Today I Learned

I kind of remembered that the European flag is not just for the European Union. (It was actually created for the Council of Europe.)

I had no idea that the stars are properly called mullets.

"On an azure field a circle of twelve golden mullets, their points not touching."

What I think of when I hear "a flag with a circle of twelve golden mullets":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_Turkey#Eligibility

Arrest of Opposition's (Presumptive) Candidate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrest_of_Ekrem_%C4%B0mamo%C4%9Flu

On 19 March 2025, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu from the opposition Republican People's Party was arrested by Turkish police for alleged corruption, extortion, bribery, money laundering and supporting terrorism, particularly the PKK. His arrest, along with that of more than 100 other people, caused widespread protests and demonstrations.

Since November 2024, AKP actions against opposition representatives heated up. On 18 March 2025, Istanbul University annulled İmamoğlu's degree, citing irregularities. As Turkey's presidential candidates must hold an university degree, this would effectively block him from running for president. The decision came just days before the opposition party was set to nominate him.

So much for saying that goldfish have a thee-second memory-span. The can also recognize people. (Wikipedia)

The roles, powers, and influence of non-sovereign monarchs throughout Africa vary greatly depending on the state. In some states, such as Angola, the local king may play an integral role in the local governing council of a region, such is the case with the king of Bailundo,[1] or on a smaller level, such as many of the Fons of Cameroon, they may be seen as leaders or heads of a particular town, settlement, or village.[2] They are often regarded as custodians of tradition and culture, and in some cases, play an important role in local religious activities (such as in Benin, where some of the kings double as heads of Vodun cults and are believed to have spiritual powers).[3][4]

Their relationship with the national government of which their respective realm sits within can be complex. Particularly influential monarchs are often sought after by local politicians and elected leaders for support,[5][6] while others have contentious relationships with their national governments. In some cases, the national government has stepped in to curtail the influence of non-sovereign monarchs (such as when Chadian government suspended the powers of the Ouaddai sultan in 2022, or when the emir of Kano was deposed by the regional government).[7][8]

Ok I didn't really learn this today, but I've always thought it was cool.

The domestic pigeon (Columba livia domestica) is a pigeon subspecies that's derived from the rock dove or rock pigeon. The rock pigeon is the world's oldest domesticated bird. Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets mention the domestication of pigeons more than 5,000 years ago, as do Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Wild rock doves are uniformly pale grey with two black bars on each wing, with few differences being seen between males and females; i.e. they are not strongly sexually dimorphic. The domestic pigeon (Columba livia domestica, which includes about 1,000 different breeds) descended from this species. Escaped domestic pigeons are the origin of feral pigeons around the world. Both forms can vary widely in the colour and pattern of their plumage unlike their wild ancestor, being red, brown, checkered, uniformly colored, or piebald.

The genus name Columba is the Latin word meaning "pigeon, dove", whose older etymology comes from the Ancient Greek κόλυμβος (kólumbos), "a diver", hence κολυμβάω (kolumbáō), "dive, plunge headlong, swim". Aristophanes and others use the word κολυμβίς (kolumbís), "diver", for the name of the bird, because of its swimming motion in the air. The specific epithet livia is a Medieval Latin variant of livida, "livid, bluish-grey"; this was Theodorus Gaza's translation of Greek péleia, "dove", itself thought to be derived from pellós, "dark-coloured".

Before the Columbian Exchange, rock doves were restricted to a natural resident range in western and southern Europe, North Africa, and extending into South Asia. They were carried into the New World aboard European ships between 1603 and 1607.

Fun fact, there is no clear distinction between pigeons and doves. Generally, bigger species get labeled "pigeons" while more delicate ones are named "doves".

If there’s anything we’ve learned from the coronavirus pandemic, it’s that washing our hands is one of the best ways to protect ourselves from the dangers of contagion. But hand washing does much more than cleanse us physically; sometimes it can wipe our mental slate clean. Here are some examples of what a bit of soap can do for our psyches.

It is were the term gas lighting comes from

"Guardian super-blogger flames Reg boffinry desk" "the observed variations in the solar spectrum have caused roughly as much warming of Earth's surface as have increases in carbon dioxide emissions, says Haigh." Open and shut, then. Much of recent global warming [...] was actually down to changes in the Sun.

A massive crater on the dark side of the moon apparently has two 2.6km deep canyons leading off. A massive rock hit the moon at 1-2 kilometers per second, creating the huge crater. Extra debris blown off caused the canyons.

