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“Today I Learned”: 50 Curious Things About The World People Didn’t Learn At School (New Posts)
With over 28.6 million members, this Reddit community is not your regular subreddit. Rather, it’s the internet’s beloved powerhouse that celebrates knowledge, curiosity, and intelligence.
By sharing something new to learn every single day, if not hour, Today I Learned has gained a following that keeps Reddit alive and gives our daily browsing the added value we crave.
So this time, we wrapped up a new batch of intriguing tidbits, surprising facts, and little-known bits of history to pour some brain stimuli into our feeds. Pull your seats closer, get your notebooks ready, and enjoy the TIL world right below!
Psst! More of TIL goodness awaits in our previous posts here, here, and here.
To find out more about the benefits of learning new things every day and ways to nurture our curiosity through life, Bored Panda reached out to Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, the CEO of Disaster Avoidance Experts and best-selling author of seven books, including a global bestseller Never Go With Your Gut: How Pioneering Leaders Make the Best Decisions and Avoid Business Disasters. Scroll down to find out what he said!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
TIL Rip was a stray dog adopted by an Air Raid Patrol in WW2. Although not trained for rescue work, he sniffed out over 100 victims trapped beneath buildings. He was awarded the Dickin medal for his work, which has been held partially responsible for prompting the training of search and rescue dogs.
ALEXANDER DALE 3 years ago
The bestest boy of them all. (Incorrect grammar on purpose).
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UpupaEpops 3 years ago
One of the coolest part of our jobs (at least for me) as a SAR handler is to see the immediate change in our dog's behaviour when they see us put on our uniform or their working harness comes out. It doesn't matter if it's a goofball, a little old man, a sage or a total sloth. The change is instant and you can just see them put their game face on and go into work mode. They are some of the most amazing friends and colleagues you will ever meet and I can't tell you how honoured and humbled I am to have been a handler.
Fluffy mommy panda 3 years ago
What a great hero. I hope he will be forever remember. I did not know about him. So I am happy I know about him. Thank you
RELATED:
#2
TIL Ireland limits taxation on writers, artist, composers, painters, etc. for their contribution to culture
JMil 3 years ago
In the US we limit taxes on the super wealthy for their contribution to..... Uhhhhhh.... What's the reason again?
Tacet 3 years ago
In France there's special financial assistance for artists, in Norway if you publish a book in Norwegian the government will buy 1000 copies.
Colin Timp 3 years ago
Now if we could get them to tax other businesses we could bring jobs back to the US. Big Pharma uses Ireland as a loophole to avoid tax. It works like this: You headquarter the business in the U.S. However you manufacture all product under a subsidiary in Ireland. The U.S. side over-pays for the production of the product so that the amount of money they're left with is just enough to cover their costs; leaving no net profit for the company and no tax. The production facility takes their costs and all the profits are then sent to the "patent holder," which is usually a lawyer's office in the Cayman Islands and the money is deposited in a numbered account. No tax.
Brazen 3 years ago
They definitely need to change those laws. That's awful.
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Irish woman abroad 3 years ago
They used to pay no tax, as far as I know, to encourage them to come to Ireland!
Ange Roy 3 years ago
And Ireland also tax the sh*t out of the middle class who currently struggles like hell to make ends meet. It also offers artists who are "unemployed" social payments higher than for those who have worked. I am a writer so I am not spitting on the work artists put into their crafts, just saying that there shouldn't be special treatments.
Tracey Loyd 3 years ago
ALL nations should do the same. And stop allowing churchs to avoid paying taxes. Too many multimillionaire evangelicals out there.
#3
TIL that scientists trying to study birds in Australia fitted them with tracking harnesses, and the birds helped each other take the harnesses off.
Grant Barke 3 years ago
Well they tried to learn something, but the birds had other plans.
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Tommi Ann Raines 3 years ago
I remember this..one devise was trickier to remove so a couple more birds joined in and they had it off in like 7 minutes
Connie Martin 3 years ago
Having done NO research whatsoever, I believe this. Survival of the species is paramount, birds are smart, and they know harnesses will slow them down and make them use more energy
Dr. Tsipursky explained that one of the most important ways that people's personalities differ from each other is a category called "openness to experience." According to him, it describes people who are more open to learning and trying out new things in life.
“Openness to experience is one of the ‘big five’ personality traits that research shows fundamentally differentiate people from each other,” Dr. Tsipursky said. “The five personality traits are: openness to experience (inventive/curious vs. consistent/cautious); conscientiousness (efficient/organized vs. extravagant/careless); extraversion (outgoing/energetic vs. solitary/reserved); agreeableness (friendly/compassionate vs. critical/rational); neuroticism (sensitive/nervous vs. resilient/confident).”
#4
TIL during a preview of the Sistine Chapel paintings, one of the Pope's men criticized all the "disgraceful" nudity. So Michaelangelo painted the critic's likeness into the Last Judgement, wearing nothing but a snake that's biting his d**k.
BG 3 years ago
All of his figures looked like that, even women and babies.
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Pirates of Zen Pants 3 years ago
I like how the guy on the left is thinking, "OK, this is hell, but surely the d**k-biting snake is TOO MUCH."
King Arthur 3 years ago
Why is it censored? Want to see this famous image just go to Wikipedia and search Biagio Martinelli.
wenzday mary 3 years ago
Donkey ears for "foolishness" so says wikipedia!
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Fried Mermaid 3 years ago
In almost all of Michelangelo's work we can see his pettiness, it's glorious hahaha
Yvonne Blau 3 years ago
I want to know if this critic noticed it... and what his reaction was :D
Dee 3 years ago
Accordingly to Wikipedia he did notice and complained to the pope who joked about his jurisdiction not extending to hell and the painting would stay as it was.
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#5
TIL Queen guitarist Brian May uses banjo strings on his electric guitars. Banjo strings are much lighter (thinner) and can bend much easier, making that signature Queen sound.
Caro Caro 3 years ago
HERE I AM.... OMG I must have scrolled too fast. Instead of Love of my life I will start with "Don't stop me now". 'Cause I'm having a good time.... haaaaahaha
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Mario Strada 3 years ago
Since we are doing trivia, the guitar Brian May always plays was built by him and his father and I can't remember if he ever played a different guitar.
M C K 3 years ago
Yes, they built it out of wood from their fireplace. Extraordinary.
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SealOfDisapproval 3 years ago
The sound has more to do with the sixpence coins he uses for picks.
Lori Rommel 3 years ago
I'd think the switch to banjo strings would have a more pronounced effect on the sound than using sixpence (or any other) coins for picks. I'm going to have to find a set of banjo strings to see what happens.
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#6
TIL that in Laguna, Brazil, bottlenose dolphins actively herd fish towards local fishermen and then signal with tail slaps for the fishermen to throw their nets. This collaboration has been occurring since at least 1847.
kasa alex 3 years ago
Something similar happened in the old whaling town of Eden, South Coast NSW, Australia. Between 1840 and 1930, Orcas (Killer Whales) helped herd the much larger Baleen Whales into the bay where the humans would finish them off. The humans would then share some of the catch with the Orcas (lips and tongue)
Tommi Ann Raines 3 years ago
Too bad the humans weren’t tossed to the whales
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Monday 3 years ago
Easier prey. It's much easier to catch a fish that's trapped between you and a fisherman than a fish that's swimming freely. The herd the fish into the nets and just snap up as many as they want.
Load More Replies... Amy Stone-Chandler 3 years ago
I wish we had dolphins here to push fish towards me when I need to fill my freezer for winter :)
Pam Akers 3 years ago
So long and thanks for the fish. From Hitchhiker of the Galaxy novel.
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TrippyBanana 3 years ago
There are shrimp fishermen in, I want to say, North Carolina that have fitted their nets to allow bycatch to escape as they haul up their nets, and the dolphins have learned to exploit the nets waiting for fish to come out.
Tracey Loyd 3 years ago
Cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises etc) are all large brain mammals that have the potential to be much smarter than us. Just saying....
The book author claims that openness to experience, just like the other big five personality traits, is a range, not a binary. “Some people are highly curious, some people are moderately curious, some people are not at all curious. You can see this in toddlers - some like to run around and explore their environment, and others sit in the corner and play with blocks.”
#7
TIL that 65% of cancer survivors surveyed by 'war on cancer' said that they had been ghosted by friends or family after their diagnosis.
2x4b523p 3 years ago
When my friend was diagnosed with cancer (brain tumors) her fiance left her. When she got all clear he came back and she married him. I still can’t stand his face.
troufaki13 3 years ago
Why would she marry him? He is a walking red flag who would get up and leave when things are tough. I really hope she made a good decision
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Katie Lutesinger 3 years ago
When my mother had cancer her co-workers sent over containers of homecooked food to stock up the freezer and volunteered to pick us kids up from school, and relatives as far away as the UK sent so many flowers our house looked like a florist's shop for a while. So at least not everyone is this heartless. (Mum made a full recovery, and twenty years later she's still alive and well. :) )
Chich 3 years ago
Yep, been there. On the other hand I had a few people come out of the blue that I hadn't seen in a long time or was just passing aquainted with.
Irish woman abroad 3 years ago
Yeah, basically it's times like these that really show you who your friends are.
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Mr.Kris 3 years ago
This happened to me! I was diagnosed with cancer many years ago & suddenly everyone just disappeared. It was something I was completely unprepared for & got so bad I stopped telling people- even family! To this day I still say that the physical aspect of going through treatment & many surgery was not as hard (for me) as was the emotional aspect of having no one for support.
UpupaEpops 3 years ago
I am so sorry people suck so much. Here's a virtual hug if you'd like one!
Load More Replies... Upsidedowndemoness 3 years ago
Mom didn't have cancer but when she died of lupus complications I was livid how many people just seemed to forget she existed until they read the obit and wrote us long, gushing sympathy letters. Yeah, but where were you when she was still here to hear those things? I have the disease myself and I notice when people disappear. Happens way more than before I got sick. Some people just suck.
Madeleine 3 years ago
It happened to my mother with cancer. One of her closest friends basically disappeared until the funeral.
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Mistiekim 3 years ago
Maybe it’s because people don’t want to be reminded it can happen to them, they can’t get over the different appearance, or maybe they are cutting ties prematurely so it doesn’t hurt so much if a friend goes to soon. Whatever the “reason”, it’s showing you are only thinking about you and how you feel. So you aren’t a friend after all.
KimB 3 years ago
My favorite teacher in high school's husband divorced her and gave up custody of their 3 year old son when she was diagnosed. She ended up passing away from a heart attack 3 years later he showed up at her funeral I could have punched him in the face!
K Y 3 years ago
It is extremely common for a male to abandon his wife when she becomes sick and unable to keep doing everything for him. Suddenly he can't sit around all day with a live-in maid and babysitter, he can't handle it, and he bounces. It's pathetic.
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Mario Strada 3 years ago
This is very normal, unfortunately. In 2000 I was diagnosed with liver disease and in need of a transplant. Amazing how quickly friends melted away. To be fair, it's something out of most people's experience and most don't know how to deal with it. They are not malicious, but prefer "easier" friendships.
CatFist 3 years ago
I agree. I also wanted to say this. "Ghosting" implies a deliberateness, whereas I think people largely just don't know what to do and so end up doing nothing by default. Similar things happen after bereavements, sadly.
