Today I Learned 🎓

27 Oct 2024 13:49

TIL that in England in the Middle Ages, a fugitive could claim sanctuary simply by touching the knocker on the outer door of a church to be immune from arrest. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 Oct 2024 10:49

TIL that political opponents used to insult each other with the label "Pharaoh" before Hitler came around. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 Oct 2024 06:49

TIL - NVIDIA's unofficial company motto is "Our company is thirty days from going out of business." [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 Oct 2024 04:49

TIL Pineapple Express is more than a pot reference and a movie, it's a weather phenomenon that brings moisture from Hawaii to the Pacific Northwest. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 Oct 2024 04:49

TIL in 2021 a woman who ran out of her regular hair spray used Gorilla Glue Spray instead, believing it to also be hair spray. This resulted in her hair becoming stuck to her scalp. Eventually, a plastic surgeon performed a 4-hour long surgical procedure on her for free to remove the adhesive. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 Oct 2024 02:49

TIL The remains of a complete male A. dirus (Dire Wolf) are sometimes easy to identify compared to other Canis specimens because the baculum (penis bone) of the dire wolf is very different from that of all other living canids. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 Oct 2024 00:49

TIL: a 12-year-old Jewish violin prodigy named Motele Schlein, after witnessing his family’s murder by Nazis, joined the resistance and planted explosives in a restaurant where he performed, killing over 100 high-ranking Nazi SS officers [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 Oct 2024 22:49

TIL the A26 motorway in France is so heavily used by British holidaymakers that it's officially nicknamed "Autoroute des Anglais" or "Motorway of the English" [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 Oct 2024 19:49

TIL that the British Empire was the largest in human history, about six times larger than the Roman Empire, occupying close to a quarter of the world [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 Oct 2024 17:49

Today I learned F1 cars can have their engines disabled wirelessly via IP connection [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 Oct 2024 16:49

TIL that Rose McGowan and Joaquin, River, Summer and Rain Phoenix were all raised by their parents in the religious cult known as Family International (formerly Children of God). The controversial group is notorious and has been investigated for child abduction and sexual misconduct. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 Oct 2024 13:49

TIL that the Ada programming language was designed in 1977 to replace 450 programming languages used by the US Dept. of Defense at the time [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 Oct 2024 06:49

TIL that Alexander Hamilton who is on the $10 bill is not a native born American but was born in the British Leeward Island (now St. Kitts & Nevis) [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 Oct 2024 03:49

TIL Dian Fossey, the conservationist who lived with Gorillas for several years, was murdered while doing research in Rwanda [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 Oct 2024 01:49

TIL that shortly before artist Keith Haring died, he formed a charitable foundation that now owns all of his copyrights. The money from licensing his work goes to underprivileged children and AIDS-related charities. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 Oct 2024 13:49

TIL that four time World's Strongest Man winner Jón Páll Sigmarsson, who famously stated "There is no reason to be alive, if you can't do deadlift!" died at the age of 32 while deadlifting in his gym. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 Oct 2024 08:49

TIL the Ovsiankina effect describes the innate human urge to finish tasks we've initiated. This tendency to resume an interrupted action is especially prevalent when the action hasn't yet been achieved. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 Oct 2024 05:49

TIL the Hershey Kiss paper is called a Plume. It’s edible. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 Oct 2024 04:49

TIL: Agent 355 is one of the first female spies for the US. She was active during the Revolution, but her identity remained secret. There is ongoing speculation whether she existed at all. However, many assert she was real. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 Oct 2024 03:49

TIL that all Medal of Honour recipients receive a special license plate (state dependant) to display on their vehicle. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 Oct 2024 01:49

TIL that Halley's Comet was seen in England in 1066, the year of the Norman Conquest, being interpreted as an omen, with a contemporary observer referring to it as a "source of tears to many mothers", portending "the downfall of my country." [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 Oct 2024 23:49

TIL there's a fruit that tastes like chocolate pudding. It's a fruit native to Central and South America called diospyros nigra, or black sapote, that tastes like chocolate and sweet custard. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 Oct 2024 19:49

TIL in WWI, half of the French army mutinied in 1917. Soldiers remained in trenches, but refused orders to attack after the failure of the Nivelle Offensive, which General Nivelle promised a 48 hour victory. The mutinies were heavily suppressed by the French and were not fully disclosed until 1967. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 Oct 2024 18:49

TIL that the old testament was not written with the same hebrew alphabet that is used today. It was written using the paleo-hebrew alphabet. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 Oct 2024 16:49

TIL that in 1066, the last male member of the House of Wessex was elected King of England, but was never crowned due to the Norman Conquest that occurred shortly after. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 Oct 2024 14:49

TIL in July 1969, US Senator Ted Kennedy crashed his car into the sea after a party and left the scene, leaving Mary Jo Kopechne to drown, a young woman that could have been saved if help had been called that night. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 Oct 2024 09:49

TIL Even Mild Dehydration Can Lower Your Focus, Memory, and Mood [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 Oct 2024 04:49

TIL almost all of the early cryogenically preserved bodies were thawed and disposed of after the cryonic facilities went out of business [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 Oct 2024 03:49

TIL There's a supercar vending machine in Singapore that dispenses Ferraris and Lamborghinis [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 Oct 2024 01:49

TIL: At the time of the French Revolution the majority of people in France did not speak French. [Source]