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TIL The policeman John Parker, who was assigned to guard the entrance to Lincoln’s box at Fords Theater, was not immediately fired after he was assassinated. He was even assigned to guard Mary Todd Lincoln afterwards, though she quickly dismissed him. He was only fired in 1868 for sleeping on duty.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Frederick_Parker
https://redd.it/1g9pgce
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TIL: In 2015 Tom Selleck was sued by the Calleguas Municipal Water District for allegedly improperly transferring approximately 1.4 million gallons of water which he used to water his avocado farm. He settled the suit by paying $21,685.55.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Selleck#2015_water_lawsuit
https://redd.it/1g9urg2
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TIL Top Gear's international popularity was due largely to early episodes being shared illegally on the FinalGear forum when the show was only available in the UK. When the forum's founder passed away, Jeremy Clarkson posted a tweet acknowledging how important he had been to the show's success.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/26723/alex-mills-founder-of-the-infamous-fan-site-that-spread-top-gear-across-the-world-dies-at-34
https://redd.it/1g9gzmw
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TIL that the US Government once experimented with seeding clouds to weaken hurricanes (Project Stormfury), ultimately learning that their method was just duplicating a process which already occurs naturally (eyewall replacement).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Stormfury?wprov=sfla1
https://redd.it/1g8tozu
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TIL of Vichy collaborator Maurice Papon, who deported 1600 Jews to Drancy camp in WW2. He also tortured Algerian insurgents and killed up to 300 protesters in Paris in 1961, disappeared a Moroccan Marxist, and was granted the Legion of Honour by Charles de Gaulle. He was not convicted until 1998.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Papon
https://redd.it/1g8ufsp
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TIL the United States Geological Survey (USGS) uses the term "Gage" instead of "Gauge" because one employee in 1892 reasoned that the term "Gage" was the "proper Saxon spelling," instead of the Norman "Gauge"
https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/why-does-usgs-use-spelling-gage-instead-gauge
https://redd.it/1g8yj1y
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TIL there is a news maxim called, "Betteridge's Law of Headlines" that basically states any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered, "no".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines
https://redd.it/1g8svar
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TIL Mongolia has a traditional type of air dried meat called borts. The meat is usually beef, camel, or goat and is cut into thin strips that are then hung up to dry from November to December when the temperature falls below -16’C over 6 to 7 days.
https://correctmongolia.com/borts-is-air-dried-meat/
https://redd.it/1g803r5
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TIL that close to half of the US population is projected to have obesity by the year 2030 (article is from 2019)
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/half-of-us-to-have-obesity-by-2030/
https://redd.it/1g85ghe
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TIL that cats love eating (human) earwax. Apparently, the proteins in it smell delicious to them.
https://www.thedodo.com/amphtml/dodowell/why-do-cats-like-earwax
https://redd.it/1g807zc
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TIL Half of pregnancies in giant pandas result in twins but the mother chooses the stronger cub and the other one is left to die of starvation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_panda#Reproduction
https://redd.it/1g86bps
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TIL: There was a German medical study on Shuriken (ninja stars) wounds. They used pig carcasses while researchers threw a cyclone shuriken, a plastic one, and a traditional one. All 3 were capable of inflicting fatal wounds. This study served to promote discussion on the German shuriken ban of 1980.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20642255/
https://redd.it/1g83i4m
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TIL: In 1932, Brazil couldn’t afford to send its athletes to the Los Angeles Olympics, so they put them on a ship filled with coffee. The athletes sold the coffee along the way to fund their trip.
https://www.tastingtable.com/1031862/the-important-role-coffee-played-in-the-1932-olympics/
https://redd.it/1g7iwhd
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TIL Monasteries used to distill a compound called "uisge beatha" (pronounced uska beg) which means "water of life" in Gaelic. After it got popularized, people started calling it solely "uska", which led to its final form in present, whiskey.
https://www.theoxfordartisandistillery.com/blogs/blog/a-complete-history-of-whisky
https://redd.it/1g7dgjd
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TIL that A Bug’s Life, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, and WALL-E were all brainstormed over a single lunch
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/most-productive-lunch-in-the-history-of-animated-cinema/
https://redd.it/1g77p5n
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TIL During the WW2 Battle Of The Atlantic, the British Merchant Navy had a higher casualty rate in proportion to the armed forces, and their wages were halted as soon as their vessel was hit by a torpedo.