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Cathy Lemay 3 years ago
That's so wrong. My spouse just had surgery for prostate cancer. I cannot imagine not taking care of him. He's exhausted,sore,peeing and scared. I get mad when I hear of people deserting a loved one over this.
#8
TIL that in 2013 a climber found a box full of rubies, sapphires, and emeralds on a remote glacier on Mont Blanc. Authorities determined they were likely from an Indian plane that crashed there in 1966 and gave the climber half the gems (worth $169,000) to reward his honesty in turning them in.
Adam Jeff 3 years ago
The story of the crash (or rather, crashes) is interesting too. The 'Malabar Princess' was an Indian chartered plane that went down on Mont Blanc in 1950. Due to bad weather and the inaccessible location, it was impossible to recover most of the wreckage, which was simply lost into the glacier. Now the spooky part: 16 years later, another Indian plane goes down in almost the exact same spot. Again, the wreckage is largely lost. Casualties of the second crash included a high-level scientist in the Indian nuclear program, spawning a number of conspiracy theories alleging CIA or Pakistani involvement in the crash.
Adam Jeff 3 years ago
Due to the movement of the glacier, parts occasionally pop out on the surface and are spotted by alpinists. As well as the jewels, there has been an engine, several perfectly readable Indian newspapers from the day if the crash, mailbags, a diplomatic pouch (which was returned to India unopened) and human remains. Some of the mail that was found was successfully delivered, many years late, which is mentioned as a minor plot point in the film Amelie.
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Josh Lindberg 3 years ago
Gave the climber half the gems or stole half the gems from the climber
Bittu Kumar 3 years ago
The same plan crash had killed one of the star Nuclear Scientists of India Dr Homi Bhabhi so there was this conspiracy angle is also involved here
Adam Jeff 3 years ago
The original owner was never identified. The money was split between the finder and the local authority.
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Arlen Freeman 3 years ago
It's the right thing to do. It would be very difficult and suspicious trying to cash them in with consent of the authorities.
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#9
TIL the New Zealand army helped in making the LOTR films by filling as Soldiers and Orcs
Nathaniel 3 years ago
This is just blatant racism, why didn't the LOTR crew hire the local Orc population?
Apatheist 62 3 years ago
Allegedly, they wanted them all to be over 6ft tall to play the Uruk-Hai, but there weren't enough. The shorter ones were nicknamed "Uruk-Low".
Demongrrrrl 3 years ago
Also, there weren't enough horsemen to play the mounted soldiers, most of them are women..
Rachel Malkoski 3 years ago
It wasn't that there were not enough men, but rather the horses being rented were owned by women. The owners were the better choice.
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Kevin Felton 3 years ago
Yeah that was in all the documentaries. On Viggo Mortensen's last day of filming a lot of them came together and preformed a Haka
When asked how we stay curious throughout life and what are the benefits of it, Dr. Tsipursky said that probably about half of our tendencies to be open to experience come from our genes, and half comes from our life experience and self-improvement efforts.
“That means we can learn to make better decisions when we shape our own personal openness to experience. In the modern world, it pays to be more open to experience than our intuitions suggest. Our intuitions are wired for the ancient savanna, when it was much more dangerous for our survival to be curious than it is right now,” he explained and added that “we should be more curious and stay more open to experience than our intuitions suggest.”
#10
TIL: Researchers in Botswana ran an experiment to reduce lion attacks in cows. They painted large eyes on the cow backsides. After several years, they showed fewer (zero) attacks on the eye-butt cows vs unpainted cows (15).
Nathaniel 3 years ago (edited)
Jungle residing villagers often wear masks on the back of their head, to ward off tiger attacks. Predators approach from the rear, if you have a face front and back, the predator is confused.
Jihana 3 years ago
When we were children we heard that birds won't attack snails if they had painted on eyes. So my brother and I spent every summer in our grandmas garden painting eyes on snails. Almost ten years later we still found snails or shells with the painted on eyes.
Load More Replies... Colin Timp 3 years ago (edited)
Cats are ambush predators. If you ever come face to face with a mountain lion, DO NOT turn your back, even to run. Just back away.
UpupaEpops 3 years ago
Genius idea. Eyspots are a form of mimicry often employed in the animal kingdom. Most notably on butterflies and fish, but you can find it on reptiles and birds as well. If it works for them, it was a sensible idea to give it a try as it's an inexpensive and non-invasive anti-predator system.
Creature Cargeaux 3 years ago
Cool can we now stop poisoning lions then? Cause.... that's what ranchers do. They put out poisoned meat & kill the lions. It's horrible.
Pieter LeGrande 3 years ago
Doesn't work with magpies. Tie a mask on the back of your bike helmet and they'll still attack. Does that make magpies smarter than lions?
cecilia kilian 3 years ago
Magpies, like crows and ravens, are corvidae, and act on facial recognition. If you are nice to them, they will remember you, and not act in unkindness.
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Kristin Rock Lane 3 years ago
I am trying to figure out how to incorporate the term "eye-butt cows" into daily conversation as it is far too good of a term to fade away...
Jake Lewis 3 years ago
This explains the evolutionary development of the Butt-Eyed Botswanan Wildebeest. The most feared prey of the savanna.
#11
TIL Quaternary Twins are when two babies are both cousins and genetically siblings. This happens when two identical sisters have children with two identical brothers.
Meraj 3 years ago
Apparently the two families in the picture above live in the same house together.
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Phryne 3 years ago
I'm pretty sure I read that that has happened...and both sets of the kids were the same gender (I think all four were boys).
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$cagsy 3 years ago
If you were an identical twin, you would have to pretend to be each other for a bit of fun wouldn't you?
Jamilah toenailkilla 3 years ago
I'm an identical twin. Your partner definitely can tell the difference
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Rosy Maple Moth 3 years ago
Here are more pics of the Salyers family: https://people.com/human-interest/salyers-family-photos-pictures-of-identical-twins-who-married-identical-twins-and-their-kids/
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KK Thomas 3 years ago
Yep. I am an identical twin and my nieces are listed as my children on Ancestry.com. My son is listed under my twin’s profile as her son.
Pizzagirl 91 3 years ago
Can you correct those "mistakes"? Would be confusing in the long run...
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Dawn Duckworth 3 years ago
At a company picnic (which did invite family), I walked up to my friend Misha and started talking. You looked at me and started giggling. She say ' I think your looking for Thing 1. I'm Thing 2.'. She then points behind me, where Misha was sitting with her daughter. NO FLIPPING CLUE SHE HAD AN IDENTICAL TWIN.
R 3 years ago
Something similar happened to me. I was driving down town, the weather was warm and I had my windows open. I stopped at a pedestrian crossing and saw a friend from work crossing in front of me. I waved and shouted, hi, out of the window. He looked at me as though he didn't know me. I was confused. My passenger laughed as she believed he didn't know me. He stalled before stepping up onto the sidewalk and said, you must know x, we are identical twins. He walked off laughing. Spoke to x the next day at work. He confirmed, he's a twin. Apparently it happened often as we lived in a small city in the Midwest.
Load More Replies... #12
TIL that Albert Göring, Hermann Göring's Brother, was opposed to Nazism, and helped Jews and others who were persecuted escape Nazi Germany. He died in 1966 never having received recognition for his actions.
Izzy Curer 3 years ago (edited)
Yesterday, I learned that Hitler's half brother owned and operated a tea shop.
Lea Panthera 3 years ago
Hitler should've been more like his brother. I bet he heard that a thousand times over from relatives.
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The Scout 3 years ago
He got away with his multiple acts of resistance as not only was he Hermann Göring's brother, but also a notable businessman and a decorated WW1 heroe. When the SS forced the jewish inhabitants of Vienna to scrub the sidewalks on their knees as a humiliation, he is said to have spontanously joined them, which caused the SS officer in charge to abandon the operation, as he did not want to mess with Hermann Göring's brother. He also got multiple people out of jail. The Gestapo arrested him more than once, but his brother always got him out.
Analyn Lahr 3 years ago
He probably didn't do it for future recognition, he did it because it was the right to do. I imagine but I don't want to put words in his mouth. Still, why don't we know more about him? We should learn about him at the same time as his d**k brother.
Mosheh Wolf 3 years ago
William Patrick Stuart-Houston - Hitler's half-nephew. Fought in the US Navy in WWII, received a Purple Heart.
Geoffrey Hebel 3 years ago
Awhile back I learned that Hitler's descendants have refused to have kids so his bloodline dies
J. Emery Anderson 3 years ago
Hitler's half brother (Alois?) changed his name in the late 30's, moved to the US, lived and worked on Long Island and from 1945 on collected royalties on Mein Kampf until he passed away in the 1980s.
Tracey Loyd 3 years ago
That's kinda sad. But he obviously didn't seek recognition and likely was content in life anyway. After all he did some good in his life and how many of us can say the same?
Many people feel a loss of motivation to explore new things as they age. “Research shows that teenagers are most comfortable with uncertainty, and become less comfortable as they become young adults,” Dr. Tsipursky said.
He continued: “And we become less and less comfortable with uncertainty as we age. We are evolved to be more exploration-oriented when young and when we are finding our place in the world, but our hormones change to cause us to be more oriented toward settling down and seeking comfort and certainty once we are older and find our place in life.”
#13
TIL the 1993 Chinese film, "An Old Man and his Dog" was banned in its native country for decades due to the discovery that the dog trainer and body double to the lead actor was a serial killer who fed his victims to dogs, including the ones onscreen.
Magpie 3 years ago
They were all put down after his trial, including the one that was in the movie
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Cassi Lyris 3 years ago
Wow, I actually didn't know this one already. I now wish I still didn't, but good job BP.
#14
TIL that urine comes from your blood, not directly from your digestive system.
Anna Snorrepot 3 years ago
"is homeostasis a joke to you?" :D (the nephrologist at dr.Glaucomflecken medical parody universe)
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Leigh Baker 3 years ago
That this a surprising fact, tells me public schools don’t do enough physiology teaching. Not to teach us about the human body seems a crime. It imparts what seems to be real common sense as you live your life and come to know your body.
John Topper 3 years ago
Agreed. The fact that this constitutes an "interesting fact" really shines light on the miserable failure that is or school system.
Load More Replies... BlackestDawn 3 years ago
How else would it move from one to the other since our kidneys are not directly attached to our digestive system?
Ed Walker 3 years ago
TIL that someone apparently thinks that pee and poo come from the same place. I'm proper scared.
Tara 3 years ago
Maybe we can give them the benefit of the doubt and hope that they're 10 years old? It's not a shame to learn something new, even if it is late
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George Macbeth 3 years ago
That's what kidneys do, filtering from the blood to the urinary system.
Just saying 3 years ago
I guess that is why there is sugar in your urine if you are a diabetic.
Ausrine Ciapaite 3 years ago
I was taught that in biology class. Don't everyone learn that in schools?
Ikara Pentiki 3 years ago (edited)
Urine is not sterile. Humans host more bacteria by count than human cells. Even "clean" urine contains "harmless" bacterial colonies.
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#15
TIL: Steve Jobs offered Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux a job at Apple under the condition he stopped developing for Linux. He declined the job offer.
