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“Today I Learned”: 30 Interesting Things About The World That People Didn’t Know Until Recently (New Pics)
Learning never stops. If you’re open and energetic, you can find opportunities to expand your mind with new knowledge every single day. Oh, and we mean that very literally. Every. Single. Day. It’s something that the members of the massively popular ‘Today I Learned’ online community know perfectly well.
They share the new things about history, science, and the world that they’ve learned that day, and the facts are eye-opening, to say the least. We’ve collected some of their freshest new insights to share with you, dear Pandas. Scroll down and check them out. Don't forget your thinking caps!
We got in touch with Lisa McLendon, Ph.D., with a few questions about how the news is changing as our attention spans are getting shorter, as well as what can help motivate journalists to dig deeper and stay curious as they're covering stories. McLendon is the William Allen White Professor of Journalism and Mass Communications and the Bremner Editing Center Coordinator at the University of Kansas. Read on for Bored Panda's interview with her.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
TIL a woman flying from Manchester to Florida had a heart attack during the flight and when the stewardess asked for help 15 cardiologists came to save her. They were flying to a cardiology conference.
Mason Kronol 2 years ago
A semiretired guy at my husband's work suffered an apparent stroke. A guy from the stroke team at a local hospital happened to be there. No, I don't know how he's doing because HIPPA and privacy concerns but I do know he was treated quickly and is alive. What a crazy coincidence but a lucky one.
Erin Sexton-Sayler 2 years ago
$20 says it was a RN or EMT who actually knew what to do in the moment!
Professor McLendon told us that the way that we consume the news, and how it's produced, is definitely changing.
"People consume news from a much broader variety of sources, on a much wider set of platforms. We are awash in information and we are used to seeing it in small chunks," she explained to Bored Panda.
Journalists and editors, in turn, are reacting to these changes in their audience's preferences. Some outlets, for instance, expand to social media platforms where they have to format things very differently. Brevity and engagement become more important than in-depth reporting. But that's not to say that the latter has lost its appeal!
RELATED:
#2
TIL Missy, a 100lb injured dog abandoned by her owner on Mount Bierstadt in Clear Creek County as a storm closed in, found by hikers a few days later who treated her but couldn't rescue her, they posted her location on a climbers' forum and an epic rescue journey began to rescue a dog from a mountain.
Spocks's Mom 2 years ago
I tell ya. If Spocks and I were out hiking and something happened, you'd find our skeletons together. I couldn't leave my sweet baby boy. 💔
Swoo 2 years ago
I knew people who were supposed to buy my parents' car because theirs were too small for 3 kids and the young, full of life cream lab lady... They lived in a mountainous area, loved hiking. And well, the father went hiking with friends and his dog, the dog had an accident and he climbeb all the way down the ravine to retrive her and bring her back home for a proper family farewell... Certainly not the same level of love and dedication. They were devastated. They did not buy the car (which is irrelevent in the story, but in case people wonder :)
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Lousha 2 years ago
If you read up on it, it does not sound as clear cut. The owner left her because she could not walk and he had a 19 year old with him. He had to choose the save a young man or the dog. Then he asked for a rescue for the dog but was refused. I'm not saying he could not do more, but he didn't just decide to leave a dog he was bored with.
Zedrapazia 2 years ago
If you ever need to pick up a heavy dog that is injured, put it over your shoulders with the front legs at one and the back legs at the other side. The same technique is used by Shepherds to carry injured sheep off the Alps, and it's really practical because it allows you to even carry a large dog by distributing the weight evenly over your shoulders.
Just Another Girl 2 years ago
I would’ve died on that mountain before leaving my dog. Well….this may be why I have 10 lb dogs…and don’t mountain climb.
Catlady6000 2 years ago
Lucky, nee Missy was awarded to her rescuer and her owner faced charges for animal cruelty, he pled guilty to a lesser charge.
Aria Whitaker 2 years ago
He had to. She could no longer walk, they carried her for 2 hours before the teen that was with him needed to helped as well. He had to choose between the teen and the dog. He even called for a rescue for the animal once they were down safely, and was told the rescue division did not rescue animals. So, yes he left her, but did not do it maliciously or irresponsibly...he figured his friend's human teenage son was more important.
Load More Replies... Michelle C 2 years ago
If something happened to my baby girl, you wouldn’t get me to go anywhere without her.
#3
TIL the Cherokee writing system was made by one man, Sequoyah. It's one of the only times in history that someone in a non-literate group invented an official script from scratch. Within 25 years, nearly 100% of Cherokee were literate, and it inspired dozens of indigenous scripts around the world.
Gabriela 2 years ago
Sequoyah. At least copy/paste his name to get it spelled right. Just my 2 cents.
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Samantha Galentine 2 years ago
Wado, Uncle Sequoyah. My sixth great grandfather, his cousin and brother in law, was the third person he taught the system.
Marilyn J. Leger 2 years ago
Daughter was the first. Her reading something Sequoyah wrote to the elders convinced them that the writing system was valuable and they agreed to have it taught. He was very dedicated to this project. Several years into it, his wife burned all wis work. Had to reconstruct & complete the work before he could present it to the elders.
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Demolition Lover (He/him) 2 years ago
"Hey Sequoyah, what'd ya do today?" "Oh nothing much really, just invented our entire writing system."
Steven 2 years ago (edited)
Every schoolchild in Oklahoma learns about Sequoyah and his script in grade school. Sequoyah was one of the names proposed when Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory were merged in advance of consideration for statehood. Congress was all too happy to name states after figures in American history, English or native place names, Spanish words or even made up words but naming a whole state after someone who wasn't white was too much for them.
Lovely Luna 2 years ago
The Sequoyah trees are actually named after him for this amazing feat.
Christopher Creighton 2 years ago
Appreciate the Cherokee, but our Osage written language was created in 2006 from scratch.
censorshipsucks 2 years ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee_syllabary I wonder if the tree is named after him
Lyone Fein 2 years ago
I question the use of the words literate and nonliterate. As a scholar of ancient Eastern cultures, I have learned that these terms are traditionally used to create the impression that societies that do not have written language are also lacking historical records, literary traditions, sacred myths, etc. And this is simply not true. A culture can lack a written language and still be highly literate.
"News outlets know this and have adapted headlines to catch people’s eyes and presentation to keep the audiences engaged. For example, if you look at how news is presented on a platform like Instagram, it’s presented visually in a short video or series of images so people can quickly get the main point. Most of these changes have happened to optimize speed and engagement, not depth," McLendon explained.
Meanwhile, we were also curious about what can help motivate someone who is completely new to journalism to delve deeper into the stories they cover, while researching and writing them up.
"Depth is crucial for certain types of news stories, ones that aren’t easily summarized in a quick-hit format but nonetheless have great impact on people’s lives. Questions and creativity can help journalists stay motivated to delve deeper on a longer, more time-consuming story," Professor McLendon, from the University of Kansas, explained.
#4
TIL Saudi Arabia accidentally printed thousands of textbooks containing this image of Yoda sitting next to King Faisal while he signed the 1945 UN charter.
#5
TIL in 1947, the Canadian town of Snag, Yukon, saw a temperature of -83F (-64C). It was so cold, you could hear people speaking 4 miles away, along with other phenomena such as people's breath turning to powder and falling straight to the ground and river ice booming like gu shots.
Marcellus II 2 years ago
Note that this is an absolute temperature of -83F. The recent record of "-108F" on Mt Washington is with wind chill taken into account! It was actually -46F recently, with 97mph(!) winds.
RedMarbles 2 years ago
For anyone interested in why sound travels farther in cold weather: "On a cold day, there tends to be a layer of warmer air above the cold pockets closest to the ground. When you shout to a friend down the street or hear your bus (finally!) arriving, the sound wave that would ordinarily go out in all directions gets refracted by that warm air. Because sound moves faster in warm air than colder air, the wave bends away from the warm air and back toward the ground. That's why sound is able to travel farther in chilly weather." Here's Why Sound Carries Farther on Cold Days | Latest Science News and Articles | Discovery https://www.discovery.com/science/Sound-Carries-Farther-Cold-Days
AnkleByter 2 years ago
I love those booms. We get snow quakes here, also called frost quakes. They happen not just in/on bodies of water, but also in the ground. It makes for some super interesting reports being sent to law enforcement too, lol. People constantly call in bombs, loud explosions, even earthquakes. It's just cold :D
Mason Kronol 2 years ago
It was -104 F on Mount Washington in New Hampshire last weekend so they would like you to hold their frozen beer or fruit bowl.
Smiler 2 years ago
imagine gathering that powder and make it into a jewelry or smth, would be an interesting gift
Bender Bending Rodríguez 2 years ago
I don't think it will go as you wish it would go.
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Fester Sixonesixonethree 2 years ago
When I was a kid I remember hearing frozen trees exploding in our woods. Cold winters!
#6
TIL Procrastination is not a result of laziness or poor time management. Scientific studies suggest procrastination is due to poor mood management.
Jon Steensen 2 years ago
Often when you dig a bit deeper there is a reason for procrastination, which in most cases are that the task is in fact harder than it might seem at first glance (e.g. cleaning your room requires you to sort things, which may again require that you set up a system for where to put things, and that you have to do some hard emotinal work and let go of something that you previously valued (e.g. a worn out T-shirt that reminds you of a concert you went to with your favorite band)). Other times procrastination is caused by a fear of what would actually happen if you achieved the result that you have been chasing for so long (it is often followed by a huge vacuum, e.g finishing your education), or a fear of the fall out of the process itself (What if I call him and that leads to him rejecting me).
Beruthiel45 2 years ago
Thank you for that. The statement of the item was very ambiguous, and you illuminated it better.
Load More Replies... Rachel Ratty 2 years ago
so bored panda is medicinal as I am on here when procrastinating.......
CHRIS DOMRES 2 years ago
When I ran a music electronics repair shop I found that to really be effective at the more challenging repairs required me to be in a particularly confident mood to work on it without getting frustrated. I paid attention to those moods and learned what not to work on when not in that good state of mind.
Sarah Hine 2 years ago
Yes!! This is so important to get out there. I have ADHD, I'm not a procrastinator, I'm overwhelmed. Now with medication, I don't procrastinate! I hope more people see this and are kind to themselves.
Brandie Litchfield 2 years ago (edited)
I've often wondered if it is actually a form of self-sabotage, a self-destructive tendency.
"One way to stay motivated is to first find out all the ways something affects people, then anticipate their questions: What does this mean for your audience? How can you show them why they should care? What questions might they have that you can help answer?"
Something else that can help is to think about how you can present the information in the best possible way so that your audience understands the issues and stays engaged.
"Usually this is not one big, long block of text—it may include photos, videos, maps, graphics, even interactive elements like a quiz. Thinking creatively about how to present a story can help a reporter stay motivated," she shared some practical advice.
#7
TIL Officials went to congratulate Sogen Kato, the oldest living man in Tokyo, on his 111th birthday. Upon arriving to his house, a mummified body wearing underwear and pajamas was lying in his bed. He had been dead for 30 years but his family kept the secret to keep receiving his pension.
Justin Jones 2 years ago
I thought they were going to say that his father answered the door...
Beruthiel45 2 years ago
What a shame. I assume it wasn't greed but need that made them disrespect him. 😵
#8
TIL the game Oregon Trail was developed by 3 college students trying to teach history creatively. The first version was coded in just 10 days in 1971 and played by middle schoolers for 5 days. The code was given to an educational nonprofit in 1974, and the creators never profited from the game.
Nikki D 2 years ago
Wow! I played it 2decades ago in elementary. Some things never change 🙂
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Johnnynatfan 2 years ago
I remember playing that game in elementary school in the 80's during "computer lab" class. It was so much fun.
Monday 2 years ago
My brain releases the happy chemicals when I see "X has died of dysentery" to this day xD
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Slipstream 2 years ago
Just read about this in the novel "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow". A novel by Gabrielle Zevin.
beethebi 2 years ago
THAT BOOK IS SO GOOD I HAVENT MET ANYONE ELSE WHO KNOWS IT
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#9
TIL that since Brazil could not afford to send a team to the 1932 Olympics, they sent the athletes on a ship full of coffee. The athletes sold the coffee along the way to fund their journey.
