Today I Learned 🎓

19 июля 2025 09:49

TIL that Pope Celestine V resigned just 5 months into his papacy in 1294 because he never wanted the job and wanted to go back to his cave, he was chosen after a 2-year deadlock, felt overwhelmed by Vatican politics, issued a decree allowing popes to quit, and then used it to step down. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

19 июля 2025 05:49

TIL that during the American Revolutionary War, African-Americans served in the British army over 2-to-1 versus in the American army because they viewed a British victory as a way to achieve freedom from slavery [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

19 июля 2025 04:49

TIL Sweden is capable of domestically building submarines, frigates, jet fighters and satellites, despite having a population of just over 10 million people. Per capita it is one of the largest arms exporters on the planet. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

19 июля 2025 01:49

TIL about Franceska Mann. A Jewish ballerina who arrived at Auschwitz in 1943 and was about to be gassed, she managed to take a pistol from an SS-officer and then killed him with it, starting a riot. The riot ended when SS reinforcements arrived and mowed the prisoners down with machineguns. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

19 июля 2025 00:49

TIL that despite their drivers being nicknamed “Massholes”, Massachusetts roads are annually ranked the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd safest in the country. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 июля 2025 23:49

TIL that Japanese trains are on average only 18 seconds late. If a train is delayed by more than a minute, passengers often receive an official delay certificate to show their employer why they are late [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 июля 2025 21:49

TIL the book 'Rage' by Stephen King was taken out of print after being found in the lockers of school shooters. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 июля 2025 17:49

TIL that Frisian is the closest language to English. It's spoken by about 400,000 people living mostly on the coast of the North Sea, with the highest concentration in the Dutch province of Friesland. Though similar to English, they are not mutually intelligible [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 июля 2025 15:49

TIL in 2012, India’s Patent Office issued a compulsory license overriding Bayer Pharma’s patent on the cancer drug Nexavar, allowing an Indian generics firm to locally manufacture and sell the drug for just $175/month instead of Bayer's $5,500/month, making the treatment much more accessible. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 июля 2025 14:49

TIL of Operation Moolah which was an US effort to capture a Soviet MIG-15 fighter jet during the Korean war. The US offered asylum and 100 000$ to anyone who would defect with one. The North Korean pilot who eventually defected with a MIG-15 didn't know about the reward. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 июля 2025 09:49

TIL a company that made smart airline suitcases had to shut down operations after several major airlines banned luggage with non-removable batteries to reduce the risk of battery fires. The company claims they had sold around 65,000 suitcases around the time of the ban. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 июля 2025 06:49

[TIL] It took U of Oklahoma students just two days to defeat a new, electronic, windshield-blocking parking enforcement device called The Barnacle, using things like defoggers, Faraday cages, and bait cars. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 июля 2025 03:49

TIL in 2016, the CEO of human resources startup Zenefits had to send a memo explicitly banning drinking and having sex in the office after "several used condoms were found in the stairwell". [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 июля 2025 01:49

TIL about the Amish community and their puppy mills. The Amish view their dogs as livestock and those that are bred are kept in unsanitary conditions with inadequate care. Dogs kept at these facilities get little to no veterinary care resulting in suffering and death. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

17 июля 2025 23:49

TIL that in 1996 a group in England broke into an air base and used hammers to significantly damage warplanes, which were due to be sold to Indonesia. A jury found the group innocent because they felt the planes were likely to be used in the Indonesian military's genocide in East Timor [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

19 июля 2025 07:49

TIL King George III had empathy for Native Americans and pushed the the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which forbade all new settlements west of a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains, which was delineated as an Indian Reserve. This angered many Colonists. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

19 июля 2025 04:49

TIL during/after the Korean War, South Korea state-sponsored prostitution for US troops, framing it as women's 'patriotic duty.' Camp towns from the DMZ to Seoul were called 'GI Heaven. The sex workers endured severe abuses to facilitate "sexual hygiene" such as forced medication and imprisonment. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

19 июля 2025 02:49

TIL In Sweden, a couple tried to name their child “Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116” They claimed it was pronounced “Albin.” It was rejected.The parents suggested that the name be understood in the spirit of 'pataphysics'. The court rejected the name and upheld the fine. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

19 июля 2025 01:49

TIL A charity in Auckland, New Zealand unknowingly distributed candies filled with lethal doses of methamphetamine in its food parcels after the sweets were anonymously donated by a member of the public. Each candy contained up to 300 times a normal dose of meth [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 июля 2025 23:49

TIL Mary Magdalene was wrongly labeled as a prostitute [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 июля 2025 22:49

TIL that in 1774, Colonial Americans had the highest standard of living in the Western world - with annual per‑capita income of about £14, outpacing Britain, France, and Spain [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 июля 2025 20:49

TIL a Galápagos tortoise believed extinct since 1906 was rediscovered in 2022 on a remote island. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 июля 2025 16:50

TIL that the Y chromosome is passed almost unchanged from father to son, which is how scientists were able to trace a vast number of direct male descendants back to Genghis Khan. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 июля 2025 15:49

TIL a man with chronic déjà vu was "trapped in a time loop" for 8 years, which forced him to drop out of university. He was unable to read newspapers or watch TV because he believed he had seen it all before, despite not having any neurological condition chronic déjà vu patients usually suffer from. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 июля 2025 13:49

TIL That a governor disappeared by going to Argentina for an extramarital affair. During his six day disappearance, one of the governors spokesperson claimed he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. "Hiking the Appalachian Trail" is now a euphemism for a sexual scandal. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 июля 2025 07:49

TIL when infamous fraudster Bernie Madoff died, he was cremated (contrary to Jewish tradition) and his family refused to claim his ashes, so they are currently sitting in a lawyer's office. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 июля 2025 03:49

TIL MC HAMMER was a true gangster and other rappers feared him. He would threaten and put out hits on other rappers who he felt discredited him, or his family. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 июля 2025 02:49

TIL Harvard had lost original Magna Carta hiding in its archives for almost 80 years. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 июля 2025 00:49

TIL Investigation on the Bangla 211 plane crash revealed the the pilot had been "severely distressed" and hadn't slept the night before the flight. He was crying in the cockpit while telling the story of an alleged affair with one of his trainees and was too anxious to pay attention to the job [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

17 июля 2025 22:49

TIL older adults who regularly use smartphones and computers tend to have lower rates of cognitive decline [Source]