Recent comments in /f/todayilearned

Goblikon_ t1_j6npfgm wrote

Reply to comment by InfamousBLT 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

Next time I see a post that mentions pollution in the US I’m gonna say the same thing - thanks for the idea!

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Tru-Queer t1_j6npebu wrote

Reply to comment by ArchaKun 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

Well ya see he hit the bowl with such force his log bounced out of the toilet and he choked to death. Talk about a way to go.

Smooth move, Exlax.

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Dookie_-_Monster t1_j6nole0 wrote

Reply to comment by Epic_Meow in TIL That the character who first said the phrase "fortune favours the bold" - Turnus, in the Aeneid, spends the rest of the story suffering military defeats before he's killed and heads to the underworld, miserable, at the end of the last book. by Equal_Caregiver_4909

The chance of picking one paper out of a stack is 1 / n (n is the number of papers).

The chance a piece of paper goes in the trash is 1/(.5n). The chance that piece is then picked out of the trash is then 1/(.5n) again. Multiply those and you get 1/(.25n^2).

So we can compare them to see if those are actually the same quantity.

1 / n < 1/(.25n^2)

n < .25n^2

4n < n^2

4 < n or n > 4

So if your stack has 4 or more pieces of paper in it, getting the paper out of the garbage is less likely (i.e. luckier) than just picking the paper out of the whole stack.

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Successful-Cash5047 t1_j6no1j4 wrote

Reply to 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

This has to be my favorite obscure fact! They would go all out too, they’d make fully decked out mock runways, complete with mock airplanes out of straw, a landing strip, and even mock air traffic control towers with torches mimicking the lights. They would build them as high up as they reasonably could. They would also ritually perform drill instructions with wooden mock guns! If I remember correctly the whole religion started from the abrupt arrival of U.S troops, who shared some of their canned food with the locals, they viewed it as literal mana from heaven!! The craziest thing is that this was going on in the 70’s (and I believe to a lesser extent still to this day!)

This is such an obscure, bizarre, and captivating topic, I’d highly recommend watching a YouTube video on the subject!

Video on cargo cults:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qmlYe2KS0-Y&t=5s

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arlondiluthel t1_j6nnvki wrote

Reply to TIL Tom Brady was drafted by the Montreal Expos baseball team while still in high school, but instead chose to play football in college. This technically makes him the last player drafted by the Expos still playing professional sports. by _Abe_Froman_SKOC

Today's fun fact is technically correct!

However, the Buccaneers don't currently intend to re-sign him, thus making him a free agent when the league year turns over, and who knows if anyone will pick him up. I don't believe that he'll be without a team next season, even if it's a one-year deal to give a team's future franchise quarterback time to mature and learn from one of the best to ever play the game.

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Jampine t1_j6nmp5u wrote

Reply to comment by Nazamroth 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

The imperial infantrymans uplifting primer has all the prayers at the end.

Though that strategy reminds me of Black Bess from Battlefield One; "She likes it when you swear".

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