Pages are the core of our newspaper, each day providing hundreds of news stories, features, photos and must-read sections like Business, Sports and The Arts. These historical pages, from more than 60,000 issues from 1851 to the present, are available unframed or framed from our archives. Dive into the harrowing tale of the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic, get wrapped up in the excitement of the end of the Civil War, read gripping accounts from spectators and survivors of the Hindenburg disaster or join Lucky Lindbergh on his daring flight across the Atlantic. Or keep an article that resonates with you personally, whether it's an announcement in the Wedding Section, a thought-provoking piece from the Opinion Section, an article about a landmark discovery in Science or a list of insightful best practices in Business. Whether for a birthday, anniversary, graduation or holiday, a page reprints can commemorate a significant event in a loved one's life. Inside pages are available from the first published issue in 1851 to the present, unframed and framed. Dimensions listed above indicate paper size. 11" x 17" unframed reprints are protected with a plastic sleeve and are shipped flat; unframed 18" x 24" and 24" x 36" reprints are shipped in a sturdy tube. (Actual size of Times newspaper pages today is 13” x 22”.) 11" x 17" reprints have a border of about a quarter-inch on the image's largest side; it's a half-inch for 18" x 24" and 24" x 36". Pages from 1998 to present are in black and white or in color, depending on how they appeared in the newspaper. Pre-1998 pages are black and white and are reproduced from microfilm, an archiving process that picked up imperfections on printed pages and diminished the quality of photos. Page reprints are printed on premium heavyweight 100% cotton fiber paper. The paper is a semi-smooth, natural white, the same type you would find for high-quality fine art or photograph reproduction. The acid-free paper does not yellow over time. PLEASE NOTE: This order form is only for complete pages as they originally appear. The article you want may appear with original advertising, other articles or may be incomplete if it jumps to another page. If you are looking for an article or page that is edited in any way, please go to https://nytimes.wrightsmedia.com/. NYTStore cannot authorize edits to pages. Magazine section pages are not available. Framed reprints may vary in width to reflect page proportions that changed from wide (pre-1954) to more narrow from 1997 to the present. Because this personalized item is custom-made for you, all sales are final and this product cannot be returned, refunded or exchanged. This product is for personal use only. Publication, reproduction, use in advertising or for purposes of trade is strictly prohibited without written permission.

It seems that the Republic of China also control a few islands in the Fuchien/Fujian province as well, which are quite close to the People's Republic of China

Swardspeak (also known as salitang bakla (lit. 'gay speak') or "gay lingo") is an argot or cant slang derived from Taglish (Tagalog-English code-switching) and used by a number of LGBT people in the Philippines.

cross-posted from: https://lemmit.online/post/5408672

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/TirelessGuardian on 2025-03-15 12:41:13+00:00.

Original Title: TIL In 1983, it was announced on radio that the hard to find Cabbage Patch Dolls would be dropped from a plane at County Stadium. People just needed to hold up a catcher’s mitt and their credit card, to be photographed by the plane. 20-30 people fell for the prank and showed up at the stadium.

I remember the guy started working on military defense but i didn't know he founded his own military defense company named after the lord of the rings with the help of peter thiel. Also i wasn't aware his company is now producing an arsenal of surveillance weapons and leading the sector.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anduril_Industries

Apart from already looking cursed, canning bananas at home comes with an almost certain risk of botulism.

https://www.foodrepublic.com/1672144/canned-bananas-explained/

The first two are:

1.When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

2.The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

Arthur C. Clarke, the famed sci-fi author who penned these laws, is probably best known for co-authoring the screenplay to 2001: A Space Odyssee

cross-posted from: https://lemmit.online/post/5402137

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/SteO153 on 2025-03-14 08:35:14+00:00.

He is in a documentary called The Encampments (2025)

https://nitter.net/OnlinePalEng/status/1900437294055649789

This appears counterintuitive; people typically predict intense states to last longer. The hypothesized for this disconnect is that, intense states trigger psychological defense processes that reduce the distress, while less intense states do not trigger the same psychological defense processes and, therefore, less effective attenuation of the stress occurs.

The singular of data in Latin is datum, but in English it's data. It is a mass noun where it's not easy to break it into individual, countable pieces. Something like sand is almost never represented in ite plural form of sands.

Typically includes rice fried with ketchup, sausages, sunny-side up eggs, a drumstick and some veggies.

I would actually like to try this!