Today I Learned 🎓

22 July 2026 01:49

TIL the robber Jeffrey "Roofman" Manchester who evaded custody by living inside stores, left a single fingerprint in his secret living quarters: A DVD of "Catch Me If You Can". [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

22 July 2026 00:49

TIL the population of Argentina was nearly 37% black during the 18th century but is only 0.6% black today [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 22:49

TIL that after putting down a military revolt led by three of his sons, King Henry II of England forgave them instantly but imprisoned his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine for sixteen years since she had taken the side of her children in the conflict [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 22:49

TIL that Gladiators rarely fought to the death. Matches had clearly defined rules enforced by referees which usually included calling the match if a gladiator was close to death. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 21:49

TIL Hasbro created the term "action figure" in 1964 to market G.I. Joe to boys, while competitors promoted similar toys simply as "boys' dolls." [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 19:49

TIL that the name "duct tape" has only been in recorded use since 1965. It is a variant of the original "duck tape", recorded in 1899, so named due to the duck cloth backing used by the tape. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 18:49

TIL In the U.S., 90% of households have AC. Meanwhile In Europe Just 20% on average have AC. In some countries, such as the UK, that number falls to less than 5%. Also, most European nations don’t have the grid infrastructure to support mass AC adoption. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 16:49

TIL the iconic cash-register intro to Pink Floyd's "Money" wasn't a sound effect from a library—it was painstakingly created by manually cutting and splicing recordings of coins, cash registers, tearing paper, and counting machines into a seven-beat tape loop months before digital sampling existed [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 16:49

TIL of a live 1953 Thomas the Tank Engine TV special on the BBC in which a model train derailed on air, forcing a human hand to place it back on the tracks while the narrator struggled to improvise. The broadcast is lost, and the only known evidence it aired is a Daily Herald newspaper clipping. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 14:49

TIL that China banned “ugly” buildings in 2021 because officials wanted architecture that was more functional, economical, green, and aesthetically pleasing. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 13:49

TIL that the story of the Trojan Horse is not mentioned in the Illiad and is only briefly mentioned in the Odyssey. The account of the Fall of Troy that is known today was written by the Roman poet Virgil in 1st century BC. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 08:49

TIL that actress Michael Learned was credited as "Miss Michael Learned" early in her career because producers were worried that the audience would be confused about her gender. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 06:49

TIL That despite having less than 1% of the world's total population, Colombia has produced 3 of the top 10 most prolific, known, serial killers. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 03:49

TIL camel humps don't store water at all, they store fat. The real water storage is in their bloodstream, made possible by oval-shaped red blood cells that can expand instead of bursting when they drink up to 40 gallons at once. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 01:49

TIL that during WWII, the US military developed the T13 Beano Grenade to be exactly the size, weight, and shape of a standard baseball. The theory was that almost any young American man would already know how to throw it with accuracy and distance. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

22 July 2026 00:49

TIL after 146 workers died in the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, the factory owners were acquitted of manslaughter and collected insurance worth $445 per victim — $64,925 more than their losses. Victims' families got $75 each. In 1913 owner Max Blanck was caught locking the doors again and fined $20. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

22 July 2026 00:49

TIL identical twin sisters were accused of cheating on a medical school exam because their answers were too similar. The accusations were overturned, and they won a $1.5 million lawsuit. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 22:49

TIL That Cleopatra was ethnically Greek and not Egyptian [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 21:49

TIL a real car crash from a stunt gone wrong was kept in the movie "Gone in 60 Seconds" after the director was injured during filming. When he regained consciousness, he reportedly only asked: “Did we get coverage?” [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 20:49

TIL it cost more to develop the plane that carried the atomic bombs, than it did to develop the actual atomic bombs themselves [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 19:49

TIL during WWII, a German fighter pilot intercepted a heavily damaged American bomber. Seeing the dead and wounded crew inside, he refused to shoot it down. Instead, he escorted the plane safely over the North Sea, saluted the American pilot, and flew away.40 years later and became close friends. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 18:49

TIL that after the Apollo 11 moonwalk, the astronauts accidentally broke the engine switch needed to launch them back to Earth. Buzz Aldrin saved the mission by jamming a felt-tip pen into the broken circuit breaker, allowing them to return home. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 16:49

TIL the Eiffel Tower is 700 tons heavier today than when it was built, purely because of 130 years of layered paint. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 15:49

TIL that in 1967, an American high school teacher created a fake authoritarian movement called “The Third Wave” to show his students how ordinary Germans could have supported the rise of Nazism. Within days, students had became so radicalised that he decided to end the experiment. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 13:49

TIL that none of Warren Buffett’s three children ever completed college [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 10:49

TIL that EA sports has successfully predicted the past 5 World Cup winners by running a simulation inside their game. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 07:49

TIL in China there are 20 million more men than women in age range 20-40 [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 05:49

TIL the first time a person ate and drank on the moon was when Buzz Aldrin took bread and wine and gave himself communion on Apollo 11 on on July 20, 1969, while he and Neil Armstrong waited to open the door of the lunar lander and step out for the first time. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

21 July 2026 02:49

TIL that after 2006, world cup winners cannot keep the actual trophy. The team that won would celebrate with it and hand it back to FIFA officials after. It would later be given a replica of the trophy. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

20 July 2026 23:49

TIL on October 2024, Taylor Farms announced a recall after it was linked to the E. coli outbreak from raw onions consumed at McDonald's. 104 people were impacted, including one death, with a FDA inspection finding numerous violations in food safety procedures at the Taylor Farms facility. [Source]