RafCo (he/him) 2 years ago
The movie would be too complicated to make sense to an international audience. There were a large confluence of factors happening in 1932. First, was the Great Depression, which led to an overproduction of coffee, creating the 1932 Coffee Crisis in Brazil. On top of that was President Vargas himself, who was a member of the Fascist party, and was made dictator of Brazil in 1930. São Paulo state rebelled against Vargas' government in 1932, which led to a coffee blockade at the port of Santos. This also led to funding delays for the Brazilian olympic team. The Brazilian olympic committee had this idea of selling the overproduced coffee in the American market and using that to fund the team's journey, but then there were a number of financial issues once the team arrived in Los Angeles (including issues with docking fees, the coffee didn't sell as well as expected, etc). It would make a really boring moving, with lots of bureaucratic shenanigans.
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Daniel Mueller 2 years ago
The Grateful Dead sponsored the 1996 Lithuania men's basketball team. Awesome story and killer uniforms
Chewie Baron 2 years ago
The 1932 Summer Games were in Los Angeles, which at the time had Prohibition going on. The French team had to have special dispensation to bring along wine as they insisted it was part of their diet.
Shifty McFlea 2 years ago
“Hey! We need to get to the olympics so coff(ee) up some cash” (I’m sorry I’ll leave now)
The r/todayilearned subreddit is almost synonymous with Reddit, the front page of the internet, by now. Created all the way back in late 2008, the ‘Today I Learned’ community has grown by massive leaps and bounds since then. At the time of writing, there were a jaw-dropping 30.6 million TIL members. The sub is living, breathing proof of how much the internet loves education that’s presented in an entertaining way (aka ‘edutainment’).
Here at Bored Panda, we’re fascinated with the TIL community’s desire to learn and share new things with everyone who’ll listen. When you’re done reading our newest post about their fascinating facts, consider checking out our earlier features about them here, here, and here.
#10
TIL The writer for "Die Hard with a Vengeance" was investigated by the FBI after they revealed that his story's plan of robbing the Federal Reserve through a breached subway wall would have worked.
WindySwede 2 years ago
*running out to the dump truck dealer ship* "ow, so $50'000 for a well used one, and $200'000 for 'newish' one... the load? No nothing I particularly "...
Load More Replies... Monday 2 years ago
Imagine writing an over the top action movie only to have the FBI tell you "yeah...that would have worked". I wouldn't know whether to be proud or scared.
Load More Replies... Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 2 years ago
Also it was originally written as a Lethal Weapon movie. Makes sense if you picture Mel Gibson and Danny Glover instead of Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson.
Michael Largey 2 years ago
He just should have owned up and admitted "It wasn't my idea. I just stole the basic concept from an old Sherlock Holmes story - 'The Adventure of the Red Headed League'.
Shifty McFlea 2 years ago
I laughed so hard when I first learned this. This shows just how similar writers and criminals can be
Luna Crow 2 years ago
Plot twist: he had the idea to do it first, but then decided to sell the idea as a story instead of risking life in prison. Probably got quite a fortune for that too
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LinkTheHylian 2 years ago (edited)
But only with the help of a young black guy, two hired guns, and a tunnel bore machine. Wait... wrong franchise...
#11
TIL that when Californians wanted to name a new city after San Francisco businessman William Ralston, he declined and said he was not worthy of the honor. So instead they named the city in honor of his modesty: Modesto, California.
RafCo (he/him) 2 years ago
I think secretly that he didn't want it named for him, because he didn't want to be associated with that place. It's not the nicest place.
Fabian Bernard 2 years ago
In France, we have a village named Moncuq ( ''My a..'' phoneticaly) I always wondered why
#12
TIL that cats are more vocal with humans than with other cats.
Ozzyols 2 years ago
As in we are more vocal with cats than with other people… yep… that’s about right
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Skylar (they/them) 2 years ago
They actually use about the same amount of meows they use with kittens, so it's kind of like to them we're big hairless stupid kittens who don't know how to hunt.
Charlie the Cat 2 years ago
I am constantly talking to my human. "Give me food", "Clean my poop tray", "That's my chair". He doesn't understand me at all. Just "Ah, hey Charlie, are you talking to me. Good boy..." It's so frustrating sometimes!
Shyla Bouche 2 years ago
I tell my soft can-opener what to do, and the fool thing meows back nothing but nonsense.
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Jon Steensen 2 years ago
yep, humans seem a little denser, and hence more "words" are need for them to grasp the message. Nothing strange going on there.
Son of Philosoraptor 2 years ago
This has been true for me for many many cats... Until Wyatt the Twitch came along... Poor guy, he meows at the other cats as if they were humans, bugs the c**p out of them.
Learning is far more than just getting good grades, being attentive in class, and doing everything that your teacher asks you to. True learning requires a lot of initiative and independence. It’s something that parents can encourage their kids to prioritize while growing up.
Recently, Bored Panda got in touch with Lenore Skenazy, the president of Let Grow, a nonprofit promoting childhood independence and resilience, and the founder of the Free-Range Kids movement. She explained to us that it’s becoming a problem that school keeps becoming a bigger part of kids’ lives. In the past, children had a lot more free time to do activities outside of school.
“Kids goofed around, played, explored. Now, with jam-packed schedules filled with adult-run activities, even those out-of-school hours are a lot LIKE school… except instead of learning fractions kids are learning lacrosse, or chess,” Skenazy said.
#13
TIL the first known résumé was written by Leonardo da Vinci, when applying to be a military engineer for the Duke of Milan. It's mainly just a list of his designs for siege weapons (including trebuchets). He briefly mentions his art: "In painting, I can do everything possible." He got the job.
Fluffy mommy panda 2 years ago
Well yeah he was awesome. Greatest painter of even our time I'd say myself no offense to anyone......but damn remarkable.
sofacushionfort 2 years ago
Background: He’d applied because the duke was famously aggressive. But he was also sneaky, an equally important quality for a Renaissance leader. So he hired da Vinci to peacefully create art - specifically a massive bronze equestrian statue, and imported bronze accordingly. Then, as fast as he could, the duke cast the bronze into cannons and attacked his neighbors. Da Vinci’s bronze horse was just a Trojan horse.
Michael Largey 2 years ago
Modest of him not to mention that he could do the impossible as well.
Steve Robert 2 years ago
,"So tell me Leonardo, where do you see yourself five years from now"
January Tempis 2 years ago
"In painting, I can do everything possible." That is one of the coolest sentences I've ever heard.
Fester Sixonesixonethree 2 years ago
Ah... and while he designed the famous horse, it never got made because the 70 tons of bronze he needed was requisitioned to cast cannons. Two horses were finally cast in the 1990s. One is in Michigan, the other at the Milan Hippodrome. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo%27s_horse#The_American_Horse
#14
TIL the song Baby, It's Cold Outside was written by Frank Losser to sing with his wife, Lynn Garland, at parties to indicate to guests that it was time to leave.
Michael Largey 2 years ago
They had agreed to never release the song to the public because they realized that it could come off a little creepy. (They meant it as a send up of such creepy behavior.) But when they divorced, Frank got ownership of the song, broke his promise, and reaped a fortune. His behavior surprised no one, since he himself admitted to being "the evil of two Loessers".
Luna Crow 2 years ago
It's definitely been coming off as creepy ever since! Knowing the origin helps as little
Load More Replies... kathoco 2 years ago
Strange, since the song is all about the guy trying to convince the girl to stay and NOT leave.
Bryn 2 years ago
No it's not! Please read this tumblr post that has a post from a history professor discussion of the song: https://www.tumblr.com/eqaside/168081913602/ranma-official-delcat177-finnglas?source=share
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Display_Name 2 years ago
Lawd, I'd hate for you to hear my SO and mine conversations. You'd be trying to help when no help is needed.
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AnnaRachelle 2 years ago
The Simpson did their own version. Crusty the clown was singing with a women. I laughed so hard I neatly peed my pants!
#15
TIL that free divers' heart rates can drop as low as 11 beats per minute(as low as that of diving seals, whales and dolphins), in order to preserve blood-oxygen levels.
Rostit . 2 years ago
at that point they are no longer free divers. they are just fish food.
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Yeah, okay. 2 years ago
This fascinates me. There is a village in Korea that has been free diving for pearls for generations, and have differences in breath holding ability, but it's amazing to me that this internal change is not evolutionary, but something your body does naturally to combat physical stress . It speaks to the idea that humans could actually evolve to be an underwater society if they really had to. (After all, whales were originally land animals that went back into the sea).
Passerby 2 years ago
If I were a diver, my fear and anxiety would up that heart rates by at least 100 times.
Russell Bowman 2 years ago
Luc Besson did a good movie. "Le Grand Bleu". on this subject ... if you can find it
Cathy Jo Baker 2 years ago
Competitive free divers are fearless! My respect to them. No, thanks. I'll stick to my recreational scuba with all the equipment, although I think it would be interesting to learn how to free dive just for fun, not to compete.
Leolynn Cauthron 2 years ago
These, of course, are people who have been practicing since chiidhood and have bodies adapted to the work over many years. Do not try it on your own.
“Clever, normal kids turned into caged animals who despair they are no good, and their lives pointless. The answer? It’s so simple and so overlooked: Kids need more free time and free play—exactly what you loved most as a kid. Time spent making up games, practicing free throws, jumping rope, poking around in the woods—all of that is not wasted time. It’s a time when all of a kid’s senses are engaged and growing: Observation, participation, empathy, curiosity,” the childhood independence expert shared with us.
“It’s hard to see when you’re swimming in it, but kids learn so much from life, from friends, from siblings, from doing things on their own that they can NOT learn from an adult, even the most loving parent or gifted teacher. Give them back some free time, during the school day and after, and they will start to blossom,” Skenazy explained to Bored Panda.
#16
TIL a school social worker noticed a young Jimi Hendrix's habit of emulating a guitar with a broom and attempted to get school funding to buy him a guitar. Her request was denied.
Mat O'Dowd 2 years ago
Don't be sad, somehow along the way, that guitar found him and they played forever !
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Harlan Sarvis 2 years ago
Jimi Hendrix: *becomes one of the GOAT guitarists* Social Worker: See, what did I tell you? School: Sh*t!
Christof Irran 2 years ago
The opposite happened to me. When I was six an influential teacher at my school found out that my parents were paying for piano lessons for me, she thought the school should buy some pianos (for practicing, and, in the future, teaching). And they did. I hated piano lessons.
Kat Min 2 years ago
We will never know how much astounding talent, how many inventions, cures, novels, paintings and whatnot never saw the light of day because the potential creator was female, poc or handicapped.
Kathy 2 years ago
...Or just plain disadvantaged! Things like where and when you were born, and your family's socio-economic situation, can make all the difference to where you end up in life.
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Marc 2 years ago
His first real guitar was a white Fender Strat that belonged to Keith Richards. His girlfriend stole it from Keith to give to Jimi.
Der Kommissar 2 years ago
Jimi played lots of (real) electric guitars in the early 60s on what they called the Chitlin Circuit.Was in the Isley Bros., Little Richard's band , etc. He was known to p**n his guitar so it would have to be bought back so he could play the next gig. 2180dbd151...5394eb.jpg 
rodger coghlan 2 years ago
So he finally got a guitar but was left handed so he had to play it upside down
Andy Frobig 2 years ago
Later on, he kept playing upside down right handed guitars even though he could afford lefty models. His Gibson Flying V was a lefty, but he liked the sound of the slanted bridge pickup of the Stratocaster with strings over the "wrong" pole pieces, and preferred the control knobs above the strings instead of below
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TIL more than 300 million people globally don’t have a single friend, according to Gallup data.
Nikki D 2 years ago
Please, at least visit a nursing home. My only friend is my senior neighbor. They are so lonely. Almost anything is better than nothing in this case. Good luck dear.
