M7aPK TIL that as far back as the 11th century, artisans in the Islamic world used “girih tiles”, a set of geometric shapes used to create designs that never exactly repeat, centuries before mathematicians formally studied non-repeating patterns.
j6lLE TIL German general Dietrich von Hülsen-Haeseler died in 1908 after suffering a heart attack while performing a ballet dance in a tutu for Kaiser Wilhelm II during a hunting trip.
0dDQv TIL John Glenn asked NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson to check the orbital equations by hand before his 1962 Friendship 7 mission, the first American orbital spaceflight.
greL9 TIL that toes also have names, with the first toe being called the Hallux, and other toes have similar names to their finger counterparts.
LQZep TIL the 1980 film Jesus was available in 2210 languages and was recognized by Guinness World Records as the "Most Translated Film"
b6wLp TIL country music artist Willie Nelson has appeared in over 30 films
QN1rL TIL that the Oise-Aisne American Military Cemetery in France has a special plot (Plot E), that contains the remains of 94 American military prisoners, all of whom were executed under military authority for crimes committed during or shortly after WW2. Plot E does not appear on any cemetery maps.
ANexl TIL Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclonesbare essentially the same type of weather phenomenon.
yVpn8 TIL the first draft of FDR’s most famous speech originally began with “a date which will live in world history.” Just before he addressed Congress, FDR crossed out “world history” and scribbled in the word: “infamy.”
m1BLv TIL that Sherpas have evolved so that the mitochondria in their muscle cells convert more oxygen to energy than other people.
DQl9Y Today I learned about the “Madonna whore complex” and it’s awful.
vPoLK TIL about 'American Civil Religion' the concept was formalised by sociologist Robert Bellah in a 1967 essay, where he argued that alongside its many competing denominations, America had developed a separate national system that belonged to the nation thatn any specific church.