Pirates of Zen Pants 3 years ago (edited)
My husband has been crazy about the Linux OS since the early 1990s. The three historical figures he respects most are Nikola Tesla, Alan Turing, and Linus Torvalds. (What can I say? I like nerds.)
Rachael Coleman-Dean 3 years ago (edited)
My husband's a nerd, I too choose the nerds because they are epic.
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Mattia Ferragina 3 years ago
This kinda behavior is the reason why I'll never give 1cent to Apple
Neil Soper 3 years ago
Good for Linus! I learned a lot from building Linux systems at home that I still use today 20 years on, I owe him one.
BlackestDawn 3 years ago
A computer operating system (OS), a.k.a what Windows and OS X themselves are. The major reason I can think of right now for Steve to have done that is because it is the underlying system in Android. There is some competition in the desktop segment but I don't think it's big enough alone for Steve to do this.
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Niall Mac Iomera 3 years ago
Sounds like jobs. Someone was making a better product, so he just pays them not to.
#16
TIL Patricia Stallings was wrongfully convicted for the murder of her infant son under suspicion of antifreeze poisoning before being released due to a biochemist finding that her son had methylmalonic acidemia after hearing about her case on the television series, Unsolved Mysteries.
Mistiekim 3 years ago
I remember this case from Forensic Files. I can’t even imagine being convicted for killing your child and the cause really being a genetic abnormality. With the advancements in molecular biology/genetic testing, I wonder how many other cases like this exist right now?
Panda Who Mumbles, Constantly 3 years ago (edited)
I remember this from the Forensic Files episode too. But then again, part of the cause of that wrongful conviction was the misreading of the GC-MS results by the first testing lab in the hospital. Tragically, she had ended up in that hospital by accident, when she got lost trying to find the hospital to take her first son. Then, as if by 'divine' chance, she brought her second child to the hospital she meant to go originally, when the child got ill too, and that hospital got the right diagnosis.... Which lead to investigations that finally exonerated her. If she had brought her son to that hospital in the first place, he might not have died.
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BetterBitterButter 3 years ago
I can't imagine someone facing the tragedy of losing their child and then being accused of causing the child's death. This is heartbreaking. I hope she found peace later in her life.
Nathan Wolfe 3 years ago
"Oh, we're sorry. We didn't mean to wrongfully accuse, convict, and sentence you for a crime you never committed, while you were actively mourning the loss of your child". Like, how do you even come back from that? Did they even have evidence? Or was she convicted entirely on the BELIEF that she did it, without any solid proof?
Dawn Duckworth 3 years ago
Not nearly as weird, but interesting: Auto brewery Syndrome. The gut ferments the carbs they've eaten. Thier blood alcohol level is sky high, but because it slowly starts to develop, they build up a ridiculous tolerance to basically being drunk all the time. They are not immune to eventually feeling the effects of it and actually appearing drunk. People have been arrested for DUIs and one guy was fired from work (after work place accident. Something miror like a slip and fall from a wet floor, or slipped on a stair and landed on his back. The post accident urine test said he was like 2 times the legal limit. He should have appeared obviously drunk and slurring and unable to walk straight, maybe not even able to stand. No one reported him acting as such. Doctor looked into it, diagnosed him, and he eventually got his job back.) Really weird thing to develop.
Giuditta Jones 3 years ago
TIL: Methylmalonic acidemia is a disorder in which the body cannot break down certain proteins and fats. The result is a buildup of a substance called methylmalonic acid in the blood. This condition is passed down through families. It is one of several conditions called an "inborn error of metabolism."
That nerd Zoe ️🇺🇦️ 3 years ago
Who do you even sue for this (this is a very good reason to sue. Imagine actively mourning the death of your baby and people saying you murdered them.)
#17
TIL that during a battle with American troops led by Gen. Custer, Chief Sitting Bull moved within rifle range, methodically filled his pipe, encouraged others to join him, slowly smoked as bullets flew by, and returned unscathed as a display of contempt and courage.
the next chapter 3 years ago
It would only be illegal if were commiting a crime
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pat hayes 3 years ago
Custer got what he deserved, he was an evil bastard....read Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.....especially before the maga crowd bans it.....real history...
Bug 3 years ago
Yeah let's not forget the famous statement from Red Cloud, the white man promised us many things, but only kept 1 of those promises. They told us they would take our land and they did.
Load More Replies... Amy Stone-Chandler 3 years ago
White man has always underestimated natives and Inuit...and everyone else.
Stefanie Young 3 years ago
Oh, I love comments like these! I use to live in the Frenchtown area where General Custer served. The lore behind the land was that General Custer led that very war to obtain tribal land. Ironically, where Elizabeth Woods and Frenchtown Villa sit in Newport, Mi is the border of where the war began (Hence why the splitting road between the communities is called War Road!) I learned this fact a good 3 years into my residency there, after a dream I had that led into a bit of research. Monroe, MI has a statue of General Custer in the downtown area, too.
Christine Wild 3 years ago
Did you know, Custer had 2 brothers, both officers who also died at bull run. They didn’t teach that in school
#18
Today I learned that in Central Europe there are hunger stones (hungerstein), in river beds stones were marked with an inscription, visible only when the flow was low enough to warn of a drought that would cause famine.
RezFidel 3 years ago
Indeed.... one of these just appeared here in my area (Rhineland/Germany) ist says " If you can read this, start crying" ..nice...
Katie Lutesinger 3 years ago
And in Japan they have stones saying "don't build any lower than this because next time there's a tsunami your house will be swept away".
Irish woman abroad 3 years ago
I saw something about this recently - apparently one inscription said something like "if you see this, your tears will flow".
Pizzagirl 91 3 years ago
So, I know we have them in Germany, but are there none outside Central Europe? I'd have thought a simple idea like that to measure a common crisis like a drought would have been more widespread...?
#19
TIL of 'Denny', the only known individual whose parents were two different species of human. She lived ninety thousand years ago in central Asia, where a fragment of her bone was found in 2012. Her mother was a Neanderthal and her father was a Denisovan.
iseefractals 3 years ago
But....Neanderthals' and Homosapiens are different "species", and the remains of a child born of their intermingling was found in 2013....but we already knew that it happened since humans alive...right now...continue to carry on neanderthal DNA. Denisovan's, Neanderthals' and Homosapiens are all variants of human....hence why they can breed.
Jing Yi Xu 3 years ago
I know, but it's rare to find a specimen that pinpoints the first generation of crossbreeding, you know. Must be like finding a needle in the haystack. Her parents must have met under unique and hopefully consensual circumstances and I admit I'm projecting here, but faced obstacles that their descendants didn't have to...not only 2 different cultures, languages, ideologies, way of living, they were 2 DIFFERENT SPECIES. so cool.
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Pieter LeGrande 3 years ago
The grandparents were against this- knowing what the neighbours would say. Anyway her name was Muriel.
Tushar Roy Mukherjee 3 years ago
Thisis the first time I am reading about a Neanderthal-Denisovan hybrid.
William Dennett 3 years ago
That sounds like an insult in a Monty Python movie: “Your mother was a Neanderthal and your father was a Denisovan!”
Mike Sanchez 3 years ago
Their "love story" probably consisted of a cave man style bonk and drag... 🤣🤣🤣
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Brandi Petway 3 years ago
Love that you mentioned this series! Got obsessed with it a few years ago!
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Christy Long 3 years ago
I think that her Mother was a hamster and her Father smelt...of ELDERBERRIES!
Shabbir Yamani 3 years ago
Hybrid monstrosity... Lost in historicity ... Clouded in atrocity...
Heather Umpherville 3 years ago
I don't know where this garbage comes from as far as the time line. Humanity has only been here around 7 thousand yrs
#20
TIL that in New Jersey, it is illegal for criminals to wear a bulletproof vest while committing a crime
Upsidedowndemoness 3 years ago
Yep, and those good, honest criminals also promised to turn in their illegal guns and drugs. 🙄 This is like when I found out it was illegal to "cause a catastrophe" in West Virginia. Who gets drunk and writes some of these laws?
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sofacushionfort 3 years ago
And in Seattle it’s illegal to protest in a gas mask. Mustn’t interfere with the State’s ability to wage chemical warfare on you.
Marcellium 3 years ago
In case anyone's wondering Why: it's to rack up charges. They get charged for the other crime and the bulletproof vest. I've heard some laws like you have to call the bank in advance that you're going to rob them, or it's a crime.
AngelKat 3 years ago
That makes sense. I love looking up old laws that are no longer in effect too... like in a Texas area it's illegal to shoot buffalo from the second story or a hotel :)
Load More Replies... iseefractals 3 years ago
Wow...someone should really get around to making crime illegal, that'll put a stop to everything bad.
BlackestDawn 3 years ago
Can't see anything else but having this as either (both?) a form of fallback for conviction or some way to inflate charges brought and thus the punishment.
Lori Rommel 3 years ago
The state of New York made it illegal to possess body armor. Which would p**s me off if I were a clerk in a convenience store or had a job with similar hazards.
Michael 3 years ago
It is new york. Do not know if what you said is true or not. But it fits my bias against new york.
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#21
TIL that using recycled glass to make new glass requires 40% less energy than making it from all new materials. It saves energy because crushed glass melts at a lower temp than the raw materials. Glass is sometimes recycled into "glassphault" or is used as a landfill covering over waste materials.
kim morris 3 years ago
Glass and aluminum are the most cost and energy efficient recyclables. Just straight up melt, pour into new product. No modifying necessary.
Caleb R 3 years ago
Don't forget literally the most recycled material in the world, steel! It is effectively infinite in how many times it can be recycled (some oxides do form, but it's negligible)
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Upstaged75 3 years ago
Ours used to but not anymore. I still sometimes accidentally toss glass bottles in the recycling bin. No idea why they stopped taking it.
Load More Replies... Amy Stone-Chandler 3 years ago
I 💯 believe all drink bottles at least should be made glass again. Technically, since they are banning one time plastic use products, soda/pop or juice bottles should also be changed back to glass. Taste better too
Ramona Jackson 3 years ago
That only works when the bottles must be returned for deposit.
Load More Replies... Upstaged75 3 years ago
Where I live in the US my state no longer recycles glass. It feels so strange to just throw glass bottles in the trash. It seems like such a waste. I'm sure there's a reason though.
v 3 years ago
Probably because the entire recycling economy was a farce all along and there's no viable way to uphold it as something worthy anymore. For the last decade or so a significant portion of "recyclables" were simply sold to and shuttled off to China for processing. China is no longer taking our trash.
Load More Replies... Danni 3 years ago
From my understanding, and I'm no expert, you cannot recycle glass an infinite amount of times. It becomes brittle and useless at a certain point. I'm sure that just like with plastic, a smart system of tracking the amount of times glass has been recycled can be created to make an efficient system.
Gabriela 3 years ago
However, transporting glass for recycling is too expensive for it to be worth it. That’s why many places stopped recycling glass. It’s to heavy to transport cheaply.
Pursuing Peonies 3 years ago
I'd much rather live near a recycled glass or aluminum factory instead of a trash heap, but I suppose that's not how the rich view it.
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Gwynne Greene 3 years ago
Thus CRACKED me up with happiness 😊 to learn what a SMASHING idea 💡 this is to help the environment!
