traitor for implementing the New Deal. And why the far left at the time were against it because it was a band aid and not a cultural shift. The USSR sucked. Agreed.

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stefantalpalaru t1_j6mxoqm wrote

Reply to comment by Pay08 in TIL that between 1895 and 1908 the population of the Belgian Congo declined by between 2 and 13 million due to colonial brutality and diseases caused by colonialism. by hetkleinezusje

> we stopped doing that "you're responsible for your ancestors crimes" thing after the middle ages

Is that why you keep defending those crimes and rewriting history to unburden your guilty conscience?

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Cubusphere t1_j6mwvrm wrote

Reply to comment by AlanZero in TIL about cargo cults, where indigenous people of small tropical islands would perform elaborate rituals to mimic air traffic control and marching patterns after witnessing airplanes drop supplies on airforce bases during world war II. by sciencedit

Never watched the show. Even wikipedia links to that episode :)

>This article is about the informal fallacy. For the West Wing episode, see Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc (The West Wing). For other uses, see Post hoc.

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Pay08 t1_j6mwt08 wrote

Reply to comment by zebulonworkshops in TIL that between 1895 and 1908 the population of the Belgian Congo declined by between 2 and 13 million due to colonial brutality and diseases caused by colonialism. by hetkleinezusje

The Soviet economy was failing pretty much immediately after WW2. Sure, it was somewhat accelerated by outside powers, but the USSR would have collapsed anyways. Especially seeing as the main reason for its collapse was them conquering every Eastern European and Central Asian country.

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