Today I Learned 🎓

15 апреля 2025 12:49

TIL Albatrosses can glide for thousands of kilometers without flapping wings, using a technique called dynamic soaring. By repeatedly rising into the wind and descending downwind, they gain energy from the vertical wind gradient, allowing them to cover nearly 1,000 km per day with minimal effort [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 апреля 2025 09:49

TIL that when Victor Hugo died in 1885, some Parisian brothels reportedly closed for a day to mourn his passing. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 апреля 2025 05:49

TIL Pineapple were rented in the 17th century because it's so expensive and associated with luxury. People displayed pineapples as dinnertime ornaments on special plates which would allow the pineapple to be seen and admired but surrounded by other, cheaper, fruit for eating. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 апреля 2025 01:49

TIL Each winner of the Masters golf tournament gets one green jacket, and for each subsequent victory, he gets the same jacket. [Source]

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14 апреля 2025 23:49

TIL of triathlete Lesley Paterson, who dedicated her race winnings to maintaining the film rights to one of her favorite books. She almost lost them in 2015 until competing and winning with a broken shoulder. It took 16 years and $200k, but she eventually made All Quiet on the Western Front (2022). [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 апреля 2025 20:49

TIL a Swedish sailor named Carl Emil Pettersson was shipwrecked in Papua New Guinea in 1904, was taken in by a local tribe, married the chief’s daughter, and eventually became king of the island. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 апреля 2025 19:49

TIL Uncombable hair syndrome (UHS), also known as cheveux incoiffables, is a rare genetic hair disorder characterized by dry, frizzy, and unmanageable hair that cannot be combed [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 апреля 2025 18:49

TIL Death Valley, the lowest elevation in the USA, continues to sink lower due to geologic activity [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 апреля 2025 18:49

TIL Eminem was asleep at home when he won Best Original Song at the 2003 Academy Awards for "Lose Yourself" to become the first hip-hop artist to win an Oscar. Em said, "...I didn’t watch it, either. At that point in time, Hailie had to be at school early in the morning, so [I was sleeping]". [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 апреля 2025 16:49

TIL that the 2007 movie "The Golden Compass" was originally longer and more faithful to the book, but was brutally recut by the studio in post production - which resulted in the true ending completely removed and the order of the plot rearranged [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 апреля 2025 15:49

TIL Barry Manilow got his start writing and singing jingles, including State Farm (Like a Good Neighbor State Farm Is There) and Band-Aid ( IAm Stuck on Band-Aid, 'Cause Band-Aid's Stuck on Me [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 апреля 2025 10:49

TIL about the Ben Franklin effect, a psychological phenomenon in which it is said a person will like someone better after doing them a favor. This is a result of cognitive dissonance, where the brain naturally reasons that if you are helping someone, it must be because you like them. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 апреля 2025 04:49

TIL that in 1989 US Army Captain Linda Bray became the first woman to lead US troops into combat during the Panama invasion, causing political fallout at the time. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 апреля 2025 04:49

TIL Rockstar originally offered GTA 3 to Xbox as an exclusive release but Xbox executives rejected it because they didnt think Rockstar could effectively transition the game from 2D to 3D. This would lead Sony to sign GTA 3 to a timed exclusivity deal on the PS2. Overall GTA 3 would sell 14.5m units [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 апреля 2025 01:49

TIL that helicopters don’t just fall like a rock if the engine fails, they can perform something called “autorotation,” where the rotor blades keep spinning due to air rushing up through them as the helicopter falls [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 апреля 2025 11:49

TIL Finland's territory is expanding by 7 km^2 every year even without war. This is due to the effect of 'post-glacial rebound'. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 апреля 2025 07:49

TIL from the 1960s to the early 1990s, RadioShack had a "battery of the month" club. Members were issued a free wallet-sized cardboard card which entitled the bearer to one free battery a month when presented in RadioShack stores. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 апреля 2025 04:49

TIL Mike Myers based Austin Powers on his dad. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 апреля 2025 00:49

TIL Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes raised $700M claiming her device could run 200+ blood tests from a finger prick. It didn’t work. She & COO Ramesh Balwani misled investors and patients, were convicted of fraud, sentenced to 11 & 13 years, and ordered to repay $452M. Investors lost $100Ms. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 апреля 2025 21:49

TIL a 2022 study showed that childhood ADHD patients consistently given stimulants were "significantly shorter than other subgroups." [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 апреля 2025 20:49

TIL when Great British Bake Off hosts Mel and Sue would see a contestant crying out of frustration or disappointment, they would use their coats to block the person from cameras, or start swearing a lot, so the footage was unusable [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 апреля 2025 19:49

TIL about the "suicide disease"—Trigeminal Neuralgia—which has no cure, that causes sudden, sharp pain in the face so intense that it’s often described as one of the most painful conditions in existence. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 апреля 2025 18:49

TIL In year 1240 BC, under the Reign of Ramses II, a valid reason to get out of work was brewing beer, your daughter bleeding, or having drinks with a colleague. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 апреля 2025 17:49

TIL that in 2011, the Mexican ambassador in London complained to the BBC and demanded an apology from "Top Gear" presenter Richard Hammond, after Hammond called the Mexicans 'lazy, feckless, flatulent and overweight' on the show [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 апреля 2025 16:49

TIL Swedish children dress up as witches ("påskkärringar") during Easter, going door-to-door with decorated twigs and drawings in exchange for candy, based on old folklore about witches flying to "Blåkulla" to dance with the devil [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 апреля 2025 12:49

TIL that, since the 1970s, women and under-18 men are banned from enter Herbertstraße (part of the red light district of Hamburg) due to prostitutes actively chasing away any women who entered to seek their husbands or boyfriends [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 апреля 2025 08:49

TIL that the Miami Heat retired the number 23 jersey in 2003, in honor of Michael Jordan, even though Jordan never played for the team [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 апреля 2025 04:49

TIL one of the biggest drug busts in the world was in Sylmar, CA. 20 tons of cocaine, worth $6 billion and about 5% of the world’s annual production, was left unguarded and secured with a $6 padlock. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 апреля 2025 03:49

TIL the world’s largest chimpanzee sanctuary, Chimp Haven in Louisiana, is home to nearly 300 chimps formerly used in biomedical research. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 апреля 2025 00:49

TIL Alec Guinness negotiated an upfront salary of $300,000 and 2.25% of the backend grosses to appear as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars (1977). Overall, the deal earned him an estimated $95 million, for roughly 20 minutes of screen time, by the time of his death in 2000 at 86. [Source]