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patricia patricia 2 years ago
There might be much more. Many people think they have friends because they have acquaintances they can go for a beer with, but real friendship is much more complex and deeper than just going for drinks or to the cinema together.
AnnaRachelle 2 years ago
I have had quite a few quaintances over the years. After 3 divorces and now in my 40's I am lucky enough to have my best friend in my partner. Friends,true friends are very rare. I thought I had a friend of 16 years. I was wrong and it stung
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And the like 2 years ago
I'm afraid I'm like that. My boyfriend's my best friend. But, apart from him, I wouldn't open my heart to anyone. I used to have friends though. That's really sad and it's not going to get better as I age.
CHRIS DOMRES 2 years ago
Loners probably account for most of the creative people on the planet. They find a creative activity more than makes up for human contact.
Fabian Bernard 2 years ago
There are pals and friends. Getting older, two friends and that's all
#18
TIL the USA was supposed to adopt the metric system but the ship carrying the standardized meter and kilogram was hijacked by pirates in 1793 and the measurements never made it to the States.
Patricia Stilwell 2 years ago
Me too. Sounds a little ridiculous. Maybe someone way pulling OP's leg.
Load More Replies... Id row 2 years ago
lol, riiiiight. "Gee, that was our only meter and kilogram example. We'll never be able to replace or send them again. Looks like they're stuck using Imperial for the rest of all time. Such a shame."
Andy Frobig 2 years ago
Reminds me of an old joke: why doesn't (insert country here) have ice cubes? The guy who knew the recipe died
Load More Replies... Johnnynatfan 2 years ago
the US used the imperial system because of the historical ties to the UK. Just like Canada did back then. It had nothin to do with a hijacked ship.
Robert T 2 years ago (edited)
That's not what this post says. It implies that they did not switch from imperial to metric because the standardized metric units were lost en route. They were already using imperial, but note that the US imperial system is not quite the same as that used in the UK, as pints, gallons and fluid ounces are different sizes.
Load More Replies... RafCo (he/him) 2 years ago
Like most things in reality, the truth is a bit more complicated. At the time the French were pushing the metric system in Europe, and Ben Franklin did indeed request a standardized Kilogram weight (which was very expensive), and one was sent by the French government as a gift to the new nation. The standard meter wasn't present in this. And yes, an English privateer took the vessel, and likely melted the weight for its metal. But there were other factors at play as well. The US was still both culturally and financially tied to the English. For the sake of simplicity of trade with England, the US and England worked to standardize the English system of weights and measures, which was picked up by the United States. England would eventually go to adopt the metric system (mostly), but the US still has not. Although the US did temporarily switch the public school curriculum to using the metric system under President Carter, the switch didn't last as parents and businesses complained.
Andy Frobig 2 years ago (edited)
The US and UK standardized the Imperial system, except for volumes, long/short tonnes vs. tons, and things like stone as a measure of weight. Meanwhile the US is flooded with manufactured goods made in metric countries that can only be fixed with metric tools, so mechanics, engineers, scientists and drug dealers all need to know SI anyway
Load More Replies... David H 2 years ago
This is a myth. The the French created SI and france being our second largest trade partner at the time, the US said to the French they would consider it. Some US officials thought it would be a good way to further break free of British influence (Americas largest trade partner at the time. The French sent a set of measurement standards with conversion weights from Imperial. The US was going to debate in Congress if they should do it. However the ship was hijacked. However the US never had the plans to adopt SI, just to accept a French proposal to consider it. It had almost no congressional support, and President Washington was dead set against it. The US only considered it because Thomas Jefferson was a big supporter. But it was highly unlikely to ever pass considering the Francophobia in America at the time, and most of Congress and the President against it.
Victoria Woodhull 2 years ago
USA also said it was converting in 1960s?1970s? But it never happened
Andy Frobig 2 years ago
Kids who were in school in the '70s had intensive metric system units in math, but Ronnie Reagan decided it wasn't cowboy enough. Almost everything we own today was made in a metric-system country, though
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Storm Rise 2 years ago
And in the following 230 years they couldn't get another set sent over?
Andy Frobig 2 years ago
Imagine 230 years of refreshing the tracking page
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Meanwhile, good grades aren’t the end-all, be-all indication that you’re doing well in life. “Quick! What was Einstein’s grade point average? How well did Dolly Parton score on her SATs? How many AP classes did Rachmaninoff take? Those questions are absurd. And so is the idea that a child is only as bright or talented as his grades and school performance,” Skenazy said.
“There are so many aspects to a person and yet so few are reflected in their report card. Creativity, kindness, a sense of humor, loyalty, wackiness—those aren’t measurable and so we forget they are even more valuable than an A+ on the spelling test.”
#19
TIL about Ralph C Smith, the US' last surviving WWII General, who passed away in 1998 aged 104. Not only was he the 13th person to receive a pilot's license, he was also instructed by Orville Wright.
Luna Crow 2 years ago
You got your pilot's license before he did? How old are you? 😳
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Oerff On Tour 2 years ago
He also was the first serviceman of the US army to get his license, after only 3 hours of "training"
#20
TIL that following the Black Death in England, peasants were able to negotiate better wages due to labour shortages. In response Parliament passed the Statute of Labourers 1351 which prohibited the soliciting of wages above pre-plague levels. This contributed to the English Peasant's Revolt of 1381.
Wilf 2 years ago
The Black Death completely transformed everything. Social hierarchies in place since the Roman period began to collapose. Even the very landscape changed as farming patterns changed. Entire settlements were abandoned. Even architecture changed as the costs of stonemasonry rocketed. A highly decorated style of architecture gave way to a simpler 'perpendicular' style. It really was a HUGE event on every level.
Rebecca Broscombe-Adams 2 years ago
The ruling classes here have always been horrific. Right now it's the tories.
Delta Dawn 2 years ago
“”Nobody wants to wooooork any moooore!” People can’t work when they’re dead, Karen.
Elaine Morinelli 2 years ago
Brexit was a bad idea. Essentially it was your MAGA-type people wanting to "keep ourselves to ourselves." Good luck.
Kathy 2 years ago
The subject was the Black Death, its impact on workers wages and the resultant Peasants Revolt. Why on earth do you have to bring current political issues into the mix?
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AnnaRachelle 2 years ago
The same problems keep repeating themselves. It's never a new problem.
Irish woman abroad 2 years ago
God, some things never change... Keep the masses down, at all costs. (Pun unintended, sorry)
#21
TIL How toxic a polar bear liver actually is. The entire liver contains enough vitamin A to kill as many as 52 adults! If you spread it out and ate just enough to get your RDA every day, that liver would last you 143 years!
Aubry 2 years ago
In the 1500s a stranded arctic expedition group found this out the hard way when all of their skin started to slough off from head to toe. They survived, and if you do some googling you can even find the firsthand journal accounts of their horrific experience
Jennifer Martens 2 years ago
Thank you .. this is why I read the comments. Not to hear a terrible pun/joke
Load More Replies... Tom Hardeveld 2 years ago
"What> Polar Bear Liver again?! We had the same darn meal for 142 years now!"
N Miller 2 years ago
You can overdose on Vitamin A. Other vitamins (C immediately springs to mind) you just pee out any excess, but A is absorbed to saturation point and beyond.
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Marek Čtrnáct 2 years ago
If you live up north, you don't have much of vegetables. The Inuits have to get their vitamins from animals. IIRC, the organs are important resources.
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Laura Gillette 2 years ago
Wow, this one actually slipped by the BP censors. 😂 Unless they've changed their policies?
Raw IQ scores aren’t as strong an indicator of future success as many believe it is, but grades and doing well on school projects might just be. For instance, economist James Heckman’s found that someone’s IQ isn’t all that tightly correlated to how well you do financially when you’re all grown up. What’s far more important is your personality. Traits like diligence, perseverance, self-discipline, and conscientiousness are far more important than how smart you (think you) are.
You don’t get good grades just by having a high IQ score. You do so by having good study habits and being able to collaborate well with other students. In short, intelligence in the broad sense encompasses non-cognitive skills and traits which are far superior to scoring high on IQ tests. At least, as far as real-life success goes.
#22
TIL movie theater sound quality was greatly improved thanks to Star Wars. Sound across movie theaters was generally inconsistent or low quality, George Lucas then co-created THX to fully project the audio quality of Return of the Jedi.
Elita One 2 years ago
Yeah and now it's ridiculously loud, any time I go to the cinema my ears are always sore after.
Monday 2 years ago
and somehow despite the music/sfx blowing your ears out you STILL can't hear the characters talking because it's too soft.
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#23
TIL The country of Kenya gets nearly one half of all it’s electricity from geothermal power plants.
Potty pagan panda 2 years ago
TIL : the above. And it’s a resource that can’t be grabbed. Way to go Kenya
Magnifico Giganticus 2 years ago
If humans are good for anything it is finding a way to take what others have.
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Delta Dawn 2 years ago
I’ve been to Kenya and seen the great rift. It lives up to its name.
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Karri Berkowitz 2 years ago
I'd say it's crazy that more countries haven't started using it but sadly I know American greed would never allow it. Even though some of us actually care about the planet!
Vix Spiderthrust 2 years ago
Also I think it depends on being on the right part of a tectonic plate. The UK, for instance, has very little tectonic actovity so geothermal power might not be practical. Whereas Finland gets about 80% of its power geothermally because it's in an active tectonic area.
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Pontificate 2 years ago
My mother was born in Nairobi, and I visited Kenya myself at age 12. Beautiful country.
#24
TIL in 1985, drug smugglers dropped 40 containers of cocaine from a plane above Tennessee because the plane was too heavy. 3 months later, investigators found the containers and a dead black bear that had consumed 75 pounds of the drug. It’s stomach was “literally packed to the brim with cocaine.”
NotTodaySatan!! 2 years ago
I saw the trailer the other day and told my husband it looked like some cheesy B horror movie lol. I didn't know it was real. I don't know that it being real changes my mind...
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RezFidel 2 years ago
Yes.. there is a movie about that incident "COCAINE BEAR"... 01-cb-dm-m...a81c09.jpg 
Casey Burns 2 years ago
There's a new movie coming out called "Cocaine Bear!" Must be based off this lol
Epileptic Empire 2 years ago
Maybe that bear was preparing for its upcoming role in 'Cocaine Bear'?
Load More Replies... Rachel Ratty 2 years ago
I am pretty sure someone told me recently that a movie is being made about this...
#25
TIL that in the Vietnam war the US conducted a psychological warfare operation which used loudspeakers to play eerie sounds and altered voices to represent the spirits of dead N. Vietnamese soldiers so as to undermine their morale. Operation Wandering Soul.
Fluffy mommy panda 2 years ago
Yeah I knew this was on documentary my dad had me watch pretty crazy really. But at the same time everything that went on was crazy in this war and all wars.
Leigh 2 years ago
My friend fought for 6 years in Vietnam. He says friendly fire incidents happened a lot more often than the government wants you to think it did. He witnessed 8 people killed by friendly fire.
Der Kommissar 2 years ago
Don't forget fragging. I talked to a vet who told me his commanding officer was fragged (killed by his own troops)
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Johnnynatfan 2 years ago
The intent was to make the Vietcong want to quit. In their culture if your body is not properly buried your soul is stuck in limbo so the US tried to make them believe that their dead comrades' souls were wandering in the jungle. Some Vietcong soldiers quit and went home but not enough to make any impact.
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Owen 2 years ago
In all fairness, that's much better than shooting/exploding/napalming everyone.
Nofacenocase 2 years ago
U must not have mental health issues. When the head is a mess, sometimes it's better to just experience those things.
Load More Replies... Fabian Bernard 2 years ago
As ancestrors cult is a real thing in asian culture, it must have worked
Patricia Stilwell 2 years ago
If it "worked", it didn't work well as my entire high school and college years were even more haunted by the daily body count on the news and the news of friends and acquaintances being drafted and maimed or killed.
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Ozymandias73 2 years ago
Yeah, because the US is the only nation that goes to war. /s
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#26
TIL that an audio recording of a lock being opened provides enough data to reproduce the key required to open that lock, even with a cell phone's microphone.
