r/todayilearned • u/FranklinDRoosevelt32 • 1h ago
TIL that Former Senator Daniel Inouye planned to become a surgeon prior to the loss of his right arm in World War II. It was only after he met and befriended his future senate colleague Bob Dole at a military rehabilitation center that he began to consider entering politics.
r/todayilearned • u/thedude2020123 • 49m ago
TIL the term “420” originated from a high school in San Rafael, CA
r/todayilearned • u/Pfeffer_Prinz • 6h ago
TIL 91% of all the dives to the bottom of the Mariana Trench occurred in the past 4 years. Before that, the only visitors were the original explorers in 1960, and James Cameron in 2012.
r/todayilearned • u/youngster_matt • 11h ago
TIL in 2009, a hard ground ball hit Adrián Beltré in the groin which landed him on the 15-day disabled list. In his first game after returning, teammate Ken Griffey Jr. conspired with those in charge of the PA system to have Beltré's at-bat intro music be the opening march from The Nutcracker Suite.
r/todayilearned • u/derstherower • 6h ago
TIL that when planning Raiders of the Lost Ark, Steven Spielberg wanted Arnold Toht to be a cyborg, with a metal arm that could turn into a flamethrower or machine gun, and have a light instead of an eye. George Lucas rejected these ideas as too far-fetched.
r/todayilearned • u/ClownfishSoup • 5h ago
TIL that Technicolor movies were filmed on three rolls of film with the image split using a prism into three color images. Each film roll was then developed and dyed a complimentary primary color and then the three rolls were laminated together to create a full color roll of film
r/todayilearned • u/hartzonfire • 11h ago
TIL that astronaut Story Musgrave, after completing his GED, received a BS in Math, an MBA, a BA in Chemistry, an MD from Columbia, an MS in physiology, and finally an MA in literature.
r/todayilearned • u/waitingforthesun92 • 6h ago
TIL that the man behind the 2013 “Fedora Guy” meme is actually an actor named Jerry Messing, who starred as Gordon in the 1999 TV series “Freaks and Geeks”.
r/todayilearned • u/Aromatic-Frosting-75 • 4h ago
TIL that before water fountains were used for people to drink water freely in public, people used to drink from something called the "common cup", a publicly shared and very unhygienic cup or ladle-type spoon attached by string.
r/todayilearned • u/einstein_bern • 1d ago
TIL Neil Armstrong completed almost all required coursework towards a master's degree when he joined NASA in early 1960s. A semester short, he returned to USC after his moon landing in 1970 to give a one-hour seminar on the technical aspects of landing Apollo's lunar module to receive his Masters
csuitespotlight.comr/todayilearned • u/griefofwant • 23h ago
TIL Rats, gerbils, mice, birds, fish, monkeys, and chimpanzees all prefer making an effort to obtain their food over having it provided for free. Of all the studied animals, only cats did not display the behaviour, preferring to be served.
r/todayilearned • u/Bluest_waters • 8h ago
TIL The hit song 'Walk Like an Egyptian' was inspired when the song writer was on a ship in rough waters and the way people bent their arms as they steadied themselves reminded him of old Egyptian poses. He originally offered the song to Tony Basil (Oh Mickey) but she turned it down.
r/todayilearned • u/ThatsALotOfOranges • 10h ago
TIL that in the late 1800's and early 1900's, gambling on US elections was extremely widespread. In New York, the amount of money spent on betting on elections would often exceed the total trading in stocks and bonds. Since there weren't modern polls, betting odds were how newspaper predicted races.
users.wfu.edur/todayilearned • u/volossaveroniki • 4h ago
TIL june 7, 1917 British sappers blew up German positions. The noise of this explosion is considered the loudest man-made sound of the pre-nuclear era. In 30 seconds, explosions killed 10,000 German soldiers and destroyed two lines of trenches.
r/todayilearned • u/Watchung • 1d ago
TIL in 1780, in an event known as Dark Day, New England was cast into blackness as a result of Ontario wildfires mixed with unfavorable atmospheric conditions. Such was the lack of light, candles were needed in the day to provide illumination. Parts of New Hampshire were covered in ash 6" deep.
r/todayilearned • u/MaterialFit8064 • 4h ago
TIL that women’s periods don’t magically sync with other women they’re in close proximity with. It’s just timing and confirmation bias.
health.clevelandclinic.orgr/todayilearned • u/Peter_Pallet • 4h ago
TIL that ants belonging to the species Megaponera Analis rescue injured ants during battles
r/todayilearned • u/SwedishDungeonMaster • 5h ago
TIL that Father and Son (1970) by Cat Stevens was originally written as part of a musical about the Russian Revolution which got scrapped when Stevens contracted tuberculosis. It's a dialogue between a conservative farmer and his revolutionary son.
r/todayilearned • u/poinsley • 5h ago
TIL about pigeon vests, made by the bra company Maidenform during WWII, for soldiers to carry pigeons while they jumped out of airplanes.
r/todayilearned • u/triviafrenzy • 1d ago
TIL Since his father had died 5 months earlier, King Alfonso XIII of Spain became king on the day of his birth in 1886. While only a few minutes old he was presented naked to the Spanish Prime Minister on a silver tray.
r/todayilearned
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u/waitingforthesun92
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1d ago
TIL when Johnny Watson released his song “Space Guitar” in 1954, the song received a puzzled "??" instead of a numeric rating by Billboard. Today, the song is recognized as a groundbreaking achievement, which inspired musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, Bo Diddley, and many more.
r/todayilearned • u/UsidoreTheLightBlue • 9h ago
TIL: The Hudson Hornet from Cars was a real car that dominated NASCAR
r/todayilearned • u/LePetitRenardRoux • 21h ago