Cheryl Lohr 3 years ago
So get rid of plastic containers, go back to putting everything in tin cans or glass bottles/jars.
Kate Johnson 3 years ago
Unfortunately, the way that we currently recycle things is so cost-prohibitive that many places don't bother with recycling. Even here, less than an hour from Philly, there is no recycling. Trash companies have to pay so much more for permits and vehicles and labor that they can go bankrupt by a city that voted for recycling but also wanted the company with the lowest bid for their services. Incorporate recycling? Or forego it? Many must forego because the residents refuse to pay more for trash removal so the city/town can recycle, then claim they want change. Ugh.
Jamie Candice Hopkins 3 years ago
I learned that if you add crushed glass to concrete, the resulting block us 20% stronger. There's a company that takes people's used bottles, cleans, sorts & crushes them, and then reintroduces the reuses the glass. Some go to crafts people to be added to artwork, while some go the construction sites to be added to concrete.
#22
TIL Ronald Reagan started eating Jelly Belly's to quit smoking and kept it up so much that during his terms as President he would have more than 300 thousand jelly beans shipped to the White House each month
sadmrguna 3 years ago
Eating sugar does NOT directly cause diabetes! Also, please differentiate between type 2 and type 1.
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DuchessDegu 3 years ago
Unless it was shared between all staff it's not possible to go through that amount of candy in a month!
Carrie Henderson 3 years ago
Uh, so he was eating 10,000 jelly beans every day? I'm not sure...
J 3 years ago
I’m not sure if it’s even possible to have enough time to chew 10 thousand beans in 24 hours. After that you have to go to bed with the jaw destroyed. But surely you can’t have time to smoke with all that mouth work. Or maybe he didn’t chew them, just swallow them to try to kill himself by beans. If you are dead you can’t smoke.
Izzy Curer 3 years ago (edited)
According to a quick search, there are 182 jellybeans in a cup. 300,000/182=~1,648.4 cups of jellybeans. There are 16 cups in a gallon, so 1648/16=~100 gallons. Is that right? There's no way my math is right. That's like 2 bathtubs of jelly beans. Good lord.
Mistiekim 3 years ago
If I had to eat black licorice jelly beans, I’d give up classified information to make it stop. Blech.
Allison B 3 years ago
I'll take them from you then! Black licorice jelly beans are my favorites. 😂
Load More Replies... tmw 3 years ago
I believe that there were whitehouse staffers who had bowls of jelly beans on their desks. So Ronnie could snack as he stopped by. THis was then a thing all over washington. Which is why in the movie 'the hunt for red october' the american defense dept guy offers the soviet guy jelly beans as they are talking in his office.
Brendan Boudreaux 3 years ago
I live in the town where Jelly Belly was founded and is manufactured. apparently Reagan is responsible for the creation of many flavors because he bought so many and would request them. for instance he wanted a party at the white house to have red white and blue jelly bellys, but there was no blue one yet so the blueberry (I think) flavor was created.
#23
TIL after tigers escaped from a zoo in Georgia and killed a man, advice was issued on what to do if you meet a tiger, including: don’t approach it, don’t run away, and don’t urinate
Nathaniel 3 years ago
I do not think I would have any control of my bladder in that situation.
Emerald Joanna 3 years ago
I feel I would be likely to do 2 out of 3 of those very things if I came across a tiger!!
Scott Griffin 3 years ago
Exactly lol I may not pee myself seeing a full grown wild tiger loose but I can't vouch foe my bowels not doing something lol
Load More Replies... Katie Lutesinger 3 years ago
Stand still and try to look inedible I guess!
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EarthGrowl 3 years ago
I am sure my toxoplasmosis would have me trying to pet it. "Here kitty kitty"
David Brown 3 years ago
The do not approach thing would be easy. Not running and not pissing on the other hand kind of go hand in hand when you're terrified beyond rational thought.
Raven Null 3 years ago
What you should do here (I think) is inhale deeply, arch your back(not hunching), t-pose, widen your stance, and growl at it.
Upstaged75 3 years ago
If you encounter a Mountain Lion you are supposed to make yourself look bigger and yell at it to go away. Cats prefer to stalk and attack from behind so they don't like when you acknowledge you see them. Although with a tiger you are probably just going to get eaten - so maybe call your mom and say goodbye? ;)
Load More Replies... #24
TIL that Ben Franklin's invention of the lightning rod was blamed by church leaders for the 1755 Cape Ann earthquake off the coast of Colonial Massachusetts — as his "heretical rods" interfered with the "artillery of Heaven" & deprived God of using lightning as "tokens of His displeasure."
Nathaniel 3 years ago
So..... The infallible and all powerful God has his lightning misdirected by a metal pole?
Nandros M 3 years ago
In my country all churches have metal poles. They don't trust their God.
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Bill Dolman 3 years ago
Now you know why the framers of the American constitution wanted religion to stay entirely out of government? That's a lesson that, unfortunately, many American politicians and people have forgotten.
Steve Mollot 3 years ago
What a nice God. If I can’t throw lightening at you, then I’ll just break the Earth beneath you.
Octavia Hansen 3 years ago
Perhaps churches and church officials should NOT have lightning rods on their buildings.
FrillyDragon 3 years ago
Due to a lot of pagan influence on the church throughout the years, especially Greco-Roman, I have to think it's more Zeus/Jupiter.
Load More Replies... FrillyDragon 3 years ago
I think this religious leaders got their god confused with Zeus... the Judeo-Christian God didn't do lightning boots. That's Zeus/Jupiter.
Den Ver 3 years ago (edited)
Let me get this straight, The Judeo-Christian God can turn water to blood, make plagues of frogs, flies and locusts, delivers boils and disease, makes the sky hail fire, turns people to salt, 3 days of darkness, extends the day by stopping the sun, floods the entire planet, kills the firstborn of his enemies --- BUT --- No, He doesn't do lightning bolts.
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Mathias Viera 3 years ago
If divine artillery can be neutralized with an iron stick, can we say God is almighty? Also, if a preacher says that, isn't he sabotaging his own religion?
Just_a_lazy_witch 3 years ago
Also interesting trivia: Even though more world wide famous inventor of the lightning rod is Benjamin Franklin, he was not the first one to construct it. First one was czech scientist Prokop Diviš. He constructed the lightning rod 6 years before Bejamin Franklin did.
#25
TIL Tasmanian Devils bear up to 50 babies, but only have four nipples. The first four babies that successfully make it from the birth canal into the pouch stand a chance of surviving, while the rest die and are eaten by the mother.
Nathaniel 3 years ago
How did evolution come about this? Or, if "intelligently designed", I think there is a flaw in the design.
FactcheckerGeneral 3 years ago
Evolution is blind. It doesn't work towards perfecting an animal, it just collects adaptations that tend to improve survival chances.
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Loretta 3 years ago
How the heck is that supposed to be economic? I learned that it takes up a LOT of energy for the mother to grow babies. Carrying and birthing dozens of them only to die once they are born seems incredibly wasteful.
Jill Rhodry 3 years ago
Tassie Devils are marsupials the Joeys are like the size of a sultana when 'born' at I think 3 weeks or so - the complete 'gestation' in the pouch attached to the teat.
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Amy Stone-Chandler 3 years ago
As gross as it is, most animals eat young with defects or deceased at birth. Afterbirth placenta, sacs, everything. Good for their milk and they need the calories.
Jake Lewis 3 years ago
"Alright everyone. This is not a drill. Please calmly form a line and prepare to exit the Tasmanian Devil. No running!"
David Brown 3 years ago
I don't know what upsets me more. The idea of the mother devil eating her weak young or the fact that the tasmanian devil from cartoons of my youth looked absolutely nothing like the real deal.
#26
TIL a "Chernobyl necklace" is a horizontal scar at the base of the throat from surgery to remove thyroid cancer caused by fallout from a nuclear accident
Amy Stone-Chandler 3 years ago (edited)
A friend of mine died at age 64. She lived very close to Chernobyl when it exploded.She had Thyroid issues but generally not much health problems. Then, in 2019, she became very sick. Has some scans that showed a brain tumor but nothing else. Within 2-3 weeks, her whole body was FULL of tumors. Everywhere. The doctors here(Canada) hadnt seen anything like it. Thats when she told them about her Chernobly exposure in the 80s before she moved here BTw for those that think you have to be within a 30-50mile radius of a meltdown/,explosion to get radiation poisoning/sickness, that's wrong. When Chernobyl blew up, Sweden was getting radiation in their air. Which is scary considering there are 98 Nuclear facilities in the USA and Canada. People should be more concerned about that then a nuclear bomb. Either way, radiation is a huge likelihood really. Iodine tablets are pretty useless really. They ONLY help the Thyroid. Basically filling the Thyroid so it can't absorb the radiation. Does nothing for anything else in your body. Your cooked anyway. If I ever get radiation poisoning, the faster I die the better. I believe it's THE MOST excruciating way to die. Actually I'm going to off myself if that ever happens. Horrific.
Whaaaaat 3 years ago
So how does one know if the scar is from nuclear fallout or just plain old cancer? Because seriously, my mother has a "Chernobyl neckless" and I am 100% sure she has not been in a nuclear fallout.
Jjjane20 3 years ago
There were hundreds or thousands of kids/people having thyroid cancer after the accident and I guess this chernobyl necklace is only related to them. And as you may know you don't have to be close to nuclear fallout to get thyroid cancer or any other cancer.
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Stannous Flouride 3 years ago
In future years it will/may be a Zaporizhzhya necklace unfortunately.
#27
TIL in 2013 in Florida, a sink hole unexpectedly opened up beneath a sleeping man’s bedroom and swallowed him whole. He is presumed dead.
Nathaniel 3 years ago (edited)
Holey moley! Also presumed dead? Is there somebody thinking the man may still live? With the Mole People?
Katie Lutesinger 3 years ago
Apparently they could hear the poor bastard down in the hole, screaming for help, but it was too dangerous to go down there. They made few attempts at rescuing him but failed. Eventually he stopped screaming.
Rylee Evergreen🦋 3 years ago
Ah, yes, another thing for me to worry about at nighttime right before I fall asleep..... *cries*
Charles Barrow 3 years ago
Climbed or washed out confused and amnesic wondering Florida
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Alienking06 3 years ago
Wow, I'm surprised they wrote "dead" and not some bųllshīt like "[deceased]".
tuzdayschild 3 years ago
I remember this. His brother tried to save him initially but the earth crumbled more and he disappeared.
Chris Cristo 3 years ago
Real story. It happened in my neighborhood in Seffner FL. They never found the guy.
Luann Maria 3 years ago
I remember when this happened, when they interviewed his sister-in-law a day or 2 after, she still looked like she was numb with shock.
Ramona Jackson 3 years ago
Nearly a decade has passed since this occurred.
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#28
TIL that maggot therapy is an FDA approved treatment option for ulcers and wounds to promote healing. Live maggots are placed at the site of injury and eat the necrotic tissue, while also secreting anti-microbial chemicals.
Nathaniel 3 years ago
Maggots have been used like this for centuries, they are quite amazing. Although not for the squeamish maybe?