WindySwede 2 years ago
This I need to see on 'Lockpicking lawyer' to fully belive, I think?
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censorshipsucks 2 years ago
if you record a lock being opened, you can hear how the tumblers (internal parts) of the lock mechanism move, click, etc., against the key, and work out what their ratio is.
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parmadillo 2 years ago (edited)
If you want to open my door, you’ll also need the recording of me jiggling the key and cursing.
Scott Rackley 2 years ago
While this may tell you the location of the pin breaks, it cannot tell you the order, so you'd need to make around 120 keys.
Christof Irran 2 years ago
I don't buy it. Maybe (unlikely, though) on some cheapo locks like Kwikset, or Schlage, or Weslock, but certainly not on Curbin Russwin, or Sargent, or BEST; and especially not on any Medeco locks or EVVA's Drei Kurven System.
#27
TIL that when bears hibernate, they "hold it in" for almost half a year. This is due to a fecal plug that forms in their lower intestine that prevents them from pooping while hibernating.
Casey Burns 2 years ago
I know when I poop once every 3 months it feels pretty good.
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Tom Hardeveld 2 years ago (edited)
I did once poop during my Hibernation but I was able to put it back
gerard julien 2 years ago
Bears DO NOT hibernate : " not many animals truly hibernate, and bears are among those that do not. Bears enter a lighter state of sleep called torpor. The main difference between hibernation and torpor is during torpor, the animal is able to wake up quickly to avoid danger, or if the opportunity exists exit the den to feed. " source : national forest foundation.
DonnerDinnerParty 2 years ago
Bears will actually eat a bunch of grass and sticks ans stuff to help create that plug
Leolynn Cauthron 2 years ago
To be clear, they also aren’t eating so there’s not a lot of feces generated. They live off their fat stores and that doesn’t create much fecal matter.
#28
TIL In 1998 part of the hull of the Titanic was recovered and is displayed in a casino. Visitors are given a 'boarding pass' with the name of a passenger and find out the fate of their passenger at the end of the exhibition.
Fluffy mommy panda 2 years ago
This is kinda neat but at the same time cringe because of the family of these people. However great historical involvement but just kinda.......😬
Teutonic Disaster 2 years ago
You know what makes it even more cringe (and not to compare apples to oranges and take away from the tragedy that was the Titanic disaster, but still...), considering especially that this exhibition is at a casiono of all places, there's another place where you get a card with a name (and picture, I think) of a person who may or may not have survived the subject of the exhibition. Auschwitz.
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David Andrews 2 years ago
I have no problem with items being recovered and displayed, however this particular one was purely about money and no interest in preserving an artifact. During recovery they managed to drop it when it was close to the surface, causing it to fall all the way back down and embed in the sea bed. When it was recovered, unlike what is on display now, the section of hull also covered a chunk of the deck below. It was decided that it made it too large and awkward for display, so they cut it off. As part of the "preservation", they then removed the rust, and also the remaining sections of paint from it.
Upstaged75 2 years ago
The Holocaust museum does the same thing. You find out if your person lived or died as you're leaving.
Libstak 2 years ago
We had a Titanic exhibition at Melbourne Museum that did this, I'm pretty sure it went to many museums globally at the Tim in the early 2000s
Saxophone 2 years ago
There is a whole museum with the same you get an actual passenger to see their fate but it’s in Branson and its not in a casino
NotTodaySatan!! 2 years ago
I came to say this as well. And it is an amazing experience to go through.
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Jennifer Snyder 2 years ago
It’s actually an amazing experience. They recreated many aspects of the ship and told many of the passengers’ stories. Very moving. I cried - and I’m not a crier.
Elaine Morinelli 2 years ago
I saw a museum-type experience that was so moving. This piece being displayed in a casino is just gross. Greedy bastards.
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Leolynn Cauthron 2 years ago
There are whole museum exhibits that do this. I visited a traveling Titanic exhibit years ago. It had many recovered and replica relics from the Titanic plus recreated rooms and did the same with peoples names. I know there is at least one such permanent exhibit in Branson, Missouri.
Michelle C 2 years ago
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum does something similar. It’s truly sobering. 💔
#29
TIL that after Ayrton Senna's fatal crash, an Austrian flag was found in his race car. He had intended to raise it in honor of Roland Ratzenberger, who had died during qualification the previous day.
DuchessDegu 2 years ago
That was one of the saddest weekends I remember. Everyone was so quiet everywhere, it was quite eerie
Cheeky chicken 2 years ago
I remember watching this race and seeing the the crash happen. It was an almost surreal experience. I kept asking people if it had really happened, as to me it looked as though the whole thing happened in slow motion and so couldn't be real, I wasn't a fan of f1but Ayrton Sennas death really hit me hard, one second he was alive and doing the thing he loved and then a second later, the thing he loved doing caused his death x
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Roland Nijveld 2 years ago (edited)
Formula 1 racing. Weekend of April 29th to May 1st 1994, Imola, Italy. On Friday, Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello heavily crashed in practice and was hospitalised. On Saturday Austrian Roland Ratzenberger died in qualifying and on Sunday Brazilian Ayrton Senna, 3 times World Champion died the race. Probably the saddest weekend in modern F1
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Fabian Bernard 2 years ago
And a few hours before the crash, Alain Prost, his historical rival, made a step for reconcilation. His death hit him right in the guts for long
Jonathan Setter 9 months ago
No surprise that they had just banned major safety system and suddenly two people were dead on the same weekend. They banned them because they said it made the cars too easy to drive. It is like banning seatbelts because you think people drive to reckless because they use them.
#30
TIL that the number of abs you have is genetic and varies from person to person. The number of abs you have depends on the number of rings of abdominal tissue that someone is born with, and some people can actually have 10-pack abs.
MotherofGuineaPigs 2 years ago
Mine are hiding behind a protective layer.
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Best Behave 2 years ago
I’ve got a six pack. I’ve just lost the bit of plastic that holds it all together…
Auntriarch 2 years ago
My six pack is still in the padded shopping bag with the rest of the groceries
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PotatoNinja5000 2 years ago
So what that's telling me is that I might not actually be fat, but really amazingly built with my one ab?
Genesis Angel 2 years ago
I do not know, AAPE perhaps? Though at first glance it does look like a specific word that is a bit disturbing.
Load More Replies... #31
TIL that Titanic crewman Herbert Pitman made an attempt to row his lifeboat over to rescue people in the water, but was overruled by the other occupants of the boat, who were worried about people swarming them and duly complied. Pitman said that this haunted him throughout his life.
Jean Thompson 2 years ago
Tragically, there is no doubt that would have happened had he rowed over.
3 Owls In A Coat 2 years ago
How can you see someone suffering/drowning and say “no wait don’t save them I’m worried about me?” :/
#32
TIL Mount Everest is named after Sir George Everest despite him having zero connection to the mountain (he never even saw it) and against his own wishes. He objected to the naming on the grounds that "Everest" could not be easily written in Hindi nor pronounced by the local people
SlothyK8 2 years ago
It's also called "Sagarmatha". Chomolungma is the Tibetan name; Sagarmatha is the Nepali name. More TIL...! :)
Load More Replies... Stardust she/her 2 years ago (edited)
It can be very easily written in hindi, “एवरेस्ट” and can be pronounced fine by the people just by reading it
#33
TIL Fender Guitars did a study and found that 90% of new guitar players abandon playing within 1 year. The 10% that don't quit spend an average of $10,000 on hardware over their lifetime, buying 5-7 guitars and multiple amps.
SquidMitch 2 years ago
I think that $10,000 over a lifetime is quite low. My wife wishes I had only spent that much.
CHRIS DOMRES 2 years ago
Us keyboard players are just as bad! So many synthesizers. So little time!
Jordi Sharpe 2 years ago
I bought one electric, and pawned it about 8 years later. I just never had the discipline to sit down and practice.
Detective Miller's Hat 2 years ago
$10,000 seems like a really low number honestly. The basses and amps and other assorted instruments barely fit in my house, and I probably won't stop acquiring more for a couple decades.
Justin Trouble 2 years ago
I play drums, bass and guitar, the $10,000 is way too low. I wonder if that number is from the 1960s, because I've spent that number multiple times over.
Tammy Kirks 2 years ago
I'm 2.5 years into playing and have four guitars. Been shopping for a fifth. It's a weakness. They are all so beautiful!
#34
TIL that a Kentucky man won $450,000 in a lawsuit against his former employers who allegedly fired him for having a panic attack and leaving his own surprise birthday party.
Oerff On Tour 2 years ago
The worst part of it, is that they *knew* of his condition, but did it anyway
Jacqueline Quackenbush 2 years ago
If Memory Serves He Specifically Asked Them Not To Do It
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CanadianaKa 2 years ago
Let's be specific - he told his employers ahead of time not to throw a party. He warned them of his condition. They threw it anyway. Important details missing here.
#35
TIL when Dan Shechtman discovered quasiperiodic crystals, he was widely ridiculed. Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling said of the discovery, "There is no such thing as quasicrystals, only quasi-scientists." Shechtman would later win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery.
Jacqueline Quackenbush 2 years ago
What's That Quote?? Something Like Every Idea Is Violently Opposed Before It Is Begrudgingly Acknowledged And Then Eventually Accepted As Obviously True
Benita Valdez 2 years ago
1. a locally regular aggregation of molecules resembling a crystal in certain properties (such as that of diffraction) but not having a consistent spatial periodicity. 2. A quasicrystalline pattern can continuously fill all available space, but it lacks translational symmetry. 3. In crystals, atoms are arranged in a repeating pattern. In quasicrystals, they are still ordered but the pattern is not periodic: it doesn't repeat. (3 bits from 3 different sources. Hope that helps you understand) Me: So a crystal wannabe; yeah I'm a crystal. No you're not cuz you only just look like one
Load More Replies... #36
TIL Cheryl Gates McFadden (Dr Beverly Crusher from Star Trek TNG) was Director of Choreography on The Labyrinth (1986). She goes by Cheryl McFadden when doing choreography, and Gates McFadden when it's an acting role.
#37
TIL that it takes approximately 20 minutes from the time you start eating for your brain to send out signals of fullness. Leisurely eating allows ample time to trigger the signal from your brain that you are full.
Fluffy mommy panda 2 years ago
Why I love leisurely eating I like eating anyways. Food is awesome and yummy in my tummy.
Philip Obermarck 2 years ago
It's a shame most of us are trained by school and workplace mandated half hour lunches to rush through our food so we can have some free time before getting back to the grind.
patricia patricia 2 years ago
Overweight people tend to eat too quickly. Just by slowing down, chewing more and focusing on what they are eating many people manage to start losing weight, without actually dieting.
Beck 2 years ago (edited)
When I was pregnant with my first kid at 18 I worked at sears in the mall. 1997. My fat butt waddled allllll the way down to the food area and back and gobbled lunch down in my 30 minute lunch breaks. I never broke the habit. I can eat a foot long sub sandwich in like 4 minutes or less.
bennu 2 years ago
I ate a sub too fast once and had debilitating heartburn for like a day and a half
Load More Replies... Benita Valdez 2 years ago
I'm fairly convinced I have an issue with this signal; my signal seems horribly delayed and I overeat easily even when eating slow. I have to just consciously stop eating after a reasonable portion and wait a while, even though it feels like my stomach is empty and I haven't eaten anything, because i know i should feel some level of fullness. No stomach, you're not empty, I swear I just shoveled down half a ribeye and broccoli so just be patient.
RedPanda 2 years ago
Adipose tissues (fat cells) secrete leptin which is a hormone. It then acts on the hippocampus and brain stem, inhibiting hunger. The more body fat you have, more leptin is produced. Don’t take my word for it though, because I’m typing this from memory from grade 11 bio class. My theory is it takes longer to feel full because it takes a while for enough leptin to be produced and travel to your brain.
Olive Harper 2 years ago
This doesn't make sense to me. It takes me about 10 minutes to eat a meal, and when I'm done eating I am full. So does this mean I was full before I ate and my brain just didn't know it? But how come I was super hungry?
