Today I Learned 🎓

15 October 2026 16:49

TIL a medieval woman's dental plaque contained lapis lazuli, a precious blue pigment used in illuminated manuscripts. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 October 2026 13:49

TIL golfer Tom Morris Jr. won four consecutive British Opens in 1868, 1869, 1870 and 1872. (There was no tournament in 1871.) He won his first at just 17 and all four before turning 22. In 1875 his wife and baby died during a difficult delivery. He died four months later. He was only 24. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 October 2026 06:49

TIL that Portugal’s crown prince, Pedro, was governing Brazil when he declared its independence in 1822, breaking with the kingdom ruled by his own father. A month later, he declared himself Brazil’s first emperor. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 October 2026 02:49

TIL that the 2011 dark/action comedy film “30 Minutes or Less” mirrors a real-life event where a pizza delivery driver was forced to wear a bomb collar and rob a bank, ultimately dying when the bomb detonated, though the filmmakers denied knowledge of the real-life story. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 October 2026 01:49

TIL that in 2014, a recall was issued for about 2.2 million bean bag chairs that had zippers on them after two children were found dead inside two of the chairs, having suffocated from lack of air and from inhaling the chair's foam beads. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 October 2026 23:49

TIL the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie pitch was to have starred comedians Sam Kinison, Gallagher, Bobcat Goldthwait and Billy Crystal in green make-up as the turtles. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 October 2026 22:49

TIL you could fit every planet in the Solar System between Earth and the Moon [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 October 2026 21:49

TIL that in 2016, a Chinese artist spent 3 days building a $15,000 LEGO statue or Nick Wilde from Zootopia. Shortly after it was put on display, a 4-year-old boy accidentally knocked it over, destroying it. The artist refused an offer of compensation from the parents. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 October 2026 20:49

TIL the longest-standing record chronicled in The Guinness Book of Records belongs to the monk, St Simeon the Stylite (c. AD 386–459), who spent approximately 39 years on a stone pillar in Syria. His purpose was self-persecution for people's sins, and to be nearer God. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 October 2026 19:49

TIL about heraldic hatching, a historical method of representing color without color. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 October 2026 17:49

TIL that earthquakes can trigger outbreaks of lasting vertigo in humans, which is known as Post-Earthquake Dizziness Syndrome [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 October 2026 14:49

TIL In 2012, an Irish mother delivered her first twin prematurely, and her contractions stopped. This allowed the second twin to stay safely inside the womb for another 87 days. This rare occurrence is known as a delayed-interval delivery. It broke the previous world record of 84 days. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 October 2026 13:49

TIL the Austrian Empire tried to colonize islands near India in 1778 with basically 5-6 people. Things didn't go particularly well. The colonists struggled with food and water shortages, their leader Gottfried Stahl died in 1783, and the survivors eventually abandoned the settlement. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 October 2026 08:49

TIL that despite their name, it is biologically impossible for a centipede to be born with exactly 100 legs because a genetic quirk dictates they always have an odd number of leg pairs. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 October 2026 06:49

TIL that (US) generic drug names aren't created by their manufacturers, they're assigned by the United States Adopted Names (USAN) Council [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 October 2026 15:49

TIL cacao trees grow flowers directly from their trunks and older branches. Unlike other flowery plants, cocoa tree's flower can be grown on woody branches. This is called cauliflory. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 October 2026 08:49

TIL during the Spanish-American War, approximately 1,100 men died in combat while 17,000 died from disease. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 October 2026 04:49

TIL Disneyland originally used real human skeletons provided by the UCLA Medical Center in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride because 1960s fake bones weren't convincing enough [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 October 2026 01:49

TIL that the "pre-filled" tax return is a new innovation in the tax world used by 90% of OECD countries. Gov't. administrators pre-fill a tax return based on data collected. In China, 85% of VAT refund applications info is pre-filled. The IRS, the USA's tax agency, does not offer pre-filled returns. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 October 2026 23:49

TIL that in 2010, UCF professor Richard Quinn uncovered a massive cheating scandal by analyzing statistical anomalies in exam scores, prompting 205 students to come forward and forcing all 600 to retake the exam. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 October 2026 22:49

TIL in 2016, a sweet shop owner in Pakistan confessed to mixing a highly toxic pesticide into the sweets after an argument with his brother and co-owner. From 20 April to 8 May 2016, at least 33 people, including five children, died from the purposely poisoned baked confection. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 October 2026 22:49

TIL Albert Einstein, besides his work as a physicist and mathematician was also a Fridge engineer. Together with a former student Leo Szilard he helped invent several new technologies in refrigeration and jointly held 45 patents, including a design for a fridge with no moving parts. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 October 2026 21:49

TIL about Randy Gardner, a 17 year old who spent 11 days and 25 minutes without sleep [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 October 2026 19:49

TIL that Lou Hoover - Henry Hoover's wife - had a tradition of leaving one chair empty whenever she entertained company, as a reminder of ongoing child poverty. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 October 2026 17:49

TIL: Eumenes of Cardia who went from being Alexander the Great's secretary to defeating one of Alexander's greatest generals in his first major battle [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 October 2026 14:49

TIL that in 1991, Nigerian prophet Daniel Abodunrin entered a lion enclosure at the University of Ibadan Zoo, believing God would shut the lions’ mouths just as He did for Daniel in the Bible. However, the lions pounced on and devoured him. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 October 2026 14:49

TIL Up until 1981 Boeing used depleted uranium as counter weights in parts of their 747’s [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 October 2026 11:49

TIL that 28 people have gone the moon and only 12 of them walked on it [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 October 2026 07:49

TIL about Cryptic Pregnancies, which is when a pregnancy shows little to no symptoms to the point that the woman can be unaware that she is pregnant until she is in labor in some cases. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 October 2026 03:49

TIL Alexander the Great’s mother, Olympias, had his father’s new wife and infant daughter burned alive. Years later, soldiers refused to execute Olympias so instead her victims’ families stoned her to death. [Source]