TIL that heirs to the throne of the Ottoman Empire were kept under house-arrest in the "Cage" from puberty until death (or becoming sultan), and it was common for a new sultan to have his brothers killed, including infants, sometimes dozens at once, to reduce the number of claimants to the throne.
#window - opening in a wall (structural or figurative)
French: fenêtre
Spanish: ventana
German: Fenster
Dutch: raam, venster
Danish: vindue
Norwegian: vindu
Wind, or air, also features in the Spanish.
The Dutch could had the poetic "windoog" but no: they went with a description how it's built, a word related to the English "rim".
TIL about the Gish Gallop, in which one debater spews an overwhelming number of arguments, without regard to their veracity, so that their opponent is unable to answer coherently or refute the statements.
TIL about a quarter of the registered hosts on Airbnb own nearly two thirds of the listings. Wealthy users buying multiple houses to rent out is a significant contributor to the current housing crisis.
TIL - In the 1970s East Germany in effort to create an export invented nearly unbreakable glass. Attempting to export no one wanted a product that doesnt break. 120 million glasses were made before reunification, they are still used 50years later. Today the technology is used to make Gorilla glass.
TIL during the making of Toy Story 2, a technical error nearly erased the entire film and all its assets, however an animator working remotely had a backup copy that rescued it. That animator, Galyn Susman, was laid off earlier this year.
TIL Judith Love Cohen was American aerospace engineer who helped create the Abort-Guidance System that rescued the Apollo 13 astronauts. When she went into labor, she took a printout of her problem to the hospital. She called her boss and said she finished it before giving birth to actor Jack Black.
TIL during the 1920 trial of Elmer Fisher for the illegal ownership of alcohol, the jury took 1 of the bottles submitted as evidence when they went to deliberate to make sure that it was whiskey. After some time passed, the jury asked for a 2nd bottle. A short time later, it found Fisher not guilty.
TIL that the reason that Mr. Rogers told viewer that he was feeding his fish as he was doing so was because a five-year-old fan who is blind was concerned that he wasn't, so he wanted to put her mind at ease.
TIL that for centuries, tuberculosis was thought to be hereditary, or caused by malnutrition, harsh climate, etc. It wasn’t until 1865 that French military doctor Jean-Antoine Villemin proved that TB was an infectious disease by inoculating lab rabbits with material from infected humans and cattle