#38
TIL when Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, who had a famously deep voice, quit smoking cigarettes at 77-years-old in 2012, he thought that his vocal range would become higher and improve. Instead, his voice became even lower.
Norm Gilmore 2 years ago (edited)
Had the absolute pleasure of seeing him in concert when he was around 80 years old. The man still put on a near 2 hour performance that people half his age would have been hard pressed to do!!
Vix Spiderthrust 2 years ago (edited)
In his fantastic comedy album Arthur Smith Sings Leaonard Cohen, Smith remarks "Leonard Cohen can only sing one note, and it's flat."
#39
TIL this seatbelt loop serves a real purpose - in an accident the seat belt is put under extreme pressure, the threading in the loops can rip, and the loop unfolds. This action adds a few extra inches to the belt and can absorb more energy to keep you safer and decrease the risk of injury.
Robert T 2 years ago
Is that not counter to what a seatbelt pre-tensioner does? These fire a pyrotechnic charge that pulls the seatbelt buckle downward, in pulling you down and anchoring you into your seat.
M O'Connell 2 years ago
The (comparatively) low speed of the tearing stitches allows your body to decelerate less rapidly, thereby reducing incidence of whiplash. "It's not the fall that kills you, but the sudden stop." The energy dissipated in tearing those stitches absorbs kinetic energy, thereby making the stop less sudden.
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#40
TIL That in 2004, a 25 year old virginal Japanese woman had surgery to remove a mature fetiform teratoma (a tumor that formed a doll-like structure) that contained brain, eye, spinal nerve, ear, teeth, thyroid gland, bone, bone marrow, gut, trachea, and blood vessel tissue... and more.
Corvus 2 years ago
Teratomas are one of the most disturbing things that can grow in your body.
patricia patricia 2 years ago
Don't Google teratoma!!!! You won't be able to sleep afterwards!
RedMarbles 2 years ago
This is different than an absorbed twin. It isn't the beginning of a human being that was produced sexually but is a tumor created entirely from the mother's own body. Mature ovarian cystic teratoma with a highly differentiated homunculus: a case report - PubMed https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14745894/
Load More Replies... #41
TIL 130 million American adults have low literacy skills with 54% of people 16-74 below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level.
Thee8thsense 2 years ago
I learned that quite some time ago. It explains the previous president.
Spocks's Mom 2 years ago
What?? You don't think the stable genius can read well?
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CHRIS DOMRES 2 years ago
It is to Republican politicians advantage to have a poor education system. Stats show highly educated people are likely to vote against them. Which explains why they keep cutting funding for education programs.
Shayne Randlett 2 years ago
If I had any idea what this said It would probably make me feel embarrassed to be an American...
Upstaged75 2 years ago
That's incredibly sad! I read like crazy and it brings me a great deal of pleasure. Please volunteer for your local literacy program if you can! It makes a big difference to many people.
Katiekat 2 years ago
Can confirm. When I got online in the 90s, there was Yahoo chat, and it was mostly filled with college people, and lots of fun. From early 2000s on, everyone got on, and the more people who got on, the more literacy skills dropped. To be fair, clearly not everyone's native tongue is English, but still, the sheer amount of native English speakers who just can't explain anything is staggering.
#42
TIL The top (summit) of Mt Everest is grey limestone, complete with embedded marine invertebrate fossils (e.g. trilobites). This means that the rock that makes up the top Mt Everest was once underwater.
Spocks's Mom 2 years ago
So I read it as :"This means that the rock that makes up the top Mt Everest was once 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑟." It didn't make sense to say the least.
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 2 years ago
The mountain wasn't underwater, the rocks on top of the mountain were. The mountain grew under the limestone layer and pushed it up.
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#43
TIL the "Empty London" scenes in 28 Days Later were achieved by filming at dawn and simply asking people to stop walking through shots, as there was no room in the $8m budget to actually shut down any parts of the city.
Mtownmick 2 years ago
We visited London for a week and saw two different shows being filmed just walking around once in park, once in a tube station.
jai putman 2 years ago
As a teen I appeared as an extra in 101 Dalmatians (the live action one). I skateboarded through the shot not actually noticing they were filming, got yelled at by a grip and was then asked by the unit director to do it again... Did a few takes got given some cash and carried on my way.... Was a weird morning
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Giles McArdell 2 years ago
It's sad that this excellent movie was shot on early digital cameras, far inferior to todays ones and not possible to re-scan at a higher resolution like you can with film, so we're stuck with low res and it looks awful, even in HD.
DennyS (denzoren) 2 years ago
I still have to watch this movie, I want too...but I don't do well with gore.
#44
TIL of Gilles Garnier, a french recluse living in a forest in France. Due to his lifestyle he had trouble finding food so he began hunting children and eating them raw, like an animal. People initialy thought the attacks were done by a werewolf, so he was convicted of lycanthropy and witchcraft.
Caroline Nagel 2 years ago
This was in the 16th century - link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_Garnier
Allen Packard 2 years ago
Thank you. I was like.... "Why have I not heard of this?" :)
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Shayne Randlett 2 years ago
It makes me sad how much time kids spend indoors on their computers and phones, but the silver lining is that it keeps them safe from 16th century French madmen.
and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 2 years ago (edited)
Dipshit. Douchecanoe. Fuckwad. Twatbasket. Shithead. Fuckface.
Load More Replies... Corvus 2 years ago
Yikes, when did this happen? I doubt someone could be convicted of lycanthropy and witchcraft in modern times, so it must have been earlier.
Auntriarch 2 years ago
Don't be disgusting, we would surely barbecue them 🤣
Load More Replies... #45
TIL James Doohan (who played Scotty on Star Trek) was shot several times by friendly fire on D-Day after surviving the storming at Juno Beach. He lost a finger as a result, which was mostly (but not always) hidden using camera angles while filming Star Trek 21 years later.
Katie Lutesinger 2 years ago
I'm surprised they didn't just factor the missing finger into the plot. Maybe he was shy about other people seeing it.
Michael Largey 2 years ago
Like many WWII vets, he was not the type to parade his service or the sacrifices he made doing it.
Load More Replies... Fluffy mommy panda 2 years ago
Wow I had no idea. Wow tough guy. Thank you James doohan for your service by the way.
Powerful Katrinka 2 years ago
He was a hero in many other ways. He once got fan mail from a woman who told him that she struggled with thoughts of suicide. He wrote her back, expressing his concern and inviting her to stay in touch. They corresponded for the rest of his life.
Load More Replies... Vix Spiderthrust 2 years ago (edited)
Peter Butterworth, the comedy actor from the Carry On films, was strafed by the RAF while he was a POW in Germany. He developed a lifelong fear of planes, to the extent that he would literally dive for cover if one flew low overhead.
censorshipsucks 2 years ago
all he would have to do is wear a red shirt, beam down, and voila, the finger can be explained...!
Samantha Galentine 2 years ago
Also had a hilarious Scottish joke that doesn't work out if you didn't have the brogue.
featherytoad 2 years ago
Same with Radar on Mash. Though, I don't know how he lost his finger.
kaycee14 2 years ago
He had a deformity of one of his hands. His character usually carried something like a clipboard to hide it.
Load More Replies... #46
TIL that Black Widow antivenom is made by injecting horses with venom over a period of time. The horse develops antibodies against the venom, then the horse is bled and the antibodies purified for later use.
Martin Blaney 2 years ago
This entire site (BP) is rife with misinformation...what else is new?
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Jocie (they/them) 2 years ago
Also, the thing about black widows being deadly is not necessarily true. In the olden days, of outhouses and such, most black widow spider bite deaths were men. These spiders built webs across the front of the toilet seat. If you've seen an outhouse, you get why a spider would want to make a web there. Only, when a man went to use an outhouse, his..... ding-dong would usually clip the web. The spider would panic and bite the perpetrator. ...which was..... the poor guy's ding-dong. The black widow's venom is a neurotoxin, and since there are a lot of nerve endings there...... yeah. It probably hurt like sh!t, and that's how they got their reputation for being deadly. If a black widow bites you on the back of your hand, it will just hurt for a bit and swell up. But it won't kill you. I got this info from a podcast on the NPR app after running out of true crime. :)
Vicki Doggurl 2 years ago
The horses aren’t killed! And that’s how a lot of antivenoms are made. :)
Shayne Randlett 2 years ago
Rides, dog food, glue, and now spider anti-venom. Horses are the gift that keep on giving...
Jon Steensen 2 years ago
Not nessesarily, a cure for a venom could in fact be another venom with the oposite effect. E.g. some snake venom works by making the blood clot, and thereby prevent it from flowing and doing what it is supposed to. Other venoms work in the other way, they prevent the blod from clotting. The ability for blod to clot is important as a bodies are constantly fighting the natural decaying process by making minor repairs. When your blood cannot clot, your body cannot stop minor bleedings, and you end up bleeding to death. So it is constant balancing between too much and too little clotting, and that balance can be disturbed by certain venoms but it can also be regulated by propper use of others.
Load More Replies... BasedWang12.7 2 years ago
who the f**k figured this out? Then again I guess that can be said about most things
#47
TIL Bosses spend significantly more personal time on social media during work hours than their subordinates, according to a Norwegian study of more than 11,000 people.
whineygingercat 2 years ago
Kinda hypocritical given that the boss will yell at and/or write up any employee they see on their phones at work
Michael Largey 2 years ago
I wish my last boss had spent 100% of his work time on social media - all while he WFH.
#48
TIL a Looney Tunes director and animator, Robert McKimson, bragged to colleagues for getting a good bill of health at 67. His family history of living past their 90s caused him to tell his colleagues: "I'm going to be around after you guys are gone!" He died two days later of a heart attack.
and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 2 years ago
He was a looney tunes director, for crying out loud. He should have known better XD
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Shayne Randlett 2 years ago
Animator brags about health, has heart attack. Draw your own conclusions...
patricia patricia 2 years ago
Saying that is like tempting fate... And fate has no sense of humour
#49
TIL John Candy was paid $414 for his cameo in Home Alone. This was a lower fee than was paid to the pizza delivery guy. He did it as a favor to the director and improvised all of his dialogue.
Fluffy mommy panda 2 years ago
That is so sad I don't care if it was a favor or not John candy was an awesome actor
cadena kuhn 2 years ago
It's not sad it's lovely. It shows he never considered himself to Big a star to help a friend
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Christof Irran 2 years ago
His was some of the best acting in this movie. It's amazing watching a consummate professional like him make it look so effortless.
#50
TIL that women die 17% more often in car crashes then men. In a frontal car crash with both sexes buckled in, their injury rate is also 73% higher.
Xottel 2 years ago
I read a while ago that this is due to crash test dummies resembling mainly male bodies in the past (different anatomy, different center of weight). So the cars essentially got designed to be safer for men.
Biofish23 2 years ago
Unfortunately crash test dummies are STILL based on male bodies. In recent years they have made smaller ones, but still don't account for how women are generally proportioned differently.
Load More Replies... Manic Mama 2 years ago
Because car safety (and crash test dummies) are modelled on male anatomy. Female anatomy is (unsurprisingly) different.
Michael Largey 2 years ago
When they first came out, airbags were only on the driver's side. Guess which sex back then more often was the driver and which was the passenger?
CanadianaKa 2 years ago
To summarize the comments below: women are shorter on the average, and sit closer to the steering wheel. Meaning an increased chance of death from the expansion of the air bag. Also means the seatbelt has a greater chance of strangling them/breaking their necks. I'm not only short, I have bad knees, so I sit even closer so that I can relieve the pressure on my knees. If I get into an accident I'm a goner. Period.
The Other Guest 2 years ago
It's a height thing. Women, on average, are shorter than men & move the seat forward in order to reach the gas & brake pedals.
Load More Replies... RedMarbles 2 years ago
And yet... "Behind the Wheel, Women Are Safer Drivers Than Men" https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/04/27/well/live/car-accidents-deaths-men-women.amp.html
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#51
TIL Monty Python reunited for Monty Python Live (Mostly) (2014) because they suddenly owed £800,000 pounds to Mark Forstater over Spamalot royalties. The ten shows were their first live ensemble performances in 34 years.
