Today I Learned 🎓

16 Nov 2024 01:49

TIL that Cornell University has its own dairy farm with over 900 cows. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 Nov 2024 01:49

TIL in 2012, over 2,000 Koreans gathered to watch a single man pitch a tent (a 24-man army tent) after he claimed on an internet forum that he could do it in under two hours. The event grew so large it even attracted corporate sponsers. The man succeeded, taking about an hour to accomplish the task. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 Nov 2024 21:50

TIL David Letterman once insulted Quentin Tarantino on his show, which made Tarantino call Letterman on the phone and threaten to come to NY to “kill” him. Letterman responded by offering to pay for his flight and have QT choose the method of battle. Tarantino agreed and chose “bats.” [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 Nov 2024 20:50

TIL that Randy Weaver was awarded $3.1 million over the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 Nov 2024 18:50

TIL the phrase "neither rhyme nor reason" is from Edmund Spenser. Elizabeth I told her treasurer to pay Spenser "what is reason." Edmund wasn't paid, and wrote "I was promis'd on a time,\To have a reason for my rhyme:\From that time unto this season,\I receiv'd nor rhyme nor reason." He got paid. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 Nov 2024 15:49

TIL the first woman to be on the ballot in all 50 states was in 1988: a black woman named Lenora Fulani. She is 74 years old now. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 Nov 2024 12:49

TIL the baku, a mythical Japanese creature that eats nightmares. In the Meiji period, children would say, "Baku-san, come eat my dream" three times to get rid of bad dreams. But if the baku remained hungry after eating, it might also devour their hopes and desires, leaving them with an empty life. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 Nov 2024 09:49

TIL that scientists created a 60 year long experiment in Siberia, selectively breeding wild foxes who showed friendly traits. 40 generations later they were as friendly as dogs! [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 Nov 2024 04:49

TIL of 'Joe Martin', a captive orangutan actor that starred in over 50 silent era films, and for years lived essentially as a free human, wearing clothes, having it's own keys to come and go, attending film premieres and trusted to work with many children. Eventually it attacked many people... [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 Nov 2024 01:49

TIL of the "Casu martzu" - a sardinian fermented sheep cheese that has live maggots in it. It's considered unsafe to eat if the maggots have died, and is served alongside strong red wine. The larvae in the cheese can launch themselves distances up to 15 centimetres when disturbed. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 Nov 2024 23:49

TIL that in Romania in 1999, a man and a woman died of carbon monoxide poisoning while having sex in a car parked in a garage with the engine running and won the 1999 Darwin Award. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 Nov 2024 21:49

TIL backyard ultra, a type of ultramarathon where competitors must run 6.706 km within one hour, repeatedly. The last runner to complete a lap is declared the winner and the only finisher, with all others receiving a "DNF". The longest distance record is 110 laps, covering 737 km over five day. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 Nov 2024 21:49

TIL that KFC’s handwritten recipe is stored in a safe within a vault at KFC’s Louisville headquarters. To maintain confidentiality, KFC employs two separate suppliers: one blends part of the recipe, and the other completes it, ensuring no single entity has access to the entire formulation.  [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 Nov 2024 19:50

TIL researchers caused the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome epidemic by telling parents to put babies to sleep on their stomach [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 Nov 2024 18:49

TIL that the only time when more than half of the American public believed that the Apollo space program was worth the expense came at the time of the Apollo 11 lunar landing in 1969. Even then it only received 53% approval. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 Nov 2024 01:49

TIL of Kurt Gerstein, a Nazi officer who tried to alert the world of the Holocaust while it was happening by sending detailed reports to Swedish, Swiss, Dutch and Catholic officials. These were largely ineffective and he died by suicide in 1945 [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 Nov 2024 22:49

TIL: That Princess Diana was buried holding a set of rosary beads that were gifted to her by Mother Teresa, who died just 6 days after Diana at the age of 87. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 Nov 2024 20:50

TIL that Dippin Dots, the popular ice cream snack commonly found in stadiums, arenas, and theme parks, were originally created as cryogenically frozen cow feed. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 Nov 2024 20:50

TIL in 1714, a Native American guide in eastern North America showed a group of settlers a deep path worn in the streambank by herds of eastern elk crossing the river. By 1880, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared the eastern elk subspecies extinct. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 Nov 2024 16:49

TIL: The federal government is by far the largest employer of veterans in the United States [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 Nov 2024 15:49

TIL Neptune is not blue in colour, instead it's pale greenish-blue, as is Uranus. The original photos of Neptune taken by Voyager 2 in 1980s had been enhanced to highlight it's atmospheric features. Over time the captions of this changes were left out and blue became the defining colour of Neptune. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 Nov 2024 10:49

TIL that in Mike Tyson’s last professional boxing match to date, he faced the 6ft 6 Kevin McBride. Tyson would attempt to break McBride’s arm, before being shoved to the floor by McBride and then eventually quitting on his stool, just before the 7th round. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 Nov 2024 05:49

TIL Hemingway was three months sober when he killed himself in 1961 [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 Nov 2024 03:49

TIL At its greatest extent, Nixon’s “Enemies List” of political opponents and critics reached 220 people and organizations. Several of the people listed expressed pride at being included after the list was revealed at the Watergate hearings in 1973. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 Nov 2024 00:49

TIL that Vampires, in traditional folklore, suffered from arithmomania, a form of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) that revolves around numbers and counting [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 Nov 2024 22:49

TIL k-pop phenomenon only happened because Jurassic Park. In early 90s, Korean Government officials issued a report for the president stating the movie revenue was almost equivalent of exporting 1.5 Million Hyundai cars. As a response, the government invested a lot of money in cultural industry. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 Nov 2024 21:49

TIL that the United States has 44 four-star generals right now whereas in WWII there were just seven. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 Nov 2024 20:49

TIL that the Spice Girls co-wrote all their own songs. When they left their original management, they allegedly stole the masters of their recordings from the management office to make sure they retained creative control of their work. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 Nov 2024 18:49

TIL it’s routine practice in the US and many other countries for turkeys to have their beaks trimmed without anesthesia, which can cause something similar to “phantom limb pain” that humans experience after amputations. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 Nov 2024 18:49

TIL that Thalidomide, the drug responsible for thousands of birth defects across Europe in the 1950s/60s, was developed by a doctor who had previously worked for the Nazis, experimenting on concentration camp victims [Source]