Today I Learned 🎓

19 апреля 2025 19:49

TIL that 99 year old Dick Van Dyke had to be rescued by three neighbors after he was found crawling to his vehicle trying to evacuate a California wildfire last December [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

19 апреля 2025 17:49

TIL that Apollo astronauts' footprints on the Moon may last for millions of years. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

19 апреля 2025 16:49

TIL the shrimp industry removes the eyes of female shrimp to increase reproduction, calling it "eyestalk ablation." [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

19 апреля 2025 15:49

TIL Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz negotiated an upfront payment of $10 million each for voicing the sequel to Shrek (2001). This was an increase from the $350,000 each received for the first film. Also, the three actors were expected to each work between 15-18 hours in total on Shrek 2. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

19 апреля 2025 12:49

TIL of Michele Mouton, the last women to compete in high level rallying. She won 4 races in the 1982 season and nearly won the 1982 World Rally Championship season, eventually finishing runner up, as a factory driver for Audi. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

19 апреля 2025 08:49

TIL During the filming of The Godfather, Marlon Brando refused to memorize his lines, and would read them off cards attached anywhere from trees in the background to fellow actors. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

19 апреля 2025 01:49

TIL: that First Lady Grace Coolidge acquired a pet raccoon meant to be eaten for Thanksgiving at the White House in 1926. Rather than becoming the main course, she became the official White House Raccoon and was named Rebecca. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

19 апреля 2025 00:49

TIL in 2013 a kayaker was trapped by a crocodile on an Australian island for 2 weeks. Each time he attempted to leave in his 8-ft kayak, the croc (estimated to be more than twice that size) would chase him & block his exit. A local man rescued him after investigating a light coming from the island. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 апреля 2025 20:49

TIL Warner Bros. spent $30m developing the Tim Burton-directed Superman: Lives (with Nicolas Cage as the lead) before canceling it in 1998. Burton cited issues with Jon Peters "I basically wasted a year. A year is a long time to be working with somebody that you don't really want to be working with" [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 апреля 2025 18:49

TIL that in ancient Rome, some statues were designed with removable heads, so the same body could represent different people. This clever approach was especially useful when a new emperor came to power and needed to replace the image of a disgraced or rival predecessor. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 апреля 2025 17:49

TIL Ving Rhames earned $7.7 million for roughly 39 seconds of screen time in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011), which makes him the highest-paid actor for the smallest amount of screen time. He had just two days of work on set. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 апреля 2025 15:49

TIL Aretha Williams, was given up as a child and informally adopted by Bailey and Mary Jane Robinson. At 15, Aretha became pregnant by Bailey, her adoptive father, and gave birth to music legend Ray Charles. After divorcing Bailey, Mary Jane helped raise Ray alongside Aretha. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 апреля 2025 14:49

TIL that until the 1970s, Aboriginal children in Australia were systematically taken from their families, known as the Stolen Generations [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 апреля 2025 09:49

TIL that after Surya Bonaly fell during her routine at the 1998 Winter Olympics and realized she wouldn’t win a medal, she performed an illegal backflip and became the first figure skater to land one on a single blade in Olympic competition. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 апреля 2025 04:49

TIL that during an NYC parade to celebrate Jesse Owens after he won four gold medals in the 1936 Summer Olympics, an anonymous fan handed him a paper bag with $10,000 in cash. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

19 апреля 2025 18:49

TIL Robin Williams improvised so much during the recording of Aladdin that the Disney team had over 16 hours of material, and his performance was deemed ineligible for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

19 апреля 2025 17:49

TIL that 18 y/o J.S. Bach taught rowdy older students and often clashed with them. After calling one a "nanny goat bassoonist," the student responded by calling him a "dirty dog" and hit him with a stick. Bach drew his sword and pierced the student's jacket, only stopping when passers-by rushed in [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

19 апреля 2025 15:49

TIL in 2014 a man who survived a motorcycle accident left his doctors shocked when they found his heart had turned 90 degrees to the right & was no longer on his left side. His injuries caused a buildup of air pressure in his chest & once it was removed his heart returned to its original position. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

19 апреля 2025 14:49

TIL Portuguese is most spoken language in the southern hemisphere [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

19 апреля 2025 08:49

TIL that Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, the respected commander of German forces in East Africa during WW1 was offered a job by Hitler in 1935. He told Hitler to "go fuck himself" though other reports say he didn't "put it that politely." [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

19 апреля 2025 06:49

TIL After defeating the French and capturing King Francis in battle 1525, Emperor Charles V agreed to release Francis in exchange for a treaty instead of invading France, which led contemporaries like Machiavelli to call him "mad" and a "fool". As soon as he was released, Francis annuled the treaty [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

19 апреля 2025 01:49

TIL in 1975, McDonald's opened their first drive-thru to allow soldiers stationed at Fort Huachuca to order food. At the time, soldiers weren’t allowed to leave their vehicle while in uniform if they were off-post. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 апреля 2025 22:49

TIL the guy who did the voice of McGruff the Crime Dog was sentenced to 16 years in prison for weed and ammo [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 апреля 2025 20:49

TIL Frank Herbert’s Dune was rejected by twenty publishers, and was finally accepted by Chilton, which was primarily known for car repair manuals. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 апреля 2025 17:49

TIL the "good fences make good neighbors" poem by Robert Frost (called Mending Wall) actually argues against fences, says they're unnatural and don't create good neighbors [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 апреля 2025 17:49

TIL it was said that Frederick the Great had a physical disgust of women. He once shocked a dinner party with an offensive rant against "ghastly women you smelled ten miles around". When he saw his wife for the first time in six years, he only told her: "Madame has become more stout" and then left. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 апреля 2025 15:49

TIL that in Japan, more diapers are now sold for elderly people than for babies, reflecting the country’s aging population and shifting demographics. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 апреля 2025 12:49

TIL one of the leaders of the NAACP in the early 20th century was Walter White. Who was able to pass as white and protect himself during tense situations in the 20s and 30s. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 апреля 2025 06:49

TIL that Weird Al Yankovic doesn't need permission (under US copyright law) to make a parody of someone's song. He does so as a personal rule to maintain good relationships. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

18 апреля 2025 03:49

TIL that airline pilots routinely fall asleep mid-flight — and in one shocking study, 43% admitted they had woken up only to find their co-pilot asleep too. [Source]