Today I Learned 🎓

16 October 2026 12:49

TIL Karl Marx was broke and frequently begged Friedrich Engels for money, once even asking for more cash immediately after expressing condolences for Engels' recently deceased wife in a letter to him, resulting in an angry response from Engels. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 October 2026 11:49

TIL East Germany rebuilt an entire city for North Korea free of charge [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 October 2026 08:49

TIL Diogenes of Sinope, the fourth-century BC Cynic philosopher, often masturbated in public, which was considered scandalous. When people confronted him over this, he would say, "If only it were as easy to banish hunger by rubbing my belly." [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 October 2026 04:49

TIL That KFC is now the 5th largest fast food chicken chain in the USA and that Chick-fil-A has higher sales than then next 5 largest chains combined [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 October 2026 03:49

TIL about the Cannonball Loop, an infamous enclosed water slide where some riders would experience lacerations while on the slide. After investigation, it was determined the lacerations were a result of embedded teeth in the interior wall of the slide from other riders’ accidents. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 October 2026 02:49

TIL about the Lewis–Mogridge position which was formulated in 1990 and often called the "Iron Law of Congestion." It is the principle that building more roads or widening existing ones does not solve traffic congestion because traffic always expands to fill available road space [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 October 2026 01:49

TIL : bees can learn and recognize faces [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 October 2026 01:49

TIL In 1840, William I, the first king of the Netherlands and a Protestant, abdicate the throne to marry a Belgian countess Henriëtte d’Oultremont who was Catholic. The couple married in 1841, when he was 71 and she was 48. His son from his first marriage succeeded him. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 October 2026 01:49

TIL that board track racing on motorcycles was a popular sport in the early 1900s. They would race on circular tracks made of wooden boards known as motordromes. With 60 degree banked turns riders reached close to 100mph. In 1915 a board track race in Chicago had more ppl than the Indy 500. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 October 2026 00:49

TIL that the South Park episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft" which aired in 2006 had Butters say that he frequently plays a game titled Hello Kitty Island Adventure, but 17 years later in 2023, an actual game with that exact title was released with no association or tie-in to South Park [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 October 2026 23:49

TIL Muhammad Ali was sentenced to 5 years in prison for violating Selective Service Laws after refusing to be drafted into the Vietnam War. He saw the war as an exercise in genocide [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 October 2026 21:49

TIL that in the 1800s the American dairy industry used to sell milk thinned with water. They recolored the resulting bluish-gray liquid with dyes, chalk, or plaster dust, and faked the look of cream using pureed calf brains. The milk was often filled with bacteria and preserved with embalming fluid. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 October 2026 19:49

TIL that the trope of immigration officials at Ellis Island changing and anglicizing immigrants’ names is a myth, which only became popularized around 1970 [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 October 2026 17:49

TIL René Descartes, famous for “I think, therefore I am,” believed three dreams he had in a stove-heated room in 1619 were divine guidance directing him to pursue truth through science and philosophy and leading to the development of analytical geometry. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 October 2026 16:49

TIL that only one of the Beach Boys could actually surf [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 October 2026 12:49

TIL that the Mamluks were enslaved soldiers who rose to power, established a dynasty that lasted over 250 years. They went on to defeat the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260 and capture the last major Crusader stronghold in 1291, ending nearly two centuries of Crusader rule in the region. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 October 2026 11:49

TIL there are two quarterbacks who have started and won two Super Bowls each, but despite being eligible, have not been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Jim Plunkett and Eli Manning. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 October 2026 07:49

TIL of the Slavey people, named by Cree raiders who often enslaved them. While the name is in common use, it is seldom used by the people themselves who prefer "Dene". [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 October 2026 04:49

TIL that the average public swimming pool contains about 7.5 to 75 litres of urine. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 October 2026 03:49

TIL that after dousing himself with aerosol body spray inside a vehicle, a man caused an explosion so powerful when lighting a cigarette that the force of the blast pushed out the vehicle's roof, doors, rear windows, and tailgate. He was later taken to the hospital to get checked for hearing damage. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 October 2026 01:49

TIL Ulysses S. Grant’s real name was Hiram Ulysses Grant. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 October 2026 01:49

TIL Before becoming a Hollywood star, Rock Hudson served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, working as an aircraft mechanic on Samar in the Philippines. He was discharged in 1946. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 October 2026 01:49

TIL that Busta Rhymes song "Dangerous" samples a 1980s PSA about kids taking loose medication."This is serious/We could make you delirious/You should have a healthy fear of us/'Cuz too much of us is dangerous" [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 October 2026 01:49

TIL speakers of the Australian Aboriginal languages Kuuk Thaayorre and Guugu Yimithirr routinely use compass directions instead of left and right, even for nearby objects, while Tzeltal Maya speakers in Tenejapa, Mexico, use a similar system based on uphill, downhill, and across. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 October 2026 23:49

TIL that when world-renowned physicist Wolfgang Pauli found out that his wife cheated on him with the chemist Paul Goldfinger, his response was: "Really? A chemist?" [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 October 2026 22:49

TIL 8 teenagers died in a fire in 1984 at the Haunted Castle attraction at Six Flags Great America. Despite having a fire prevention expert recommend smoke detectors and sprinklers, they were never installed. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 October 2026 21:49

TIL Jason Giambi (MLB) — Wore a golden thong (or gold lamé thong) during slumps to break out of hitting slumps. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 October 2026 18:49

TIL that the prominent early 19th century American politician John Randolph of Roanoke never went through puberty. He is suspected of either having had Klinefelter syndrome, or tuberculosis which settled in the genital tract. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 October 2026 16:49

TIL Michael Jordan would often bet on Jumbotron cartoon races with a Bulls security guard during games, but nearly always won because he got the winners from arena staffers in advance. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 October 2026 16:49

TIL that Moby Dick was a commercial failure and became popular after the author's death [Source]