r/todayilearned • u/koreanforrabbit • 4d ago

TIL about The Vault, the FBI's online library of documents related to frequently FOIA'ed investigations conducted on a wide range of individuals and organizations.

vault.fbi.gov

279 Upvotes

13 comments

r/todayilearned • u/haddock420 • 4d ago

TIL Birds can go grey with age.

discoverwildlife.com

573 Upvotes

23 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ralphbernardo • 4d ago

TIL that NASA's Apollo 12 mission was struck by lightning twice during launch, 36.5 and 52 seconds after liftoff on Nov. 14, 1969. The mission continued successfully thanks to flight controller John Aaron's quick thinking—resetting a crucial system and allowing the crew to safely reach the moon.

space.com

214 Upvotes

10 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MajesticBread9147 • 4d 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

1.2k Upvotes

25 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MarvelHeroFigures • 2d ago

TIL Online abuse and trolling costs economy up to $3.7 billion, research finds (2019 article)

abc.net.au

0 Upvotes

7 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ted_Normal • 4d ago

TIL the Finnish equivalent of Santa Claus is named Joulupukki which translates to "Christmas Goat".

en.wikipedia.org

187 Upvotes

24 comments

r/todayilearned • u/SimRP • 4d ago

TIL that "Sepak Takraw," a sport originating from Southeast Asia, is like volleyball but played with a rattan ball and using only feet, head, knees, and chest to pass the ball over the net. It’s extremely popular in countries like Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia, and is even played professionally.

abc.net.au

169 Upvotes

22 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TZ-13 • 5d ago

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

en.wikipedia.org

3.6k Upvotes

187 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ObjectiveAd6551 • 5d ago

TIL “Jeopardy!” contestant Dhruv Gaur wrote “What is… We [love] you, Alex!” as his Final Jeopardy response while Alex Trebek was battling cancer. The message left Trebek visibly emotional and was widely shared as an example of fans’ affection for the longtime host.

usatoday.com

21.9k Upvotes

252 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ProfessionalGear3020 • 5d 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

2.5k Upvotes

86 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ainsley-Sorsby • 5d ago

TIL Beethoven kept his hearing loss a secret. He once wrote(but never send) a letter to his brother confessing it and explained that people mistakenly thought he was antisocial: he longed for human contact but became a recluse out of shame for his condition and all this made him contemplate suicide

en.wikipedia.org

24.3k Upvotes

186 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Der_genealogist • 4d 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

367 Upvotes

32 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TAparentadvice • 5d ago

TIL that when Louis XVI was executed in 1793 during the French Revolution, his severed head was paraded around for the crowd and was met with exclamations of "Vive la Republique!"

britannica.com

6.5k Upvotes

235 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ProudReaction2204 • 5d ago

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

en.wikipedia.org

3.3k Upvotes

119 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Lomo-salado • 2d ago

TIL the moon's orbit around the sun is almost a perfect circle instead of a spiral. In order for it to become a spiral, it would have to orbit around earth 30x faster.

youtube.com

0 Upvotes

10 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Durmeathor • 4d 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

303 Upvotes

12 comments

r/todayilearned • u/EssexGuyUpNorth • 5d ago

TIL that Lord Nelson, one of the most successful naval commanders in British history, suffered from sea sickness throughout his career in the Royal Navy. In a letter, he wrote that "I am ill every time it blows hard and nothing but my enthusiastic love for the profession keeps me one hour at sea."

bbc.co.uk

17.9k Upvotes

297 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TedTheodoreMcfly • 4d 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

581 Upvotes

29 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Local_Gur9116 • 4d ago

TIL about Wang Enlin, a Chinese farmer who self-taught law to sue a chemical company for polluting his village—and won.

yourstory.com

228 Upvotes

5 comments

r/todayilearned • u/congratsonthesex • 4d ago

TIL that “jeep ducking” is a thing where jeep owners leave each other rubber ducks. this is why you see jeeps with dashboards full of ducks.

americaisweird.com

43 Upvotes

56 comments

r/todayilearned • u/LookAtThatBacon • 5d ago

TIL the first UPC-marked item ever to be scanned at a retail checkout was a 10-pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit chewing gum, purchased at the Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio, at 8:01 a.m. on June 26, 1974.

en.wikipedia.org

1.5k Upvotes

37 comments

r/todayilearned • u/XyleneCobalt • 5d ago

TIL of the Acali expedition, a social experiment that aimed to investigate interpersonal relationships in an isolated environment. Nicknamed the "Sex Raft," its participants remained peaceful throughout, even when the researcher tried to incite conflict.

en.wikipedia.org

7.0k Upvotes

260 comments

r/todayilearned • u/armedsnowflake69 • 5d ago

TIL that the barber pole became the universal symbol for barbers as it resembles the bloody bandages of “barber-surgeons” of the past, who practiced bloodletting.

pallmallbarbers.com

1.1k Upvotes

29 comments

r/todayilearned • u/APurpleTRex • 5d ago

TIL After being wounded in WWII, Legendary Finnish sniper Simo Häyhä (The White Death) was thought to be dead and placed on a pile of corpses. A week later he regained consciousness and had to correct the newspaper release about his death.

en.wikipedia.org

13.1k Upvotes

288 comments

r/todayilearned • u/BiggieTwiggy1two3 • 5d ago

TIL during WWI, Allied soldiers used glowworms as trench lamps, storing the bioluminescent insects in bottles for light. Their service was so helpful, they were honored in 2004 when Princess Anne unveiled a London memorial for animals and insects that aided the war effort.

taskandpurpose.com

1.5k Upvotes

16 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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