Recent comments in /f/todayilearned

PM_ME_UR_BAN_NOTICE t1_ja71b1g wrote

Reply to comment by laserdicks in TIL: The concept of steganography which is the hiding of messages in plain sight. For example, Phyllis Latour Doyle (British spy) parachuted into France to spy on Nazis before D-day. She used knitting to record messages. by Geek_Nan

Using an encrypted messaging service shows that a communication took place. The whole point of Steganography is to communicate information without looking like you are doing so.

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hymen_destroyer t1_ja6yuwy wrote

Reply to TIL about Vesna Vulović, the Guinness world record holder for surviving the highest fall without a parachute: 10,160 m (33,330 ft; 6.31 mi) by Cannabisseur78

I think you only have to fall a couple hundred feet to reach terminal velocity. So your odds of surviving a fall don't appreciably change between 1000 and 30,000 feet. It mostly depends on where you land and the orientation of your body at impact. I heard it was actually better to fall into like tall wispy trees like a stand of spruce, anything that slows you down even slightly before you hit the ground can measurably improve your chance of survival.

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TacoCommand t1_ja6xnsr wrote

Reply to comment by Pogue_Mahone_ in TIL Tolkien assisted on the Oxford Dictionary's first edition, focused on 'W' words waggle to warlock. He "learned more in those two years than in any other"; and certain etymologies continued to puzzle him for years, with many pages of notes written later on 'walrus' for a lecture at Leeds by PianoCharged

Oh interesting! This would explain "uberwald" in Terry Pratchett as a shoutout to Transylvania but also "super weird".

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demostravius2 t1_ja6wlew wrote

Reply to comment by vibrant_crab in TIL a year after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the English sent their own Armada to Spain, leading to similar losses of ships and men, and an ignominious English defeat by malektewaus

Tbf one was a great victory, saving the country from subjugation and lot's of death.

The other was a waste of money, and ultimately not important.

I do find it funny we just skim past it though.

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ThatOnePunkEmpath t1_ja6wc3z wrote

Reply to comment by malektewaus in TIL a year after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the English sent their own Armada to Spain, leading to similar losses of ships and men, and an ignominious English defeat by malektewaus

Thank you the interesting post, I sourced this from halfway into your article.

The English weirdly, tied 3 missions into one and mopping up the remaining Spanish ships was just a third of an optimistic journey. (It's all in the wiki for more detail.)

"However, the English fleet was completely exhausted and crippled after preventing the Spanish invasion attempt and Elizabeth's coffers were empty.[20] Furthermore, like its Spanish predecessor, the English expedition suffered from unduly optimistic planning, based on hopes of repeating Drake's successful raid on Cadiz in 1587. There was a contradiction between the separate plans, each of which was ambitious in its own right, but the most pressing need was the destruction of the Spanish Atlantic fleet lying at port in A Coruña, San Sebastián and Santander along the northern coast of Spain, as was directly ordered by the Queen."

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YourlocalTitanicguy t1_ja6w89x wrote

Reply to TIL of David Sarnoff, the head of RCA and NBC who suppressed and then stole FM radio and Television from their inventors, driving one to suicide and the other to alcoholism. by Dega704

Sarnoff has a piece of Titanic history too.

Working the wireless on top of Wanamaker’s in New York, Sarnoff was able to pick up the faint sounds of Titanic’s distress calls. He then spent the next 72 hours trying to tune in to the messages firing across the Atlantic to Cape Race, relaying news to the world desperate to hear who had survived.

… except no he didn’t. Sarnoff totally fabricated this story in the 20s. He was managing a team of radio men who did work in the days following the Titanic sinking, but… so was every other east coast station. He didn’t hear Titanic’s distress call- it was a Sunday night, Wanamakers was closed, and its set was unlikely to be strong enough to cover that distance anyway, and he certainly didn’t stay at the keys for three days. He just… went to work like normal , even took a spa day in the middle of it.

But Sarnoff’s self created legend stuck strong, even mentioned in his obituary. There are good sources and reputable researchers who have recounted it, despite it not being in any way true at all.

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TFOLLT t1_ja6vhxh wrote

Reply to comment by wdomon in TIL there's a rock formation in Saudi Arabia about 6 meters high and 9 meters wide, split curiously in half and balanced on two small, natural pedestals. The origin of the Al Naslaa rock formation is unknown. by OccludedFug

Ofcourse you aren't. Not even willing to research the facts, why am I even surprised. Why even ask me questions then tho. I do my best to try to explain to you why, only to find I'm talking to an ignorant cynic. You're the embodiment of the closed, tunnel-visioned attitude of modern science. Thx.

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Nixon4Prez t1_ja6v6zv wrote

Reply to comment by EvilioMTE in TIL Tolkien assisted on the Oxford Dictionary's first edition, focused on 'W' words waggle to warlock. He "learned more in those two years than in any other"; and certain etymologies continued to puzzle him for years, with many pages of notes written later on 'walrus' for a lecture at Leeds by PianoCharged

Fairly well known among fans of Tolkien, but not so much among the general public

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