Steve Mollot 3 years ago
Know what else isn’t for the squeamish? Necrotic tissue.
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Down With Agent Hedgehog! 3 years ago
Yup. I’d recognize mealworm at first glance due to feeding some of those living crawlies to my pet furry lap cactus Cello.
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Patricia Kersting 3 years ago
The “ulcers” are skin ulcers, not stomach or intestinal ulcers. The maggots are not just any maggots, however. They are bred in a laboratory and are sterile so they do not cause infection.
Izzy Curer 3 years ago (edited)
The picture is of meal worms, not maggots. They're baby beetles, not fly larva.
Jordi Sharpe 3 years ago
Anyone who's seen an "alien" (what my sister calls the beetle) knows that there's a big difference.
Load More Replies... Mistiekim 3 years ago
And leeches are used to get blood flow back into an area where it has been reduced. Not sure how’d I feel using these treatments, but if it works it works!
Anna Snorrepot 3 years ago
don't think about where treatments come from. Eggs grow on trees, milk lives in the supermarket and red dye is only ever crushed beets, never beetles. Leeches are inky snails. Meal worms are …eh…"lively macaroni'. :D
Load More Replies... George Macbeth 3 years ago
They will only eat dead tissue and leave the healthy tissue untouched so when you think about it, it's a pretty clever way to clean up a wound even if it sounds a bit grim.
4848532 3 years ago
Those are meal worms in the picture, right? I'll admit I'm not up on my maggots, though.
Bug 3 years ago
Yes, they may be mealworms or another type of beetle larvae. They are not maggots.
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Jknbt 3 years ago
this can save someone's feet if used correctly when they have diabetic neuropathy... The feet sort of rot & never heal once injured... The maggots only eat dead flesh. A nurse has to come in & change them out every week, or they will turn into flies... If you have diabetes, go for help, don't let it come to this. It can cause blindness also.
Vince Wales 3 years ago
Does it bother anyone else that the picture is not of maggots, but mealworms?
#29
TIL that due to ADA standards, elevators going up ding once and elevators going down ding twice to help those with disabilities
James016 3 years ago
The lift in the complex where I stayed in Florida dinged when it went past any floor
More! 3 years ago
It would have to, a blind person could enter from any floor. Wherever they are, they’d just need to count the beeps to be sure they’re heading in the right direction.
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Oberain 3 years ago
... that's not true though. Have an elevator I use every day that dings once regardless.
David Brown 3 years ago
The elevators that verbally announce each floor low key freak me out a bit.
Giuditta Jones 3 years ago
Unfortunately I have never ever seen a ADA compliant elevator in my life.
Bubbles and sparks 3 years ago
Ohhh, I have to go to the hospital sundaymorning, now I have to know ;p
#30
TIL actor Matt Doherty, who played Les Averman in the Mighty Ducks films, didn't know how to skate or play hockey at all when he was cast in the first movie. By the time they shot the 3rd movie, he was captain of his high school hockey team and had been offered a scholarship to play in college.
Hphizzle 3 years ago
I should also add that good guy Matt also would come back to said high school and help out with speech team and things like that. I’d see him around the halls sometimes.
Load More Replies... Cassi Lyris 3 years ago
Loved those movies as a kid. They were played regularly before Christmas in Minneapolis. Good for him!
Grant Hazzard 3 years ago
And the guy who played the goalie was arrested near my hometown for possession of amphetamines.
#31
TIL animal “zoomies” have a technical name: Frenetic Random Activity Periods, or “FRAPs”
KENOBI 3 years ago
I quite like FRAP e.g. “bro you’re dog has the FRAP’s” lol
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Dylan Armstrong 3 years ago
Any casualties of this behavior shall henceforth be referred to as frapnel.
Joseph Kastorff 3 years ago
yeeeaaa, saying, "My dog has the FRAPs right now" doesn't quite have the same ring to it, does it??
Faye Routon 3 years ago
At our house, we call them the "rips", as in they are ripping around.
Load More Replies... #32
TIL about the 1936 presidential election in which Roosevelt received 98.49% of the electoral vote total, which remains the highest percentage of the electoral vote won by any candidate since 1820.
Pirates of Zen Pants 3 years ago
He was elected four times, but died in office. He was also paralyzed from the waist down due to polio. He made an effort to hide this from the public, because he was concerned that people wouldn't vote for him if they knew about it.
Analyn Lahr 3 years ago
The man is probably rolling in his grave at the state of this country.
Pam Akers 3 years ago
He also served 3 terms after which the terms were reduced to two 4 yr terms.
Geoffrey Hebel 3 years ago
Roosevelt is also why Congress changed the law so a president can only have two terms of office as they were threatened
Begone Fool 3 years ago
He also refused to assume dictatorial powers, even when close advisors and even Eleanor, suggested that was the best way to save the USA The many depredations of the Depression. A great man.
#33
TIL in 2018, a 34-year-old man blew a hole in his throat by holding his nose and closing his mouth while sneezing. The expulsion of air from a sneeze can propel mucous droplets at a rate of 100 mph. He was given antibiotics and put on a feeding tube for 7 days and recovered with no permanent damage.
Pirates of Zen Pants 3 years ago
I'm pretty sure I sat next to this guy on a train five months into the Covid pandemic.
Amenty 3 years ago
The pandemic started in the middle of 2019 … this happened a year before the pandemic hit 🤦♀️
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Pretzels 3 years ago
Had to look this up. The way it's written is misleading. True story but he only tore the soft tissue inside his throat... After years of holding in sneezes. His neck did not burst open, or anything remotely gruesome. He was put on a feeding tube to avoid infection
Kristy P 3 years ago
My mother once coughed so hard, she separated a layer of the wall in her aorta. Scary.
Waco Bayless 3 years ago
According to Calvin's dad, if you do that your eyeballs will pop out. Ie; "Calvin and Hobbes".
Pieter LeGrande 3 years ago
Doesn't sound right. If you try this you are more likely to blow a hole in the top of your head.
Amanda Hunter 3 years ago
I learned at my last Dr. visit that I blew a hole in my eardrum from 'popping' my ears by blowing my cheeks out and holding my nose.
#34
TIL the first victim of the Chernobyl disaster was Valery Khodemchuk who died as the reactor exploded, his body was never found and is entombed in the wreckage of the Chernobyl power plant
DuchessDegu 3 years ago
Probably it was all over for him in a tenth of a second, mercifully
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Tamra 3 years ago
It is very good. Hard to watch at some points, but worth watching.
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Pirates of Zen Pants 3 years ago
This poor guy. I've had bad days at work, but never this bad.
doubledutch 3 years ago (edited)
He would have died in like a bajillionth of a second. Learnt recently about a different one and it was all over for the poor guy in the smallest fraction of a second...I can't even imagine something happening that fast. He was found on the bloody roof.
Helen Waight 3 years ago
The SL-1 disaster. One of the guys that died was pinned to the ceiling by a fuel rod.
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Shabbir Yamani 3 years ago
And we are visiting the Chernobyl campsite... Oh hello splattered and evaporated Valery, kids this is the resident ghost of Cheryl house and next to it is Nobyl house that gave the world it's first dark wizard who runs as the president from god knows how long...
#35
TIL that there's something called the "preparedness paradox." Preparation for a danger (an epidemic, natural disaster, etc.) can keep people from being harmed by that danger. Since people didn't see negative consequences from the danger, they wrongly conclude that the danger wasn't bad to start with
Laura Ketteridge 3 years ago
The hours, days, weeks, years of work that went into it, mostly unseen, and people think that it was a hoax because so many people did their job incredibly well and prevented the problems that had been anticipated.
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Katie Lutesinger 3 years ago
You see this a lot with anti vaxxers. Polio? No-one catches Polio any more! What's the big deal! Because of course they didn't live through those terrible years when children died left right and centre because of diseases we now have vaccinations for. There's a reason why so many novels written during those decades are so casual about people having thirteen children and only two surviving to adulthood. I recently re-read The Railway Children, and there's a brief scene where someone says oh here, you can have this baby carriage that belonged to so-and-so, her baby died so she doesn't need it any more. And no-one bats an eye.
Madeleine 3 years ago
We do have polio again due to communities of anti-vaxxers. So far it has been detected in NY, Britain, and Israel. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-08-30/l-a-county-warns-about-polio-after-new-york-paralysis-case
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Origami Chik3n 3 years ago
Just a few days ago, at a vehicle inspection station, i heard a guy complaining about having to go through this every 2 years. His arguments were "there are almost no accidents due to technical faults, so why bother?". Dude, regular inspection IS the reason why so few accidents are due to technical faults.
Stephanie Barr 3 years ago
Scientists get the backlash for this all the time. Warn people of a danger so they're saved--it wasn't that bad. If it was that bad but they didn't heed, you didn't warn strongly enough so their losses are your fault. Hold off on warning to get more data and, if something bad happens it's all your fault. Etc etc (there are more variations). Basically, no matter how they help others they never get credit, just blame.
Katie Lutesinger 3 years ago
"I would rather have people say we overreacted than that we didn't do enough and people died."
Load More Replies... Colin Timp 3 years ago
You could say that about Covid. Many who didn't get sick (or terribly sick) seemed to think it was no big deal.
Aunt Riarch 3 years ago
They still do. I had to listen to a f*****t babbling about how she hadn't been vaccinated, masks make you more likely to get sick, all you need is probiotics. I really wanted to smack her around the chops. I contented myself with advising her not to trip over the bodies. Yes I am still cross
Load More Replies... Amanda Rose 3 years ago
I saw this happen in Texas with tornado preparedness. You also see it with hurricanes.
William Dennett 3 years ago
A leader cannot win with this paradox. If they competently prepare and there are little negative effects, the leader will be criticized for overpreparing.
Alicia GriffonLady 3 years ago
Well, a leader of one group can win if another group did things differently and didn't do as well. Crappy way to "win" though.
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#36
Til wolverine was created because Marvel's then editor in chief Roy Thomas wanted a Canadian hero to boost north-of-the-border sales
Benita Valdez 3 years ago
TIL wolverine is Canadian. Perhaps I knew and forgot but you never think about where some characters come from sometimes
Justin Smith 3 years ago
Deadpool is canadian as well, and wolverine was part of a canadian superhero team called alpha flight.
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Taibhse Sealgair 3 years ago (edited)
Not Marvel, but in the DC universe Suicide Squad's Amanda Waller was created because they wanted a character that wasn't a typical hero. "When she was created in the mid-1980s by writer John Ostrander, she was explicitly supposed to be unlike any other comics persona. In a genre where women are drawn as pin-ups and black people are often either pure-hearted role models or streetwise hoodlums, she was — and is — something different: a middle-aged, heavy-set, profoundly cynical, African-American, female government apparatchik. "
Beans 3 years ago
And of course every live-action iteration of Amanda Waller she is played by a slim actress and doesn't look like the comics at all. :\
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Peppermallow 3 years ago
Hugh Jackman studied the wrong animal when practicing for Wolverine. He studied wolves by mistake. He had never heard of wolverines, a totally different species
Michael Largey 3 years ago
Most people assume that Napoleon Solo of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." was from the US, but he was identified as a Canadian in the pilot. (Tip off - The first name "Napoleon" is much more common in French-speaking Quebec than it is anywhere else on the continent.) The creators featured no permanent US characters to emphasis the international nature of the United Nations Command for Law Enforcement.