#52
TIL Mice don’t actually like cheese and are even repelled by many cheeses due to the smell. If they’re hungry enough they’ll try to eat anything, but they won’t actively seek out cheese.
Katie Lutesinger 2 years ago (edited)
Rats, on the other hand, ADORE the stuff and will greedily snatch it out of your hand. (When I caught the mice who had invaded my pantry, I used the same pre-buttered microwave popcorn they'd been stealing since hey, I already knew what they liked and it was ruined anyway. Caught six of the cheeky little bastards with that).
Fluffy mommy panda 2 years ago
Peanut butter works best at least that what my parents aways used.
and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 2 years ago
We use a cat, lol. But if it’s really tricksy we use peanut butter, Nutella, and those wafer cookies like a KitKat without the chocolate.
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Jan Rosier 2 years ago
Best food to attract mice into a (humane) mousetrap : chocolate. Preferrably milkchocolate with a 'praliné' (nutcream?) filling. Lived on the edge of a wood and trapped about 20 mice in 3 of 4 year's time that way.
Vicki Doggurl 2 years ago
When I raised rats, they didn’t like cheese either. Now, peanut butter- that’s a whole diffent ballgame. They adore that stuff!!!
Stephanie Adamson 2 years ago
I thought so! Also cheese dries out pretty fast out of the fridge.
ROSESARERED 2 years ago
Mice definitely like chocolate, and the foil from Easter eggs...learnt that one thanks to a nephew....blue foil confetti everywhere, and I found some bits in the carpet for years and years and....
#53
TIL about the now-extinct Stellar's sea cow, a 30 ft long sea mammal similar to a manatee which had so much blubber that its buoyancy wouldn't permit it to ever be totally submerged.
RagDollLali 2 years ago
We hunted them into extinction just a mere 30 years after we first discovered them 😔
#54
TIL NASA plans to retire the International Space Station by 2031 by crashing it into the Pacific Ocean.
Manic Mama 2 years ago
Lol. NASA doesn't have a good record. In 1979 they tried to bring Skylab down in the Indian Ocean. Instead, a good deal of it crashed into Western Australia. The WA government sent NASA a ticket for littering. NASA didn't pay it.
Monday 2 years ago
That's like saying the space shuttle was a failed project because it exploded twice. 135 successful missions vs 2 horrendous failures. Still a good record.
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Vicki Doggurl 2 years ago
Point Nemo, in the Pacific. The farthest point in any ocean from inhabited land. It’s where the space shuttle and satellite graveyard is.
#55
TIL about Pupfish, the most rare endangered fish species. They live exclusively in "Devil's Hole", a single tiny pool of water of unknown depth, roughly 90 miles NW of Las Vegas.
Anne Jones 2 years ago
There are blind white crabs in one lace like that. https://talesofodyssey.com/the-blind-white-crabs-of-lanzarote/
Kat Min 2 years ago
I've seen them. that's not even a deep hole, it's a pool. Not to swim in, just to look at but it's a small-ish shallow rock-pool with a spectacular caf/bar built around it nd lots of tourists walking past them. (I''m actually surprised that no jacka$$ has poisoned the crabs, yet, for five minutes of internet fame. You can almost touch them)
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#56
TIL We often turn the radio down or off when looking for an address to allow the brain to shift its focus to a critical task, finding the desired location.
liam newton-harding 2 years ago
This is because, no matter what others believe, the human brain can not multi-task, when it comes to conscious activities.
Michael Largey 2 years ago (edited)
But I can neglect as many simultaneous tasks as I need to. And every single one of my former employers will back me up on this.
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Mr Old School Cool 2 years ago (edited)
Multi tasking is another Stupid Management Trick employed by bad bosses.
sofacushionfort 2 years ago
I’m either bragging or stupid or both, but after watching dashcam crash videos, I don’t have the radio on when driving. Distracted drivers will do idiotic things that allow you only a split second to react. I’ve realized that everyone grooves along to the tunes, expecting fair and competent driving from others, but it’s safer to expect other drivers to be careless jerks.
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 2 years ago
Used to work with a guy who listened to podcasts all the time. He managed to wreck a company vehicle and collapse our drive in refrigerator. All I said was "So which podcast was it?"
Mia Black 2 years ago
I listen to audiobooks via Headphones all the time during Work because my hands know what to do. But If there is a more komplex Task to do, i Pause the Audiobook of course.
Load More Replies... CanadianaKa 2 years ago
Also works when you are thinking about something upsetting and you want to change the direction of your thoughts, switch radio stations.
#57
TIL 5-time world champion figure skater Michelle Kwan is the US ambassador to Belize.
David H 2 years ago (edited)
Under Nixon she became a US Diplomat including a delegate United Nations General Assembly in 1969 and led several African trade delegations to the US. Kissinger met her at an event in 1967 and was impressed with her expertise on African affairs, and recommended her to Nixon. She later was ambassador to Ghana by ford who then later moved her to Chief of Protocol of the United States which she held until Carter fired her the day after he took office, was head negotiator on several major trade treaties under Nixon and Reagan, Was to Czechoslovakia under HW Bush. She also was an officer of the California GOP back in the 60s and even had a failed run for congress in 1967. She was very active with the GOP until her death in 2014.
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#58
TIL that white dwarf stars will eventually cool to form black dwarf stars, but none yet exist because the universe is not old enough.
Matt R 2 years ago
Yes, but gives a whole new meaning to "once you go Black, you never go back."
Load More Replies... Stardust she/her 2 years ago
The black dwarves will over time either fall into a black hole or will degenerate into bits of radiation after several trillions of trillions of years
Janet Weston 2 years ago
Ok, so how do they know this ? Maybe the white stars will go pink then yellow , who knows .
#59
TIL that a cup of grape juice contains 33% more sugar than a cup of grape soda.
RedMarbles 2 years ago
Sadly there's some subterfuge in those labels. But, yes, important to look at them!
Load More Replies... Janet Weston 2 years ago
Let the grape juice ferment … it tastes better this way and after a while you don’t care about the sugar
#60
Til Texans eat pickles at the movie theater, and many are surprised to learn no one else does.
Amanda Rose 2 years ago
I grew up with this (I never really thought it odd until I went to college in a neighboring state). Texans really enjoy eating pickles anyway, doesn't matter where!
Auntie Bear 2 years ago
They used to sell big pickles at the roller skating rink when I was a kid in Oregon. I don't like dill pickles but I never thought it odd
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Alicia M 2 years ago
Some movie theaters in Indiana have a gigantic jar of dill pickles and you can buy one to snack on during your movie.
ThePersonWhoCan'tNameThemselve 2 years ago
it's an option at my theatre in utah, and quite a few people get it
#61
TIL Robert De Niro paid a dentist $5,000 to have this teeth ground down to look more menacing for Cape Fear. He later paid $20,000 to have his teeth restored once production was complete.
Chrissie Anit 2 years ago
Or stupidity. Why do that to your body if there are prosthetics?
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#62
TIL That 38% of world wide unprovoked shark attacks occur in Florida.
RagDollLali 2 years ago
I feel like any true Floridian would finish that beer first
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Thomas Bentley 2 years ago
That means that, by definition of Florida, they were not unprovoked.
Octavia Hansen 2 years ago
Maybe with that Florida lifestyle people there are just tastier . . .
Upstaged75 2 years ago (edited)
New Smyrna Beach on the East coast of FL is the shark attack capital of the world. (Most people just get bitten - not fatal attacks) It's right on an inlet, which is where sharks tend to hang out and catch fish. Plus the water can get murky, which often causes accidental bites when sharks misidentify people as their prey. You couldn't pay me to swim in that area! Most people are fine with taking their chances though. Apparently there's some great surfing in the area.
Ice Cream and OJ 2 years ago
It’s a good thing sharks don’t attack often Pretty close to not at all from what I know
Janet Weston 2 years ago
Isn’t Florida the most plastic surgery state , the sharks get confused
kaycee14 2 years ago
I once read a fascinating book about a series of shark attacks along the New Jersey shore in the early 1900s, when people first started sea bathing recreationally. In a chapter on modern shark encounters, it said that it was "not uncommon" for pilots flying over beaches to see sharks between the swimmers and the shore. NOT UNCOMMON.
Michael Largey 2 years ago
I'm surprised it's not higher. Try this math. ManyPeopleInWater + WaterClimateSuitableForSharks = ???
Fluffy mommy panda 2 years ago
Never going swimming near the places nor where that one guy got decapitated by a shark think it was the gulf of Mexico? I don't know but I was like okay.......yep.
Beck 2 years ago
The gulf of mexico (well alabama and north florida) have beautiful white sand beaches.
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#63
TIL: The pre-game military fly-overs conducted while the Star Spangled Banner plays at pro sports events is actually a planned training run for flight teams and doesn't cost "extra" as many speculate, but is already factored into the annual training budget.
Fat Harry 2 years ago
Let's not mention how weird it is that the US plays its national anthem during domestic sports matches. No one else does this, US!
Michael Largey 2 years ago
It started at baseball games during WWII, partly in response to those who thought we shouldn't be wasting resources on professional sports during a war. To this day, I imagine that there are Americans who think the last two words of the national anthem are "Play ball!".
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Michael Largey 2 years ago
Just because an expense is planned and part of the budget doesn't mean that it costs the same as all the alternatives. It costs jet fuel to get from the air base across the country to the event location, jet fuel that would not be used if the training run was done in the base's locale. The difference in cost should appear in the Public Relations budget, not the training budget.
RedMarbles 2 years ago
Yeah, saying it doesn't cost extra is just semantics. Agreed on the budget allocation.
Load More Replies... M O'Connell 2 years ago
When you think about it, this is an excellent training opportunity. The pilots must arrive in formation in precisely the right place at precisely the right time, with no do-overs.
#64
TIL that Abraham Lincoln - a fearsome wrestler as a young man - once wrestled the county champion outside the store where he worked, as the whole town looked on. When his opponent began cheating, Lincoln picked the man up and flung him to the ground, knocking him out and starting an all-out brawl.
#65
TIL Scans have revealed there’s a large unexplored void in the Great Pyramid of Giza.
censorshipsucks 2 years ago
Do not tell the British Museum. They might want to borrow whatever is in there.
and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 2 years ago
No it’s all filled with boogers and barbed wire.
Load More Replies... #66
TIL In the 1970s East Germany had a coffee shortage so they made Vietnam into a supplier. East Germany invested the equivalent of tens of millions of dollars into Vietnam in exchange for half of Vietnam's coffee harvests for 20 years. By the first harvest in 1990 East Germany was already dissolved.
sofacushionfort 2 years ago
Consumption was delayed a further few months because they forgot to order millions of those aluminum strainers that sit on top of the cup.
#67
TIL that not only is it possible to make cheese from breast milk, someone made mac and cheese with it and served it to Gordon Ramsay
Shayne Randlett 2 years ago
Gordon said it was the breast mac and cheese he had ever had. Just like Mammary used to make.
censorshipsucks 2 years ago
what, gordon ramsay? Yes he grosses me out too.
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censorshipsucks 2 years ago
TBH I find this less gross than cow milk, but that's because I've dated vegans for the last 16 years.
#68
TIL In 2012, Canadian Justin Williams assaulted and stabbed his neighbor for coming over tell him to stop yelling over a video game (World of Warcraft), he replied "it's not a game, it's my life" then grabbed and stabbed his neighbor. The neighbor lived, but now has a scar in his chest.
Corvus 2 years ago
WoW is infamous for being a very addictive game, sometimes with pretty nasty results. As a long-time gamer, I can say moderation is crucial - not just for the player, but for the people around them as well.
Mr. L 2 years ago
Remember lubba? He told you to take breaks but you never listened.
Load More Replies... #69
TIL Thomas Edison electrocuted dogs, cats, cows, horses, and an elephant in an attempt to discredit Nikola Tesla's work with AC electricity.
Saxophone 2 years ago
And my school is named after him. We even celebrate his birthday.
