Today I Learned 🎓

24 September 2025 05:49

TIL There is a castle being built (Guédelon Castle) using only techniques from the medieval period and locally harvested materials. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

24 September 2025 04:49

TIL that CNN has a video prepared to air at the end of the world [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

24 September 2025 03:49

TIL: 10% of drinkers in Australia drink over half the alcohol. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

24 September 2025 00:49

TIL In 2007, a Pennsylvania man robbed a bank with a BB gun in order to get away from his wife. When his wife came to collect his car after his arrest, one of the officers said that after spending 20 minutes with her, he was ready for jail too. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 September 2025 23:49

TIL an anti-moonshine law enforcement operation in Virginia called Operation Lighting Strike charged 30 people from 1991-2001, and shut down the local business source, reported to have sold enough sugar and materials to make 1.5 million gallons of illicit whiskey. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 September 2025 22:49

TIL that in 2019, a small religious painting about to be thrown into a landfill was found to be a medieval masterpiece by Cimabue, lost in the 19th century. It was sold for €24 million euros before being acquired by the French Government [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 September 2025 21:49

TIL that Polish Resistance soldiers attempted to kill Hitler by placing loads of TNT in a ditch during the parade celebrating the German defeat of Poland. The plot failed due to lack of intelligence, leading Hitler to safely pass by the explosives. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 September 2025 20:49

TIL that cats dislike the way many humans stroke and pet them (especially being touched at the base of the tail, or on the belly), but are highly tolerant of it because they recognize the advantages of the human/feline relationship (food, safety, attention, etc.). [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 September 2025 17:49

TIL that dogs, while defecating or urinating, prefer to align themselves along the North-South axis of Earth's magnetic field, as found by a 2013 study. This behavior is abandoned when the magnetic field becomes unstable due to, for example, solar flares. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 September 2025 15:49

TIL Germany was technically the first nation to send the first human-made object into space during WWII: the V2 rocket [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 September 2025 08:49

TIL that the largest synchronized water serge in New York City's history happened on February 28, 1983. A total of 6.7 million gallons of water was flushed into the sewer systems beginning immediately after the M*A*S*H series final, when everyone got up to use and then flush their toilets! [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 September 2025 06:49

TIL of Howard Unruh and his "Walk of Death." Howard, a WWII vet, killed 13 people during a 12 minute walk through his New Jersey neighborhood. He is recognized as one of the first mass shooters in the USA. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 September 2025 03:49

TIL Napoleon Bonaparte was obsessed with extensive personal hygiene, which was very unusual for the time period. He would daily shave, brush/pick his teeth, take long baths, change his cloths and covered himself in cologne that smelled like Rosemary and Citrus. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 September 2025 02:49

TIL the bonobo, a great ape, participate in tongue kissing, oral sex, and same-sex genital massaging, which has not been documented in any other species on Earth besides humans. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

22 September 2025 23:49

TIL that Gerd Müller, considered one of the greatest goalscorers of all time, retired from international football at just 28 after a row with the German FA when players' wives were not permitted to attend their 1974 World Cup celebration but officials' wives were. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

24 September 2025 05:49

TIL: Dr. Dre's brother's murder has never been solved and there's virtually no information on his case. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

24 September 2025 03:49

TIL Nicholas Meyer, who got credited with revitalizing and saving the Star Trek franchise by directing Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), had virtually no knowledge of Star Trek and had never seen a single episode of the show when approached to direct the film and rewrite the script. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

24 September 2025 01:49

TIL that James Earl Jones suffered from severe stuttering as a child and was selectively mute for 10 years because of it [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 September 2025 23:49

TIL By the early 14th century, so much filth had collected inside urban Europe that cities were naming streets after excrement. In medieval Paris, several street names were inspired by merde, the French word for "shit". There were rue Merdeux, rue Merdelet, rue Merdusson, rue de Pipi. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 September 2025 22:49

TIL that despite being the largest animal on the planet, even blue whales have a natural predator: orcas/killer whales. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 September 2025 22:49

TIL that David Smith, Chief executive of the Sinclair Broadcasting Group, was arrested during an August 1996 prostitution sting for committing an "unnatural and perverted sex act" (oral sex) with a sex worker in a Sinclair company vehicle as he drove on the highway. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 September 2025 21:49

TIL in 2011, Sgt. James Hackemer, who had lost his legs, was allowed to board the 'Ride of Steel' roller coaster at Darien Lake Theme Park in New York. The ride's training manual and posted rules explicitly stated that riders must have two legs. He died after being ejected from the ride. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 September 2025 17:49

TIL during the 1971 Frazier–Ali fight, a group of Activists broke into an FBI building taking and files that would expose numerous First Amendment Rights violations by the FBI, mailed them to the Washington Post. This incident also would prepare the Washington Post to handle and expose Watergate. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 September 2025 16:49

TIL that Rio de Janeiro in Brazil was the capital of Portugal in the 19th century [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 September 2025 11:49

TIL that Walt Disney testified before the House of Un-American Activities Committee in 1947. He accused former employees of communism leading to some being blacklisted in Hollywood. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 September 2025 07:49

TIL about WWI French General Geraud Reveilhac who ordered an artillery strilke against his own men when they did not leave their trenches to rush German machine guns with bayonets. The artillery officer refused. He then ordered that 24 men be randomly chosen to be executed as an example. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 September 2025 05:49

TIL about Jim Roper, winner of the 1st NASCAR race in Charlotte in June of '49. He drove a borrowed Lincoln from Kansas, raced and won the stock car, then drove it home. It would become his only win. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 September 2025 02:49

TIL the Pillsbury Dough Boy was involved in a late 1970's precedent-setting obscenity court case resulting in fair-use protected speech and commentary involving trademarks. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 September 2025 01:49

TIL Ted Kaczynski, the "Unabomber," was a participant in psychological experiments at Harvard University that were later alleged by some sources to be connected to the CIA's Project MK-ULTRA [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

22 September 2025 22:49

TIL the CIA used the song "The Real Slim Shady" by Eminem to psychologically torture inmates at a secret US prison. After 20 days of playing the song on repeat, one inmate described others as "screaming and smashing their heads against the walls." [Source]