Nancy Lynch 3 years ago
Hugh Jack man did not know that the wolverine was a real animal until after he played Wolverine in the movie.
Shabbir Yamani 3 years ago
Stop Dint nationalize and tenderize heroes, we are good the way they are... Global saviours.
#37
TIL that the Museum of Icelandic Sorcery & Witchcraft has a replica of Nábrók (or necropants), a pair of pants made from the skin of a dead man or woman, which are believed in Icelandic witchcraft to be capable of producing an endless supply of money.
Bunzilla 3 years ago
..... you're not wrong. How to make necropants: You ask a man for permission to do this after they die. Once he dies, you dig him up, and flay his corpse from the waist down in one piece. As soon as you put the 'pants' on, they stick to your skin. You then steal a coin from a poor widow, put it in the... erm, huevos, along with a special symbol drawn on a piece of paper. Then, you can keep extracting coins from that 'purse', so long as you don't remove the original coin. In order to not be condemned for this, the owner has to convince someone else to wear them after. I just... wtf, Iceland?
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Karin Gibson 3 years ago
I have seen a male version of these and they are anatomically correct. You are supposed to wear them under your clothes.
#38
TIL of the museum infested with the Chilean Recluse spider (Loxosceles laeta), widely considered to be the most venomous of its kind. The museum, Finnish Museum of Natural History, is located in Helsinki & no one is sure how the spider, native to South & Central America, came into the museum.
Pirates of Zen Pants 3 years ago
This sounds like a Scooby-Doo episode where the whole thing could have been a successful real estate scam if it weren't for you meddling kids.
Jing Yi Xu 3 years ago
Im sure museums frequently receive packages all around the world...spidere must have hitched a ride
Anon Yymi 3 years ago
There's a note there saying that there are venomous spiders in the walls but it's fine, they're very reclusive.
UpupaEpops 3 years ago
Potentially an over-excited first-year biology student who picked up something cool and took it home without knowing what it is? Ask me how I know. 🙈
Izzy Curer 3 years ago
Well, spiders are part of natural history. He just wants to be included in the museum!
Creature Cargeaux 3 years ago
The recluses we have in the Midwest are everywhere! Idk if they're native but when I was cleaning my dads garage our after he passed.. I was finding them everywhere. That's when I learned the importance of gloves & sweatshirts while digging into old bins. Same with black widows. I didn't kill them. I just collected them all in a jar & let them go in the corn field. But yeah.... I'd be terrified of going in the museum
#39
TIL in 1994, the family of 13-year-old Chris Kirkland made a bet that one day their son would play for Team England, with a bookie giving them 100-1 odds. The bet paid off in 2006, when the goalkeeper played for England in a match against Greece, with the family making £10,000
Melissa Hill 3 years ago
Yeah, like Team USA, it's how you say the national teams.
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FactcheckerGeneral 3 years ago (edited)
100-1 is pretty crappy odds. There must be a few million teens in England, most of whom play football a bit. Should have shopped around.
#40
TIL of Puppy Pregnancy Syndrome, a psychosomatic illness found only in parts of India, where individuals who have been bitten by a dog believe that a puppy is conceived in their abdomen. Sufferers often report seeing the puppy in their reflection, or hearing it growl in their belly.
Jing Yi Xu 3 years ago
Interesting. It has been proven again and again that society actuqlly influences the symptoms of certain mental illnesses and delusions. Schizophrenic sufferers in the 50s act very differently than schizophrenic sufferers today, and so on. One group is much quieter than the other, amongst other things, I forgot unfortunately but it's very interesting
Ash 3 years ago (edited)
Yes - I've read about how outcomes for people who hear voices are much better for people who come from cultures that have some sort of explanation for hearing voices other than, "You have a mental illness, the end". If you hear voices and your culture explains to you that this is a gift or that you're receiving messages from your ancestors, your stress level is likely to be lower, which improves your mental and physical health. I think if you felt more positively toward your voices you wouldn't be trying to fight them, which means a positive feed-back loop, which means the voices (which represent parts of your psyche) would probably be less likely to say aggressive or hurtful things to you. /rabbit-trail
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Bubbles and sparks 3 years ago
This actually reminds my of how ho*osexuality, transgenders and hermafrodites were totally accepted in some native american tribes, also there are still tribes that have a total gender fluidity (I hope I spelled everything corrrectly, English is not my first language) And with that I mean that it all depends on where you come from how things are being received and/or looked upon. There is still a lot to be learned about acceptance.
Skylar Jaxx 3 years ago
Got everything right except hermaphrodite but I completely know what it is because u spelled it phonetically
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Shabbir Yamani 3 years ago
Retards, enough strange Gods aren't enough that they want one in their bellies too...
Ambry Petersen 3 years ago
You'd think after the time frame of pregnancy they would realize they are not going to give birth to a puppy.
#41
TIL that during World War One up to 12 million letters a week were delivered to soldiers, many on the front line
$cagsy 3 years ago
These days, it seems, I just get a weeks worth of mail delivered on some random day. I've always said that if I commit murder, and want to get rid of the weapon, I'll just post it 2nd class and it will never be seen again.
Sammie 19 3 years ago
Here in Sweden they've started delivering every two days. So one week there are deliveries Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The week after Tuesday and Thursday and repeat from the first week etc
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rxndomhumxn01 3 years ago
Hello, we've been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty.
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Yettichild 3 years ago
And here I've had a package floating around in the USPS for over a month with no hope of ever being delivered.
Bug 3 years ago
I mailed a certified letter with signature required in the town I live to my employer in that same town. I sent it from the only post office in that town and it just dissapeared...
Load More Replies... Shabbir Yamani 3 years ago
They could've just invented email and India wouldn't have the credit for this as well...
#42
TIL before Shazam was an app, it was a telephone service which you could call to identify a song. The caller would then get a text message with the song details.
Upsidedowndemoness 3 years ago
I just found out Shazam existed and am heading to the app store...my memory for songs gets worse every year.
Susan Bosse 3 years ago
Oh wow. I didn't know that. I use Shazam numerous times a week. It's even a shortcut on my swipe down menu on my phone because I use it so much.
Kevin Hickey 3 years ago
And before that, it was a Saturday morning TV show back in the '70's.
Lanswyfte 3 years ago
Yes! You and Nicky are the first people who've mentioned that. I loved watching Shazam as a kid. Ah, the memories....
Load More Replies... #43
TIL in 1972, diver Bret Gilliam survived a 325+ ft ascent, with an empty oxygen tank, after trying to save a colleague from attacking sharks.
Rupp 3 years ago
It's surprising how far you can come up on your last breath. The regulator supplies air to your lungs at the same pressure as the water at depth. (Otherwise your diaphragm muscles aren't strong enough to breathe with the pressure of the water). If you hold your breath you rupture your lungs. Keep your mouth open and the pressurized air keeps expanding and is exhaled as you had for the surface.
Freddy M. (He/Him) 3 years ago (edited)
Isn't surfacing quickly really dangerous? Not that I'm doubting the story, but I'm curious how it played into this
Ash 3 years ago
I looked it up, and he WAS treated for decompression sickness ("the bends") afterward.
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Bob Gman 3 years ago
If the diver had been breathing from an oxygen bottle at that depth, he would have been dead before starting his ascent.
Ramona Jackson 3 years ago
They are AIR TANKS, not "oxygen bottles." Breathing pure O2 at depths causes Oxygen Narcosis. It's deadly.
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#44
TIL that the video for Weird Al's "Smells like Nirvana" was shot in the same sound stage as the clip for Smells like teen spirit and also used most of the extras from the original, including the janitor that's featured in various scenes.
Michael Largey 3 years ago
Weird Al always tries for authenticity. He used Jeopardy's original host and announcer for "I Lost on Jeopardy". The lead guitar player on his satire of "Money For Nothing" was the lead guitar player on "Money For Nothing".
JL 3 years ago
In the case of Money for Nothing, Al asked Mark Knopfler for permission to do the song, and Mark said yes, but only if he could play guitar on it.
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Bubbles and sparks 3 years ago
I just love Weird Al's songs on other songs, I kinda get his type of crazy ;p
David Pierce 3 years ago
Larry Flynt was paralysed from the waist down in 1978 after being shot. There is no way he could have been the Janitor.
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TIL cheese has morphine-like compound named casomorphin
Susan Bosse 3 years ago
My son had the audacity to tell me I had too much cheese once. There is no such thing as too much cheese. Now I know why! Ha
Hugo Santos 3 years ago
All animals produce a substance that's similar to morphine. It's used mainly in our muscles/joints, so we don't feel any pain when we move. If you're an opiate addict, your body simply stops making it and takes several days to restart the fabrication after you quit. That's the reason why cold turkey is extremely painful...
Grant Barke 3 years ago
Morphine has been found in cow milk at concentrations of 200 to 500 nanograms per liter. Multistep purification yields a material that has immunological, biological, pharmacological, and chemical properties identical to those of morphine.
#46
TIL House Termites did make it over to England, but a 27 year government funded programme eradicated them in 2021.
Leigh Baker 3 years ago
What a relief. Can’t imagine those beautiful old English houses taken down by termites. Talk about a wise use of money and effort!
Teresa Yeates 3 years ago
If only they had the same focus on their rat problem. Yuck! They say that in England, you are never more than 6' from a rat.
Pizzagirl 91 3 years ago
Even worse: In the whole UK, you're never far from an Englishman!
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Sarah Richardson 3 years ago
I had to look this up as I’d never come across it before. One colony under two bungalows in Devon which took 27 years to eradicate in full with no recorded spread elsewhere. It says public money rather than government funded so may have been local instead of nationally funded
Astrid Huyghe 3 years ago
Not really a problem since european houses are mostly made out of stone not wood
#47
TIL that there are only 20 ancient lakes (defined as carrying water for more than a million years) in the world, with only 3 in North America (Tahoe, Tule, Pingualuk). Nearly all are tectonic (i.e. rift zones) in origin, however 2 are from meteorite craters (Pingualuk in Canada, Bosumtwi in Ghana)
Benita Valdez 3 years ago
You pīss someone off to get downvoted? I gave it back
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Mason Dalmau 3 years ago
I live near Tahoe. It's at such a high elevation that the waters stay barely above freezing in the deep parts of the lake year round. It's actually so cold that decay cannot occur in biological material. There is a submerged forest of evergreens that has been there for decades which still has green foliage despite the trees having drowned long ago. This is also the reason that the lake gained an urban legend as a popular site for the mob to dump bodies, though this was disproved in 2016. A nearby lake to the south called New Molones is still regularly checked for bodies underneath the bridge, because there actually were many corpses found there. This nearby occurrence along with the ability for Tahoe to preserve near indefinitely due to its temperature and depth is likely what lead to the myth. The preserved forest is actually an incredible scuba diving location. You feel like a bird flying through the trees.
Misty Moon 3 years ago
Maybe I misread but I thought that, sadly, lake Tahoe was nearly dried up now?