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RAM31280 2 years ago
They'll say awe Topsy at my autopsy, but no one will be more shocked than me.
Load More Replies... sofacushionfort 2 years ago
Topsy the elephant’s killing falsely blamed on Edison. Blame her owner for killing her for spectacle, and the audience it attracted. Her death was ten years after the Edison/Westinghouse Current Wars, and had no part in it. His only blame lies in filming the killing for additional profit
#70
TIL cholera was reintroduced to Haiti after a century by UN peacekeepers responding to the 2010 earthquake. The resulting outbreak was the worst on record, killing 10,000 and infecting 820,000.
Monday 2 years ago
Negligence. Technically accidental since they didn't mean to infect people, but it could have been avoided.
Load More Replies... Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 2 years ago
Vibrio Cholera is a nasty little beast. These outbreaks happen when your black water sewage is too close to your water supply. Because the cholera causes diarrhea, it creates a really nasty feedback loop. Emphasis on "nasty".
Jacqueline Quackenbush 2 years ago
How Is Cholera Accidentally Anything By UN Peacekeepers?? Serious Question From Quebec
Biofish23 2 years ago
Some of the workers who came to help with the earthquake aftermath were disease carriers. They most likely had mild or no symptoms when they left home .
Load More Replies... Janet Weston 2 years ago
So where did the peacekeepers come from who were testing positive to cholera come from ?
#71
TIL Terry Crews said the reason Fox didn't promote Idiocracy was because Mike Judge had companies pay for product placement and then he made them look bad (Starbucks gave out hand-jobs). The film tanked in limited release but made over 20 times its gross domestic box office revenue in DVD rentals.
SCP 4666 2 years ago
This movie should act as a warning but for some people is apparently an inspiration
Johnnynatfan 2 years ago
I felt like I was living through this movie during the Trump presidency.
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 2 years ago
IIRC Fox deliberately sabotaged the release by releasing it in the bare minimum number of theatres it was contractually obligated to. Literally about a dozen or so nationwide.
Ricardo Ferreira 2 years ago
Idiocracy, 1984 and Brave New World... begun as fiction, now they look like documentaries.
#72
TIL that in 2017 former NBA star Kevin Garnett showed up at the sentencing of his accountant Charles Banks to provide him with moral support upon his conviction for defrauding NBA star Tim Duncan of $7.5 million. Garnett later learned that Banks have also defrauded him of $77 million.
#73
TIL that Muhammad Ali insulted his British opponent Henry Cooper before their 1963 bout. Cooper proceeded to give Ali a punishing fight and knocked him down at one point. Afterwards, Ali conceded that Cooper had given him the fight of his life.
Paul C. 2 years ago
Henry Cooper was a great heavyweight boxer. His great downfall was that he had quite prominent eyebrow bones (sorry not sure of proper name) and cheekbones. This meant that he was prone to bleeding very badly despite often being ahead in fights. I believe Ali said 'the punch Cooper hit me with, he didn't just shake me. He shook my relations back in Africa. ' I had the privilege to see them fight at Arsenals ground, Highbury in 1966.
Fantastic Mr Fox 2 years ago
Looks like they had fun when they met later in life :) methode-ti...496f84.jpg 
Michael Largey 2 years ago
In the 1970s, Cooper played boxed-turned-member-of-Parliament John Gully in the movie "Royal Flash". A small part, but he was terrific.
#74
TIL that during WWII workers at the Henry Ford aircraft factory Willow Run built a staggering 8,685 B-24 bombers in three years. No one had ever manufactured airplanes on such a scale before. At its peak in 1944, it produced a B-24 every hour.
Oerff On Tour 2 years ago
At the start of production, things didn't go smoothly at all. Consolidated (the company that designed the aircraft) kept making small but significant changes to the design, while Ford tried to set up the production line. Consolidated didn't want to listen to Ford's complaints, and kept making changes. Ford had to go all the way to President Roosevelt (whom he actually despised) to freeze the design, so they could finally start series production.
#75
TIL that Neil Armstrong was the subject of a hoax claiming that he converted to Islam after hearing the call to prayer on the Moon. Despite being officially refuted, the rumor persisted partly because of the confusion between Armstrong's residence in Lebanon (Ohio) to Lebanon the country.
Oerff On Tour 2 years ago
So, schooling, especially geography, has been lousy in the US for over 50 years
#76
TIL that Mehmet II found bodies of about twenty thousand men, women, and children impaled by Vlad the Impaler when he entered Targoviste.
Casey Burns 2 years ago
The history of Vlad is pretty intense. He had to fight his own brother who was brainwashed by the enemy. His Dad never loved him as much as his brother. And he impaled people as means of fearmongering. It was his retaliation against a much much much larger army.
Julie Snelling 2 years ago
Now I know what prince Harry is gonna do next, start impaling people because his brother had a bigger bedroom and more sausages
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Wintermute 2 years ago
The accounts of Vlad's atrocities were vastly overstated. They were either made worse by his enemies to smear his reputation, or worse by his people to instill fear. I mean, he was still probably a real a*****e, but the numbers and deeds are nowhere near reliable.
censorshipsucks 2 years ago
Ah, the "good old days" when we had "traditional values". /s/ ...thank darwin for the french and the human rights movement.
#77
TIL Alexander Hamilton’s first son Philip died from a duel three years earlier near the same spot Alexander was fatally shot, using the same set of pistols.
ThePersonWhoCan'tNameThemselve 2 years ago
I knew this one. Musical's really good and surprisingly pretty accurate
Grammarly 2 years ago
I AM JUST LIKE MY COUNTRY, I'M YOUNG, SCRAPPY, AND HUNGRY, AND I AM NOT THROWING AWAY MY SHOT!!
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#78
TIL There were 121 witnesses to the JFK assassination, and 51 of them believed shots came from the grassy knoll. A further study examined 64 witnesses, with over half putting gunshots from the knoll.
patricia patricia 2 years ago
There's also research that proves you "remember" different things depending on how the question is asked.
Load More Replies... Auntie Bear 2 years ago
There can be echos that make sounds seem like they're coming from a different direction. I live just south of a high school football field and the only things south of me are a couple more blocks of houses and then open fields. Every time there is a game it sounds like it's to the south of me, but the football field is 1 block to the north. If I didn't know where the school was and was asked where the sound came from I would testify under oath that it came from the south because that's what it sounds like.
Hugh Cookson 2 years ago
Funnily enough, I've just been listening to a documentary / dramatisation about this ; v interesting if a bit conspiratory theoreretical theory based. It's on Audible ; 'CIA Rogues and the killing of the Kennedys'. It makes some valid points / opinions but I'll leave you to make your own minds up.
Kel_how 2 years ago
My American History professor in college did a whole week and a half discussing JFK assassination theories. It was very convoluted and strange, but entertaining nonetheless. Our final contained a question about what we thought happened based on the evidence.
Load More Replies... M O'Connell 2 years ago
From the 6th floor of the Texas School Book Depository building.
Load More Replies... Jennifer Snyder 2 years ago
And many of those witnesses went on to have suspicious “accidents”.
#79
TIL the Pulitzer Prize winning book of poetry in 2014 sold less than 400 copies
Powerful Katrinka 2 years ago
"3 Sections, by Vijay Seshadri (Graywolf Press) A compelling collection of poems that examine human consciousness, from birth to dementia, in a voice that is by turns witty and grave, compassionate and remorseless." https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/vijay-seshadri
Vera Diblikova 2 years ago
Who read Salman Rushdie´s books? I read one, not the whole. Very complicated, not much amusing.
#80
TIL Because passenger airflights aren’t covered by the ADA, wheelchairs can’t be brought onboard. They are regularly returned damaged to their users, who depend on staff for everything from boarding, to using the bathroom, to departing.
Amanda Rose 2 years ago
I use a wheelchair now and I dread having to travel by plane with it so I'm always declining trips. Those things are heavy and expensive (my wheelchair weighs over 60 pounds and that is with some of the features removed).
#81
TIL that in 1988 with the 1,390th pick, the Dodger's drafted Mike Piazza because the manager of the team owed a favor to Piazza's father. Piazza ended up playing in the league for 16 years and is regarded as one of the best offensive catchers in baseball history.
Anne Jones 2 years ago
Did he make him an offer he can’t refuse? (Ding ding ding ding…Godfather music 🎶🎵
#82
TIL the Irish Potato Famine, an agricultural disaster that occurred between 1840 and 1850, resulted in over one million deaths and another million emigrants leaving the country.
Scout Finch 2 years ago
But the Choctow nation sent them money. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/05/world/coronavirus-ireland-native-american-tribes.html
LK 2 years ago
That's not the whole picture. The potato blight was prevalent all across Europe. However, in Ireland (at that point part of the UK of Great Britain and Ireland) food was flowing out of Ireland, and relief from Parliament was stopped. Parliament also refused to ban food from being shipped out of Ireland. People were unable to access aid from the poorhouses if they owned 1/4 of land. There was a problem with potatoes, but the famine was the result of rich Parliamentarians who refused to help.
Biofish23 2 years ago
The potato blight was only disastrous because the English literary would not let the Irish eat anything else. The English land owners continued EXPORTING food from Ireland, and parliament banned most aid from being shipped in. The death of a million Irish was viewed as a good thing by many of the English in power.
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 2 years ago
And the population of Ireland still hasn't recovered. There were more Irish people in Ireland before the famine than there are today almost two centuries later.
sofacushionfort 2 years ago
In response, a US political party secretly formed to oppose the immigrants: the “Know-Nothing” Party. Nonetheless, the cheap labor the Irish provided, and the reliable voting blocks they created made them irresistible to the US. Nobody complains about the Irish Americans anymore (except the Irish)
Jacqueline Quackenbush 2 years ago
Can Someone Please Clear This Up: I've Always Thought That Immigrants Enter Countries Other Than Their Own While Emigrants Move Around Within Their Own Country
Colin 2 years ago
You immigrate to a new place. You emigrate from your existing place.
Load More Replies... Hugh Cookson 2 years ago
Bizarrely for a country surrounded by water (hence, fish /seaweed / shellfish), very few resorted to eating fish .... or many, many of the other foodstuffs that were available ..... just saying.
#83
TIL that depleted Uranium is used to create projectiles capable of puncturing tank shells and armor. This is not only because it is extremely dense, but also because upon impact, a uranium shell will continually sharpen itself and retain its shape.
pebs 2 years ago (edited)
Yes, and it causes ilness and deaths in soldiers and civilians who have contact with it.
SilverIsGold 2 years ago (edited)
Added bonus! (I'm not kidding about that, that's another use of them)
Load More Replies... and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 2 years ago
“and then the 67th little pig built a house out of depleted uranium. And the wolf was like, “dude.”” —xkcd (what if?)
#84
TIL about Ken Fritz, an audiophile that spent close to 30 years developing in his home what he and others consider the worlds greatest stereo sound system and listening room that boasts 35,000 watts, nine-foot-tall speakers, and a 1,500-pound turntable.
#85
TIL the B-2/Stealth Bomber costs $135,000 for every hour of flight time.
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 2 years ago
That can't be per hour. I chose an extreme example. 747s are very thirsty but using specific fuel consumption of 1g/s and a fuel price of $3.00 per gallon, which is the approximate price on this exact day today, you're only only looking at around 1/4-1/3 that.
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CHRIS DOMRES 2 years ago
Procurement cost of each bomber was $937 million. Does not make sense to risk sending a bomber that cost $927 million to take out a building that cost $100 million.
#86
TIL that 1.3 million Americans have a Top Secret security clearance.
Ruth Cromer 2 years ago
That doesn’t mean you have access to anything you want. Everything is on a need to know basis. Many people with clearance never even learn anything classified - they need clearance in case they happen to run across anything accidentally - like installing software on a computer used by someone working on classified info who accidentally left a tab open.
EJBWritesBooks 2 years ago (edited)
Top secret to what? I technically have "top secret" clearance at a lab, but I was an unpaid intern whose job was to hold up test tubes and sit by a hotplate to make sure nothing goes bang. Top secrecy is kind of relative without context.
