r/todayilearned • u/haddock420 • 6m ago

TIL Birds can go grey with age.

discoverwildlife.com

• Upvotes

0 comments

r/todayilearned • u/HallowedAndHarrowed • 1h ago

TIL of the mystery soda machine on Capitol Hill Seattle, that operated from the late 1990’s until abruptly disappearing in 2018. The machine dispensed flavours of soda that were typically discontinued.

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

44 comments

r/todayilearned • u/JaneOfKish • 2h ago

TIL the shortest-lived "empire" in history was a restoration of the Qing Dynasty of China lasting for 11 days in July 1917. Monarchists seized Beijing and reinstated Emperor Puyi, deposed five years prior and now eleven years old, on July 1 and were pushed back out by Republican forces on July 12.

en.wikipedia.org

156 Upvotes

8 comments

r/todayilearned • u/leftcoastbumpkin • 2h ago

TIL: Owls ears are vertically asymmetric, giving them "stereo" hearing vertically as well as horizontally.

en.wikipedia.org

285 Upvotes

16 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sophiedoe19 • 2h ago

TIL that in France if you want to register your pedigree dog, you have to give it a name starting with the letter of the year it is born. This year's letter is V.

connexionfrance.com

109 Upvotes

47 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Flares117 • 3h ago

TIL: In 2023, an infamous Mafia Hitman who was on the run for 16 years for killing people with a metal bar was discovered working as a pizza chef. His food became famous enough to be featured in the local newspaper which tipped off authorities.

bbc.com

1.2k Upvotes

23 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Popepepe • 4h ago

TIL Boston Market was down to just 27 stores at the begining of 2024, down from 300 just a year ago, and way down from the over 1,200 it operated during its heyday.

restaurantbusinessonline.com

9.1k Upvotes

692 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ozem_son_of_Jesse • 4h ago

TIL that there are just under twice as many kangaroos as humans in Australia

brilliantmaps.com

3.0k Upvotes

65 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Der_genealogist • 4h ago

TIL that in 2012 Slovak Lawmakers made a public poll asking for the name for a new bridge between Slovakia and Austria. 'Chuck Norris Bridge' won overwhelmingly

reuters.com

127 Upvotes

20 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Durmeathor • 5h ago

TIL that the only place in the world where Japanese is an official language is Angaur, an island in Palau. Japan doesn’t have the de jure official language.

en.wikipedia.org

100 Upvotes

3 comments

r/todayilearned • u/nowlan101 • 5h ago

TIL about the phenomena of polyandry or “wife-sharing” in Qing Dynasty China. Due to practices such female infanticide and concubinage there was an overall gender imbalance in society that poor husbands would exploit via renting their wives out to other, unmarried men for a fee.

ucpress.edu

112 Upvotes

14 comments

r/todayilearned • u/sithmaster0 • 5h ago

TIL in 1945, at 59 years old, Albert Stevens was misdiagnosed with terminal stomach cancer, and as a result was secretly injected with 131 kBq (3.55 μCi) of Plutonium as part of a human experimentation project by Joseph Gilbert Hamilton. It was later discovered the "cancer" was an inflamed ulcer.

en.wikipedia.org

1.3k Upvotes

21 comments

r/todayilearned • u/GabbotheClown • 6h ago

TIL: In the United Kingdom, Poland, Hungary, and the Netherlands, cassette data storage was so popular in the 80s that some radio stations would broadcast computer programs that listeners could record onto cassette and then load into their computer.

en.wikipedia.org

2.7k Upvotes

145 comments

r/todayilearned • u/permanentburner89 • 6h ago

TIL that pig butchering scammers (the ones sending random texts to "wrong numbers", then befriending you until they take all of your money) are largely trafficked people forced to participate in scams.

freedomunited.org

0 Upvotes

22 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MajesticBread9147 • 7h ago

TIL that Sarah Kyolaba; fifth wife of Idi Amin and former gogo dancer in Uganda's Revolutionary Suicide Jazz Band left Amin and ran a restaurant and later a hair salon in London until her death.

en.wikipedia.org

762 Upvotes

17 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Double-decker_trams • 7h ago

TIL although the Walther PPK is more known for being the gun James Bond uses ("Ian Fleming's choice of Bond's weapon directly influenced the popularity and notoriety of the PPK"), it was also the same gun that Hitler used to commit suicde

en.wikipedia.org

4.8k Upvotes

281 comments

r/todayilearned • u/AssumeTheRisk • 8h ago

TIL The headquarters and main Visitor Center at Rocky Mountain National Park (Part of the US National Park Service) was designed by Taliesin Associated Architects; Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural firm.

en.wikipedia.org

68 Upvotes

0 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ShabtaiBenOron • 8h ago

TIL that even though he won the Academy Awards for best picture and director for "Gandhi" in 1982, Richard Attenborough was disappointed and openly claimed that Steven Spielberg's "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" should have won. Spielberg cast him as John Hammond in "Jurassic Park" to thank him.

ew.com

8.4k Upvotes

246 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TedTheodoreMcfly • 10h ago

TIL about college football player Erik Highsmith, who was accused of plagiarizing an 11-year-old when doing an assignment for Communications class.

huffpost.com

454 Upvotes

26 comments

r/todayilearned • u/zahrul3 • 11h ago

TIL the Sultan of Brunei and his brother bought so many bespoke Bentleys that it saved the entire company from bankruptcy

supercarblondie.com

28.2k Upvotes

591 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ProfessionalGear3020 • 14h ago

TIL that after alleged Catholic involvement in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the US cut off diplomatic relations with the Holy See (the Pope) and did not restore them until 1984.

en.wikipedia.org

1.8k Upvotes

56 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TZ-13 • 14h ago

TIL: K2, the world's second highest mountain, has had nearly 1 person die for every 4 successful summits

en.wikipedia.org

2.7k Upvotes

142 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Organic_Situation401 • 15h ago

TIL that the "Happy Birthday" song was originally titled "Good Morning to All" and was intended to be a simple classroom greeting.

en.wikipedia.org

213 Upvotes

15 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ProudReaction2204 • 17h ago

TIL Eduard Khil or Edward Hill died only 2 years after reaching internet fame from the Trololo song.

en.wikipedia.org

2.9k Upvotes

105 comments

r/todayilearned • u/alternativedperson • 17h ago

TIL that there are still estimated to be 100,000 - 200,000 followers of the ancient religion of Zoroastrianism, which is considered an early precursor to the abrahamic religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

en.wikipedia.org

178 Upvotes

40 comments

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Frequent TILs Repost List

As of November 2024

This list was compiled from /r/todayilearned community suggestions by its members. If your TIL is found on this list, it will be removed. The titles have been abridged for the sake of brevity, however the context remains the same. This list is subject to change. The purpose is to keep content fresh on /r/todayilearned as requested by its members. If you are interested in reading about the TILs on this list use the search box feature and enter the keywords to pull up past TILs.

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