https://www.gatheringvoices.org.uk/post/ship-sinks-pay-stops-why-we-were-inspired...
https://redd.it/1g9hywt
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TIL when mathematician Évariste Galois was still in his teens, he was able to solve a problem that had been open for 350 years. Then at the age of 20, for reasons that remain obscure, he fought in a duel and died from the wounds he suffered.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89variste_Galois
https://redd.it/1g9efha
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TIL a 2013 study found that Vietnamese mothers potty train their children by using a whistling sound at certain times to remind them to eliminate & frequently checking for signs of need. With this process, all children used the potty by 9 months old and at 24 months old, the training was complete.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1477513112002628
https://redd.it/1g8lmyy
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TIL of "Hara hachi bun me" the Japanese belief of only eating until 80% full. There is evidence that following this practice leads to a lower body mass index and increased longevity. The world's oldest man followed this diet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hara_hachi_bun_me
https://redd.it/1g8is52
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TIL that Arno Breker, Hitler's favorite sculptor, who was known for his bombastic style of representing the ideals of the Nazis, was offered a commission after the war by Stalin, but refused, saying "One dictatorship is sufficient for me." He continued to thrive until his death in 1991.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arno_Breker
https://redd.it/1g8ttwd
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TIL in 2012, a computer history museum in California sent a team to Sparkler Filters, a company in Texas, to try to coax them into selling their IBM 402 with Model 129 key punch that was being used for accounting work and inventory. In 2013, the company was still using the machine.
https://www.chron.com/news/article/Conroe-company-still-using-computers-museums-want-4459714.php
https://redd.it/1g8sf24
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TIL the Fermi Paradox arose as part of a casual conversation in the 1950s when Enrico Fermi asked "But where is everybody?" referring to extraterrestrial life
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox
https://redd.it/1g87o68
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TIL that in 2006, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of North Korean web portal Naenara, around 300 users gathered to organize a flash mob. The gathering was dispersed immediately, and all online chatrooms in North Korea were banned as a result.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwangmyong_(network)
https://redd.it/1g7sw4l
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TIL that in the original Grease musical, Sandy was not Australian. When she was cast, Olivia Newton-John agreed to be paid at a lower rate in exchange for rewriting the script to make Sandy Australian so she wouldn't need to do an American accent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grease_(film)#Casting
https://redd.it/1g7xuhv
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TIL Years ago, when two children were born within 12 months of each other, people called them "Irish twins." When a mom had three kids within three years, they were called "Irish triplets." This was due to a derogatory stereotype of poor Irish Catholic families having lots of kids close together.
https://www.parents.com/irish-twins-8605851
https://redd.it/1g82p8z
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TIL Hotels in the US always have ice, because the burgeoning Holiday Inn wanted to set themselves apart
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/618837/surprising-reason-hotels-have-ice-machines
https://redd.it/1g7xrp1
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TIL per a report released by the federation of American scientists, the United States government produces more classified information then unclassified.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Classified_information_in_the_United_States&wprov=rarw1#cite_note-Wayback_Machine-13
https://redd.it/1g79dsh
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TIL during height of Dotcom bubble, Cisco was the most valuable company in the world. Then stock price fell by 88% in 2 years, and never reached record price again.
https://www.hardingloevner.com/out-of-our-minds/nvidia-and-the-cautionary-tale-of-cisco-systems/
https://redd.it/1g7dif1
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TIL that when Kissinger publicly threatened "countermeasures" in a press conference, during the Oil Crisis, if the OAPEC embargo was not lifted, the Saudis responded with threatening further oil cuts and to burn their oil fields if the US military invaded.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis#effectiveness_of_embargo
https://redd.it/1g76aog
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TIL about the Pit of Despair, an apparatus used in widely-condemned experiments that isolated young monkeys in a dark, smooth tank with sloped sides and a curved base. The monkeys were left isolated and hopeless in the dark for months, supposedly to induce and study depression.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pit_of_despair
https://redd.it/1g7ej74
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