Alicia M 2 years ago (edited)
Let them have it. I wouldn't want it. My husband applied for a job that would have required giving him security clearance, and it involved extensive background checks into every aspect of his life, and I'm just not comfortable with that level of personal intrusion.
Swoo 2 years ago
Well, "Americans" would cover all of northern, central and southern America, wouldn't it? That's a lot of people
Alicia M 2 years ago
I don't know why you were down voted for pointing out something that happens all the time. There are multiple Americas, and those of us in the USA use it as if we are the only people it applies to. I don't see a problem in pointing that out.
Load More Replies... #87
TIL Chile and Argentina have a greater percentage white population than that of Canada and the U.S.
#88
TIL restaurants can lose their Michelin star(s). If there is an inconsistency and things become less than satisfactory in an awarded restaurant, Michelin stars can be taken away. Gordon Ramsay once equated losing his Michelin stars in 2014 to breaking up with a girlfriend.
Oerff On Tour 2 years ago
There are about dozens of chefs who actually refused or returned their Michelin Star, in order to get their freedom of creativity back. A Michelin Star freezes your menu for a minimum of 4 months
Casey Burns 2 years ago
A chef committed suicide over losing a Michelin star. It's very sad indeed.
Swoo 2 years ago
It was over the POSSIBILITY of losing that star! The restaurant lost the star after his death (wich is customary)
Load More Replies... François Bouzigues 2 years ago
Indeed. It is an awful lot of preassure just to keep your michelin star(s). If you have the opportunity to try one michelin restaurant, there is definetely something else to it.
#89
TIL Tony Sampson, the voice of Eddy from "Ed, Edd n Eddy," was threatened with a blacklist after he asked for a small raise. After the show ended in 2009 he retired from voice acting and now works in the Canadian oil industry.
#90
TIL that the “n” in 7-ELEVEn is lowercase because the company president’s wife thought the all-caps was too harsh and, with a lowercase letter, the logo looked more graceful.
Mat O'Dowd 2 years ago
That woman was right and thought outside the box. I never noticed before reading this, and after checking it, it makes sense.
#91
TIL the ice cream truck jingle most Americans grew up with was used in minstrel shows, so RZA (of Wu-Tang Clan) created a new, publicly-available ice cream jingle.
Vermontah 2 years ago
The jingle our neighborhood ice cream truck was Small world after all. aaaahhhh
Dodo 2 years ago
Yeah that's not the only title it has. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_in_the_Straw (and one is considered the most racist song title in the US)
Load More Replies... Olive Harper 2 years ago
Being a farm kid we never saw the ice cream truck. For a while I kinda thought they were a thing of the past
#92
TIL of the Carolina Parakeet, which was once native to the US and went extinct in the 1910s. It lived as far north as New York and Wisconsin and as far west as Colorado.
Johnnynatfan 2 years ago
It breaks my heart as an American living in in the eastern US that I missed out on seeing them.
SkyBlueandBlack 2 years ago
If it helps, we do have flocks of feral parrots in California. I mean, that's what we call them, but they're parrots, parakeets, cockatiels, etc. Their ancestors were escaped pets, and now they just... flock around.
Load More Replies... #93
TIL Ronald Reagan would eat jelly beans to help him quit smoking. He had over 300 thousand jelly beans shipped to the White House each month, he would give them away to visitors and staff regularly. His favorite flavor was black licorice and there are special "Jelly Belly Ronald Reagan" packs.
Fluffy mommy panda 2 years ago
Well what ever works is what you need. Glad he could stop. It hard.
Michael Largey 2 years ago
It was the only kind of black that was welcome in the Oval Office. (During his eight years as president, Reagan refused to meet with a single civil rights leader.)
Justin Trouble 2 years ago
That guy was scum, wish he died from smoking before he ruined this country, also hope hell is real and he's getting tortured daily, scum bag.
SilverIsGold 2 years ago
Really? You're getting whiny over a dead president from last century and you want him to go to hell. If anything, you're the scum.
Load More Replies... #94
TIL of Operation Babylift, a US-led evacuation of children from Vietnam during the Vietnam War for adoption in America, Canada, Australia, and Europe. The very first flight crashed shortly after takeoff and killed 78 children.
Monday 2 years ago
Apparently the locks on the cargo door failed [they had been stripped for parts and just couldn't engage properly anymore] and it opened, causing an explosive decompression. The result blowout severed a bunch of cables and the pilots lost half the hydraulics, the rudder and the elevator. The pilots tried to make an emergency landing but lost control and the plane crashed, broke into pieces and caught fire. There were 176 survivors though.
Sofia 2 years ago
I've seen that on the tv show about air-crashes investigations
Load More Replies... #95
TIL Lou Pai was a senior executive at Enron who, after having an affair with a stripper, to satisfy his divorce settlement, cashed out $250 million of his Enron stock just before the company's stock price collapsed and it filed for bankruptcy protection.
#96
TIL Manuel Noriega was a real person, a former dictator who sued Activision over using him in the game Call of Duty Black Ops II without his knowing and as a villain. He lost the case.
Katy Cordeth 2 years ago
Wasn't he known as 'pineapple face' or something because of his severely pockmarked skin?
Colin 2 years ago
Add Guns'N'Roses and Van Halen to your equation. The story is wild.
Load More Replies... Katie Lutesinger 2 years ago
"I'm sorry things didn't work out - George can be so stubborn when he thinks he's right! It's just like the Noriega thing. Now he and George are the best of friends!" (This was literally the first time I ever heard the guy's name.)
#97
TIL While filming Monty Python & The Holy Grail (1975), Graham Chapman developed delirium tremens (DTs) from lack of alcohol on set. DTs can be fatal even with treatment and typically only affect habitual drinkers who consume 0.5L of liquor or 7-8 pints of beer daily for 10 years or more.
Mike1228 2 years ago
DTs are NOT fatal. What IS fatal with alcohol withdrawal is the possibility of withdrawal seizures that result in falls, accidents, etc. Very common misconception.
CP 2 years ago
I believe alcohol is the only drug you can die from when you stop taking it.
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Jordi Sharpe 2 years ago
At his worst, he went through about 4 pints of gin *a day*. Graham was a doctor. He knew what he was doing to his body. His autobiography is incredible, I highly recommend it.
Powerful Katrinka 2 years ago
He got sober in 1977, and had 12 years of sobriety when he died.
Hobby Hopper 2 years ago
Don't get me wrong, I love my beer, but sometimes even 2 makes me feel ill if I haven't had enough water. I can't imagine 7-8 pints daily.
#98
TIL Warren Buffett bought Berkshire Hathaway purely out of spite. In the 60s it was a failing textiles company which he wanted to sell his stake in. When its president lowballed him, he bought the whole company just to fire him. In 2010, he said it was the biggest investment mistake he ever made.
#99
TIL that drinking a four-ounce shot of vanilla extract is equivalent to doing four shots of vodka
nancy 2 years ago
One shot = one ounce.... so a 4 ounce shot would be equal to 4 shots. Am I wrong? So it could be said that drinking one shot of vanilla is equal to one shot of vodka?
Fluffy mommy panda 2 years ago
Wow not shore if that's good or bad I know straight up vanilla has a taste of its own......
Christa Cope 2 years ago
yes but have you ever tasted vanilla extract by itself? it is not as good as it smells!
Ashla Delana 2 years ago
Yuck! I tend to lick stuff that drips onto my fingers while baking, and learned that vanilla extract tastes worse than beer, which is already bitter and disgusting. Never doing that again
Load More Replies... Powerful Katrinka 2 years ago
I'm an addiction counsellor, and quite a few of our patients got their alcohol from vanilla extract. One medium sized bottle is enough to get someone very drunk. It's an expensive way to get alcohol, so most users who drink it are trying to hide their addiction.
Anne Jones 2 years ago
Equivalent in what way? Sugar content? Or does the body make vanilla into alcohol? I need answers!
SkinnyMini 2 years ago (edited)
Vanilla extract contains alcohol. Legally for it to be considered vanilla extract it must have an alcohol content of 35%
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censorshipsucks 2 years ago
four-ounce shot?? how is 4 ounces a shot?? that's like 120mL, or about half a glass.
censorshipsucks 2 years ago
ok so apparently they mean the alcohol-dissolved flavourant, in which case you are just getting hammered by the alcohol, so... not suprising at all.
Load More Replies... #100
TIL about badge engineering, which is the practice of marketing a vehicle under 2 or more brand names. A good example being the 2010 Ford Escape, Mercury Mariner, & Mazda Tribute, shown here.
Spocks's Mom 2 years ago
This has been happening since almost the beginning of the Auto industry.
BRUSSEL SPROUT PANDA 2 years ago
Like the GMC Envoy and the Chevy Trailblazer. Or the GMC Sierra and the Chevy Silverado.
Francesa Miller 2 years ago
I had a Chevy LUV truck that was an Isuzu in disguise. The carburetor label was printed in Japanese.
Scott Crowe 2 years ago
Had a Ford Probe and the parts were always listed as Ford/Mazda. Also one of the best and most dependable cars I ever owned.
BasedWang12.7 2 years ago
timeout....... people didn't know this? I mean I didn't know there was a name for it, but cmon now.
censorshipsucks 2 years ago (edited)
yep, I believe renaults and nissans are the same thing on the inside. In SA we had mazda, ford and mitsubishi as well I believe, which marketed a standard car with different logos. Also vauxhall and opel.
#101
TIL that when JFK was shot in the head, doctors gave him a blood transfusion in an attempt to save him.
What do you think ?
censorshipsucks 2 years ago
Some of these made me roll my eyes. I dread reading BP in ten years: "TIL that USA has had one black american president and he served two terms!!!!"
wowbagger 2 years ago
Yeah, I thought TIL was for interesting trivia, not basic knowledge you just learned in your 8th grade history class.
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ConstantlyJon 2 years ago
I actually learned some things in this thread and it wasn't the same TILs posted ad nauseum on this site. Thank you! Based on the other comments, I best not click to read the original 101 images.
and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 2 years ago
TIL that a full can of whipped cream is terrible for digestion. …I regret nothing.
Talitha Jansen 2 years ago
A nineteen year old van walk back to get help, or stay with the dog. It doesn't say the son of the friend was injured, only that the owner had to consider him. A nineteen year old is an adult and therefore doesn't need more help than a dog depending on the owner. The dog was more needing of help.
Ansi 2 years ago
Today someone might learn that George Takei, Sulu in Star Trek, was as a child imprisoned with his family for years in a Japanese internment camp. As a lot of US citizens (with japanese ancestry) they were taken from their homes by soldiers, only allowed to take what they could carry and shipped to camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbour in fear of that US citizens with japanese heritage would have loyalty to Japan. Not all of them was full citizens but this was about 120.000 people.
censorshipsucks 2 years ago
Some of these made me roll my eyes. I dread reading BP in ten years: "TIL that USA has had one black american president and he served two terms!!!!"
wowbagger 2 years ago
Yeah, I thought TIL was for interesting trivia, not basic knowledge you just learned in your 8th grade history class.
Load More Replies... ConstantlyJon 2 years ago
I actually learned some things in this thread and it wasn't the same TILs posted ad nauseum on this site. Thank you! Based on the other comments, I best not click to read the original 101 images.
and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 2 years ago
TIL that a full can of whipped cream is terrible for digestion. …I regret nothing.
Talitha Jansen 2 years ago
A nineteen year old van walk back to get help, or stay with the dog. It doesn't say the son of the friend was injured, only that the owner had to consider him. A nineteen year old is an adult and therefore doesn't need more help than a dog depending on the owner. The dog was more needing of help.
Ansi 2 years ago
Today someone might learn that George Takei, Sulu in Star Trek, was as a child imprisoned with his family for years in a Japanese internment camp. As a lot of US citizens (with japanese ancestry) they were taken from their homes by soldiers, only allowed to take what they could carry and shipped to camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbour in fear of that US citizens with japanese heritage would have loyalty to Japan. Not all of them was full citizens but this was about 120.000 people.
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