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April Morris 3 years ago
It's really a crime what was done to Tulelake. To drain the majority of the lake for farmland I kinda understand, but they ruined the lakes, the rivers, and even the bird and animal sanctuaries have flaky dried up. There's still a bit of water left in it, but Tulelake and Klamath Lake above it are in serious danger from this drought.
Selinara Harmon 3 years ago
TIL that some folks don't know that Canada is part of North America. (Bringing the number of ancient lakes to at least 4 in NA.
Lori Rogers 3 years ago
I grew up in Reno Nevada 30 minutes from Tahoe and lived there for a while. Beautiful Lake hecka cold water even when it's in the 90s
Nancy Lynch 3 years ago
One is in California (Tule) and the other (Tahoe) has 2/3 in California an 1/3 in Nevada.
Shabbir Yamani 3 years ago
And... How many alien carcasses, megaladons, Ghosts, tunnels to hell, ancient microbio-organisms cam outta then n spread pandemics, none, it took a bunch of sneezing idiots playing in the lab to do that.
#48
TIL It took 20,000 hours of underwater repairs but the United States managed to refloat a majority of the battleships sunk at Pearl Harbor. Recovered ships including the USS West Virginia, USS California, USS Tennessee, USS Maryland, and USS Pennsylvania all fought in the Philippines.
Leigh Baker 3 years ago
20,000 hours sounds like a bargain compared to the replacement of those ships.
Teresa Yeates 3 years ago
That was the time, not the cost. The amount they spent to do so was $$$$.
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Prius Owner 3 years ago (edited)
These five battleships, along with the USS Mississippi, took part in the Battle of Surigao Strait, part of the Battle for Leyte Gulf. Surigao Straight was the last battleship vs battleship engagement of WWII and most likely in the world. The ships were able to be recovered because they were sunk in Pearl Harbor and not at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Still, the US Navy built, operated, deployed and salvaged its vessels far better than the Japanese. Roosevelt and Churchill had decided early on that the Pacific was to be a holding action while the three allies defeated Hitler; very wise choice. By V-E day the US Navy, Marine Corps and Army were halfway through Okinawa and were preparing to take the Japanese Home Islands.
FrillyDragon 3 years ago (edited)
My Pawpaw worked at Ingalls shipyard in MS for many years. Very rough work that can mess you up. Poor guy has a lot of pain in his old age now, but he stays pretty cheerful. Shipbuilders are tough mofos.
Load More Replies... Shabbir Yamani 3 years ago
20,000 hours sounds nothing compared to the revenge nuclear waste and lives lost bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Is there 1 war USA hasn't raged blaming the perpetrators falsely...
#49
TIL about Project Possible, Nimsdai Purja climbed the 14 mountains that are above 8,000 meters in just Six months.They told Nims his project was simply impossible. So he called it Project Possible. While climbing Kanchenjunga he was partying the night before and was hungover during the climb.
Norah Reilly 3 years ago
When you know what you're capable of it doesn't matter what anyone else may say.
Andrea 3 years ago
Except the people who have to rescue those who overestimate themselves and have no idea what they are doing
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Patti Wagner 3 years ago
Today I learned 50 intersting facts I never knew before. Thanks to all for sharing!
Shabbir Yamani 3 years ago
The drunk climber didn't know what he was doing and achieved a possible impossible
#50
TIL that in 1933, yo-yos were banned in Syria, because many locals superstitiously blamed the use of them for a severe drought.
Nathaniel 3 years ago
First you have to put the loop of string around your finger and hold the yo yo, then let it roll out towards the ground, flicking up with your wrist when the yo-yo reaches the ned of the string.
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Pieter LeGrande 3 years ago
Well that has to be better then burning old ladies at the stake for witchcraft, which was the other popular option in years past.
AngelKat 3 years ago
No one was actually burned at the stake in the witch trials-- they died in jail or were hanged. One old man was squished to death under a board and piles of rocks. Look it up if you want details, I don't remember it all.
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Kenneth McCartney 3 years ago
One dumbass makes up something to explain what they can't understand, then other even dumber people follow this blindly.
Shabbir Yamani 3 years ago
Hahahahaha hahahahahaha hahahahaha hahahahah hahahahahah hahahaha hahahaha Plz let me know when they got educated enough to use their brains... Then i can stop laughing
#51
TIL the first ally soldier to step onto the beaches of Normandy during the D-Day invasion was Leonard Treherne "Max" Schroeder Jr. He made it out alive and was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart. He died in 2009 at the age of 90.
#52
TIL that in addition to using the stars, Micronesians navigated the Pacific by recognizing and interpreting different type of ocean swells, even using them to pinpoint the existence of islands hundreds of miles away. Marshallese islanders additionally made stick maps of these ocean swell patterns.
Izzy Curer 3 years ago (edited)
I heard a fun story about this. There was this old Polynesian guy who was like this amazing navigator who could know exactly where he was in the ocean by the subtle movements of the water. When asked how he did it, he explained that he would press his testicles against the bottom of his canoe.
#53
TIL Vertus Hardiman, who at age 5 in 1928 was subject to radiation experiments disguised as a new ringworm treatment. He lived 80 years suffering necrosis of his skull, hidden under hats and wigs.
Xio in California 3 years ago
Knowing there'd be no backlash due to racism, the scientists who experimented on him had no ethical or compassionate quandaries to move forward (Vertus was African American).
Michelle C 3 years ago
That is evil! I don’t understand how any person can be so cruel to someone else for any reason.
#54
TIL that there’s a medical procedure called “Fecal Transplant” that literally consists in collecting feces, also called stool or poop, from a healthy donor and introduce them into a patient’s gastrointestinal tract. The procedure can control an infection called Clostridium difficile.
Irish woman abroad 3 years ago
If you only learnt that today, you haven't watched enough House episodes!!
General Anaesthesia 3 years ago
TIL from Irish woman abroad that there was more to House than Lupus!
Load More Replies... Anna Snorrepot 3 years ago
it does much more than that, it can alter your biodome and heal many problems related to that. It's a clean procedure, the poop is put into capsules that release in the colon. You don't eat or touch the poop.
Amanda Rose 3 years ago
There are a couple of ways it can be delivered. 1) colonoscopy, 2) enema, 3) orogastric tube, 4) pills.
Jing Yi Xu 3 years ago
The organisation where I donate blood (red cross) also accepts fecal donations (in certain clinics only and you have to be screened). Very interesting. You can also donate bone marrow, which I heard is painful but i want to do
Izzy Curer 3 years ago
Do they just insert it, or do they actually cut a hole in the digestive tract?
Anna Snorrepot 3 years ago
neither. See Amanda Rose's answer. It's put in a small batch, like one capsule. You don't need much, just enough to start a new colony in your own colon.
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TIL despite being silent about Joseph McCarthy in public, President Dwight D. Eisenhower started a secret campaign that ultimately ended the Senator's career.
Norah Reilly 3 years ago
Dwight may not have been everyone's cup of tea, but he was a fundamentally decent man.
Robert Trebor 3 years ago
I met him when I was nine, up at West Point one Friday. I got out of school to go with my cub scout pack to see the Cadet Review. He was there, and later he stopped his limo to get out and shake hands with about 12 dusty cub scouts trying to find their bus. My older brother had chosen not to go, and hated me briefly for meeting Ike.
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#56
TIL Before Canada was officially named Canada, other names had been suggested but rejected. Some examples: Albertsland, Borealia, Britannia, Tuponia and others. The current name likely comes from the aboriginal word "Kanata" which means village or settlement.
#57
TIL Matthew McConaughey was first assigned to play Marty Hart in the first season of True Detective. McConaughey asked to switch to Rust Cohle due to the character's obsessive tendencies. McConaughey created a 450-page analysis of Cohle to study the character's evolution in the series.
Bored Retsuko 3 years ago (edited)
Caro Caro, you've been summoned! (Go back to top of list/ Brian May) Edit: oh and please make them believe their summoning worked 🤫 🤣🤣🤣
Load More Replies... Leigh Baker 3 years ago
This series is among THE top detective series. Most detective dramas are built on a detective who obsessively dwell on the details of a crime. In this series the role of Rust Cohle is played to to a T. Oh, and the ending is so very good.
#58
TIL during the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein built a defensive line filled with trenches and tunnels, hoping to engage the coalition in World War 1-style trench warfare. Instead, the US forces just charged with modified bullzdozers and simply plowed through the Iraqi trenches, burying many alive
Pieter LeGrande 3 years ago
How many wars throughout history were lost because the enemy didn't fight on your terms.
Leigh Baker 3 years ago
Metaphor for Saddam Hussein was eventually caught. Hiding in the ground is a passé strategy.
#59
TIL That the skeletons in the pool scene in Poltergeist were real human skeletons.
Upsidedowndemoness 3 years ago (edited)
It was cheaper than fake ones. The actors didn't know either. I watched a documentary on the making of the movie where Jo Beth Williams (the mom to younger readers) stated they didn't know until after the scenes were shot. It's one of the reasons the myth of the films being cursed sprung up... that and a scary number of cast deaths including little Heather who played Carol Ann. I think she was only 12. The older sister from the first was murdered before the second one and I believe the creepy church guy from the second died during or right after filming.
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ALEXANDER DALE 3 years ago
They were not of actors. They were bought from a hospital, and after the scenes were shot, they were donated back to the hospital. It is better to not assume facts about something you know little about than to do so. This is how misinformation spreads.
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#60
TIL an RHS test building covered in ivy stayed 7.2C cooler then non covered buildings. The leave structure also kept the walls dry, lowering humidity and protecting it from corrosion
$cagsy 3 years ago
Spiders love ivy too which is why I don't have any. They like living in it and it cuts the commute from their nest to your open window.
DuchessDegu 3 years ago
My partner pulled out all the ivy growing outside the kitchen wall, despite my protests. The kitchen now is extremely hot during summer and extremely humid in cold weather that we need dehumidifiers running 24/7 or everything gets covered in mold. He still thinks it's better than having ivy "destroying the bricks"
Alexandru Bucur 3 years ago
I can attest to that - we have grapevine rather than ivy on the outside of the building, but it only reaches part way. My room/office window has it so I was perfectly fine with just a fan in the recent heatwave, whereas my wife can't sit in her room/office without the aircon on.
#61
TIL while studying flight or fight a biologist grouped guppies in 3 categories "bold" (inspect threat), ordinary (hide), timid (flee). He then put a bass in with the guppies, 40 percent of the timid guppies and 15 percent of the ordinary guppies survived while none of the bold guppies did.
Caleb R 3 years ago
Quick minor correction, the study actually involved the Endler's live-bearer (Poecilia wingei), not the common guppy (Poecilia reticulata), and it wasn't a bass, but a pike cichlid.
Izzy Curer 3 years ago
That must happen all the time in the wild. What's hard for me to wrap my head around is how the timid and ordinary groups continue to produce bold offspring.
Pieter LeGrande 3 years ago
Because one in every thousand bass is timid and the bold guppy gets a good feed for the whole school of fish.
Load More Replies... #62
TIL that Major League Baseball pitcher Ed Porray is the only player in league history to not be born in a country. He was born on a fishing boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on December 5th, 1888. His birth certificate lists "At sea, on the Atlantic Ocean" as his birthplace.
