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TIL the popular programming language "Python" is named after the comedy group "Monty Python"

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awKW0 TIL of Raffaele Bendandi, an Italian clockmaker who could predict earthquakes, such as the 1915 Avezzano earthquake which killed 30,000, using a self taught method that wasn't backed by science. Mussolini made Bendandi a Knight but banned his public predictions in 1928 because it harmed tourism.
nAj7 TIL That actor Viggo Mortensen is also an author, that has had over 20 books of his poetry, photography, and painting published
DQwaJ TIL modern tests for high value old paintings search for carbon 14 isotopes, none of which existed in the world before the trinity nuclear tests of the 40’s. Any paintings containing this isotope are clearly from after the tests and thus, a forgery.
wLd1P TIL the phrase being on "cloud nine" actually comes from a cloud atlas published in 1896 that divides clouds into 10 basic types, the ninth type being cumulonimbus clouds, the most puffy-looking ones. See A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, Part V Chapter 17 Into the Troposphere.
vkZR TIL that owners of more costly cars are more likely to disobey the rules of the road. They are three to four times more likely to break the law, and not stop in a pedestrian intersection.