› added 11 months ago

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TIL that the IAU (International Astronomical Union) only recognizes 88 official constellations. Any pattern of stars that is not one of the 88 official constellations is called an asterism, with the most well-known ones being the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, Orion's Belt, and the Summer Triangle.

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via reddit.com

woZeW TIL In April 2023 the heavy metal band Metallica announced the beginning of an inaugural marching band competition to feature songs from their catalog. Open to both high school and college, $150,000 was given away in cash prizes.
A1Ya TIL a man snuck into Vietnam at the height of the Vietnam War to find his 3 best friends and buy them a beer..known today as the “Greatest Beer Run Ever”
xL17 TIL most languages name the game of Chess after their word for “check”
d8L68 TIL that tiddlywinks is a real game with national and international associations and there have been multiple World Singles championships.
R7Nxl TIL telling ghost stories around a fire was originally a Christmas Eve tradition. Beginning with Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" it was an annual tradition throughout the Victorian Era and only changed when Halloween became popular in the 1920s.