Today I Learned 🎓

09 Nov 2024 14:49

TIL that children exposed to family violence show the same pattern of brain activity as soldiers exposed to combat. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

09 Nov 2024 11:49

TIL Of the 45 persons who have served as President of the United States, at least half have displayed proficiency in speaking or writing a language other than English. Of these, only one, Martin Van Buren, learned English as his second language; his first language was Dutch. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

09 Nov 2024 10:49

TIL the actor Sinbad was one of the worst debtors to the state of California in 2009, owing up to $2.5 million in income-tax to the state [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

09 Nov 2024 06:49

TIL that 'The Most Dangerous Animal in the World' was a 1963 exhibit at the Bronx Zoo. It featured a mirror and text describing the dangers humans pose to life on earth. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

09 Nov 2024 06:49

TIL that the Primaries that got Lyndon B. Johnson to the Senate were rigged [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

09 Nov 2024 03:49

TIL about Philo Farnsworth, a farm boy from Idaho who, at just 14, conceived the idea for electronic television while plowing a field. Despite no formal training, his unexpected innovation laid the foundation for the technology that transformed communication and entertainment worldwide. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

09 Nov 2024 00:49

TIL "Body Integrity Identity Disorder" is a rare psychological condition where individuals feel an overwhelming desire to amputate a healthy limb, believing it doesn’t belong to them. This disconnect between body and mind leads some to extreme measures, feeling incomplete until the limb is removed. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 Nov 2024 22:50

TIL Darryl Hannah was diagnosed as autistic as a child. Doctors recommended she be institutionalized but her mother opted for a change in environment, moving to Jamaica with her. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 Nov 2024 19:49

TIL that the stunt pilot Charles Hamilton was known for often flying drunk and crashed over 60 times. However, he survived every time and instead died of tuberculosis. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 Nov 2024 18:49

TIL Peru has a prison just for for Ex-Presidents of the South American country. It can hold up to 3 people at any one time and is currently full. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 Nov 2024 17:49

TIL that adults who played Pokémon video games extensively as children have a brain region that responds preferentially to images of each Pokémon. Stanford researchers identified the brain region activated by Pokémon characters. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 Nov 2024 14:49

TIL In contrast to high treason, petty treason was a crime in England which involved the killing of a social superior seen as breaking the social hierarchy; such as a servant killing their master. Unlike with high treason, men would be hanged but not quartered, women would be burned but not drawn. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 Nov 2024 12:49

TIL Highway hypnosis is an altered mental state in which an automobile driver can drive lengthy distances and respond adequately to external events with no recollection of consciously having done so. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 Nov 2024 08:49

TIL in 1859, an Australian man named Thomas Austin released 24 rabbits for hunting on his estate. With no natural predators, they multiplied so rapidly that within a few decades, they overran Australia, causing massive ecological damage and leading to one of the largest control efforts in history. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 Nov 2024 06:49

TIL about Lucy Salani, who was an Italian activist and the only known Italian transgender person to have survived the Nazi concentration camps. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

09 Nov 2024 13:49

TIL in 2011 a drunken moose in Sweden became stuck in an apple tree while attempting to eat more fermented apples. Responding firefighters managed to bend the tree down far enough for the moose to slide off the branches and be set free. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

09 Nov 2024 10:49

TIL the Ainu worship bears, seeing them as divine gifts that provide hide and meat. When they find a cub, they raise it lovingly in the village, sometimes feeding it breast milk, and treat it as a god. Once the bear reaches one or two years old, they ceremonially kill it, honoring its sacred role. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

09 Nov 2024 08:49

TIL that there are over 40 million slaves living right now [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

09 Nov 2024 06:49

TIL Tigers in the Sundarbans region of India and Bangladesh have been known to hunt and kill humans. Until recently, it is estimated that these tigers got 3% of their calories from eating humans. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

09 Nov 2024 05:49

TIL a 2015 study involving 280 men found that viewing visual sexual stimuli was unrelated to experiencing erectile dysfunction with a partner, while it was related to a stronger desire for sex with a partner. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

09 Nov 2024 01:49

TIL that while the first computer built, the Z3, had only 176 bytes of memory: the first computer designed - over 100 years earlier - had 16.6kB of memory. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 Nov 2024 23:49

TIL that in 2011, a woman sued P. Diddy for 1 Trillion Dollars, claiming he was behind the 9/11 Attacks, and was the father of her child. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 Nov 2024 21:49

TIL that Ronald Reagen likely had Alzheimer's while president. His son Ron believes he began to show signs of it as early as three years into his first presidential term. Reagan announced he had been officially diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1994, five years after leaving office. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 Nov 2024 18:49

TIL the state of Georgia forbids banishment beyond its borders, so the state gets around it by instead banning criminals from 158 out of 159 counties, with the last one, Echols, being so poor and remote that those banished leave the state instead. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 Nov 2024 17:49

TIL that the .nu top-level domain, intended for the country of Niue, is currently managed by the Swedish Internet Foundation. The government of Niue is in legal proceedings to reclaim ownership of the domain. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 Nov 2024 15:50

TIL that there’s a female chimpanzee who enjoys TV porn. Not only does she use the remote control perfectly well, but she also regularly chooses adult entertainment over other programming by herself. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 Nov 2024 14:49

TIL the world record for longest stationary manual on a skateboard is 2 hours 55 minutes 22 seconds, achieved by Brandon González in 2017. He trained for six years before his successful record-breaking attempt. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 Nov 2024 09:49

TIL Swedish Fish manufactured in North America can't be imported into Europe because it doesn't meet European food safety standards [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 Nov 2024 07:49

TIL about Botulf Botulfsson, the only person executed for heresy in Sweden. He denied that the Eucharist was the body of Christ, telling a priest: "If the bread were truly the body of Christ you would have eaten it all yourself a long time ago." He was burned in 1311. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 Nov 2024 04:49

TIL 18 yr old Dick Van Dyke enlisted in the Air Force during WWII singing and dancing on base in Sherman TX with the hopes of avoiding being sent to fight the Japanese. An impromptu audition at the latrine earned him a permanent announcer gig on base. [Source]