#63
TIL since 2004 the residents of La California, a town in Italy, have held farcical ballots for the United States presidential elections. Although votes cast by La California residents do not count, they still send the result of each election to the nearby US consulate in Florence
BetterBitterButter 3 years ago
During the 2022 French elections (and previous ones too) there were few voting centers in Indian territory of Pondicherry(and one in Chennai too).It used to be a French colony and some people still hold French citizenship.
#64
TIL that after constantly eat raw beef over a couple of years, a man in China eventually had a 20 foot long tapeworm living in his small intestine, and it turned out that the tapeworm had been inside his small intestines for at least 2 years.
#65
TIL the SEC pays 10-30% of the fine to whistleblowers whose info leads to over $1m fines
#66
TIL that scenes for Gladiator, Band of Brothers, Children of Men, Thor and Coldplay’s The Scientist were all filmed in the same woodland in Surrey
#67
TIL About 'Project 100,000', a Vietnam era program to recruit 100,000 men a year to fight America's war in southeast Asia. Many of the recruits were illiterate, had IQs of less than 70, or suffered from other mental or physical impairments. Thousands of the recruits died in combat.
JoJo Anisko 3 years ago
Whoever thought this up, whoever implemented it should rot in hell. If this opinion gets me banned, so be it.
gerard julien 3 years ago
"Project 100,000 was initiated by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara in October 1966 and was ended in December 1971"
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Norah Reilly 3 years ago
That sounds like something that probably most countries in the world have implemented at some point in their spotty histories.
Lowrider 56 1 year ago
In 1975, while in the Navy, part of my job was doing intake for newly arriving recruits. It was crazy the number of guys coming thru could barely read or write. One particular guy stood out, he couldn't even write his own name!!
#68
TIL that scientists managed to virtually reconstruct the destroyed planetary system of the star WD 1145+017 by analysing the debris field around the star. Giving birth to the field of astronomy dedicated to studying destroyed planets known as Necroplanetology.
Benita Valdez 3 years ago
See when you give a name like that it just puts in my head the image of zombie planets being raised
Freya the Wanderer 3 years ago
Destroyed planets? Uh-oh, the Death Star is for real! Oh wait, here comes Luke in his X-wing--
#69
TIL that Laos is the most heavily bombed country in history. An average of 55 bombs dropped per minute over 9 years.
Freddie Torsten 3 years ago
Oh yeah. It's because the American airplanes couldn't go back to base without dropping all their bombs so they dropped them over Laos instead. Been there and there are still certain paths you have to follow. And people also use the bomb casings for stuff, like flower pots etc.
Kevin Hickey 3 years ago
Plenty of good money to be made, supplying the army with the tools of the trade.
#70
TIL your belly button depth isn’t determined by the cut at birth, but just randomly how your stump heals.
FactcheckerGeneral 3 years ago
No, it's down to how the obstetrician ties the knot.
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Pieter LeGrande 3 years ago
I was always told it depended on what knot they used. And how does an 'outey' happen?
#71
TIL about Major Wilbert “Doug” Peterson, who managed to perform the first and only air-to-space kill in history when he shot down a satellite with a F-15A fighter jet on September 13, 1985.
IDK_Something 3 years ago
It was an American satellite. Destroyed in a test of an anti-satellite missile. Hope this helps!! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solwind
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Madeleine 3 years ago
Unless there was a person on the satellite it doesn’t make sense to count it the same way as combat deaths of people.
M O'Connell 3 years ago
It's a "kill" if the threat target was destroyed, regardless of whether life was lost or not. It would still count if he shot down an enemy aircraft, but its pilots parachuted successfully and lived.
Load More Replies... Taibhse Sealgair 3 years ago
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/first-space-ace-180968349/
#72
TIL The Salvation Army was originally opposed by and fought with The Skeleton Army which was composed of lower and working class citizens, punks and miscreants who objected to the SA's views on abstinence and temperence.
#73
TIL: Until 2013, foreign chefs in Japan were legally barred from working in restaurants specializing in traditional Japanese food and could only serve foreign cuisine. Japan changed its regulations for foreign chefs after traditional Japanese cuisine won UNESCO designation.
The Scout 3 years ago
This racims was a contributing factor in the demographical problems. Japan's population is over-aged, leading to a massive labour shortage, but the ethnocentrism of Japanese law and society makes it nearly impossible to solve this problem by immigration.
Load More Replies... #74
TIL that seaweeds, like kelp, are not plants. They belong in the kingdom Protista. Seaweeds lack the vascular system and roots of a plant; they can absorb the water and nutrients they need directly from the ocean.
CakeandNintendo 3 years ago
And seaweeds and kelp are both responsible for most of the Earth's oxygen, much more so than trees
Leigh Baker 3 years ago
There is a classification called non-vascular plants that includes algae, mushrooms, lichens, mosses, liverworts.
#75
TIL that there is an island between Spain and France whose administration alternates every 6 months between both nations.
theswallowii 3 years ago
The island is on the Bidassoa river. Louis the 13th met his Spanish bride to be (Ana of Austria) there. His son Louis the 14th met his Spanish bride to be - and cousin - (Maria Teresa of Austria) there too 40 years later.
Irish woman abroad 3 years ago
And what island would this be, considering Spain and France are mostly joined by land?
Shelly Provines Aû 3 years ago
Bet that gets confusing for the residents of said island, like which rules do we follow when.
#76
TIL Socrates wrote nothing. All that is known about him has been inferred from accounts by members of his circle—primarily Plato and Xenophon—as well as by Plato's student Aristotle, who acquired his knowledge of Socrates through his teacher.
Samantha Melnychuk 3 years ago
Weird that Xenophon's name breaks down to be literally strange sound, but the word together means historian or general.
#77
TIL the woman who created the green bean casserole is in the Inventor's Hall of Fame
#78
TIL that everyone with a prostate has a structure called Vagina Masculina (aka Prostatic utricle), homologous to the female vagina.
#79
TIL there is an egg-shaped dwarf planet called Haumea in our Solar System - its shape its due to incredibly fast rotation and it even has two moons.
#80
TIL: Spartans magistrates would declare war on their slaves every year so they were free to harm or kill them.
Leigh Baker 3 years ago
Sounds evil but couldn’t American slave owners do that at anytime without being charged with anything?
#81
TIL James Salisbury, inventor of the Salisbury steak, was a physician during the American Civil War. He was convinced that vegetables were responsible for heart disease and mental illness, and that Salisbury steak should be eaten three times a day for bodily defense and weight loss.
Rachel Grig 3 years ago
So he insisted on people using only his product, while criticizing other products? Sounds families.
M O'Connell 3 years ago
It wasn't really a product, but a recipe. The soldiers diet of the time was horribly lacking in protein, and his easily-digested beef dish (essentially a hamburger patty) resolved a number of common ailments related to poor diet.
Load More Replies... Izzy Curer 3 years ago (edited)
A lot of soldiers would get dysentary from the poor water quality of the camps, and usually what they had to eat would end up going rancid. This often consisted of hard biscuits that would get full of weevils, and sometimes veg if it was in season. So, James Salisbury began to do a bunch of dieting experiments on himself and a few colleagues. First, they all ate nothing but beans for a month. His journals mention they were all very gassy, so I bet that was fun. He also noted that the beans didn't digest fully, because he could still see parts of them in his stool. They went in to try a bunch of other different foods, eating them one at a time for a month, until he hit on salisbury steak. I'm sure giving sick soldiers some protein probably really did help them if they hadn't had any for a while. Salisbury steak is basically just a hamburger patty, made of ground beef, which he felt was easier to digest than a solid chunk of meat.
Seedy Vine 3 years ago
Salisbury steak grosses me out. It's like someone quit making ground beef half-way through.
#82
TIL Armie Hammer's great grandfather Armand Hammer tried to buy Arm & Hammer because was tired of being asked about it
Stephanie A Mutti 3 years ago
I remember the day in law school wondering just what the makers of Baking Soda did to be so discussed in Torts...
Upsidedowndemoness 3 years ago
Yeah, that family is being asked MUCH different questions these days...
#83
TIL Production on ALF was tense. The set was elevated and full of trap doors constantly being reset. Due to technical issues the 30 minute show took 20 to 25 hours to shoot. One especially stressful day Max Wright attacked ALF and the two had to be separated.
Upsidedowndemoness 3 years ago
Wait...ALF was a puppet. A human had to be separated from a puppet...that he was attacking?
Ty Stratton-Quirk 3 years ago
The truly embarrassing part was that ALF won the fight. While the puppeteer was out for lunch.
Load More Replies... Izzy Curer 3 years ago (edited)
Lol. For those who don't remember the show, Alf was a puppet. He was supposed to be this fuzzy alien creature who secretly lived with a suburban family. Basically Roger from American Dad. It was a live action sitcom.
#84
TIL the "official" death of President Zachary Taylor was an overconsumption of cherries and milk, but the cause of death has been the subject of conspiracy theories.
The pizza girl is here! 3 years ago
Comment fight! Bring it on.. the wildest theories you have!
#85
TIL there were chips made with Olestra that caused many to run to the restroom
Nunya Business 3 years ago
I distinctly recall a warning about Olestra that stated "May cause a**l oil leakage".
Stephanie A Mutti 3 years ago
Also they were NOT to be combined with spinach dip. BOY Was that a long weekend of weight loss...
Load More Replies... Benita Valdez 3 years ago
Yup. I remember when the complaints started. I never tried the chips though cuz I didn't want to risk the "leaking".
Kerri Russ 3 years ago
If people hadn't over eaten them, like they were free calories, there may not have been a problem with them. But Americans are pigs and over ate them like crazy, resulting in the aforementioned run to the restroom. If you ate them at a normal serving, there were no problems with a**l leakage.
#86
TIL In 1978, President Carter oversaw the installation of the first computers in the White House: a Hewlett-Packard HP 3000, water-cooled IBM laser printer, and Xerox Alto desktop computer for the Oval Office. Reagan later removed the Xerox Alto in 1981
DC 3 years ago
... and yet, a lot of those suffering from them regard him as a saint or above. It's like people in eastern germany would idolize Walter Ulbricht, despite his laughable appearance (which, to be fair, isn't something to accuse him of ... he couldn't help THAT) and horrific suffering he threw the people under his command into. But ... whatcha gonna do about it, stupid people act like sheep, following the butcher cheerfully, to get their throats cut for his profit...
Load More Replies... #87
TIL that Christopher Columbus' smaller two ships were not really named the Niña and the Pinta. The Niña was actually named the Santa Clara, but was nicknamed after its owner, Juan Niño of Moguer. The original name of The Pinta is lost, and is only known by its nickname (the painted one).
#88
TIL about Royce Williams who in 1952 was engaged in a one-man dogfight with seven MiG-15s that lasted 35 minutes.
General Anaesthesia 3 years ago
He did. He shot down 4 enemy planes, made it back to his carrier with 263 holes in his jet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royce_Williams
Load More Replies... #89
TIL more countries use the comma separator (17,6) than the point separator (17.6)
Izzy Curer 3 years ago
Now I'm curious if those countries actually equate to more people, though.
Hughes H-4 Hercules 3 years ago (edited)
U.S., India, and China use the decimal separator (0.1 for 1/10, not 0,1 for 1/10) so I'm going with most of humanity uses decimals (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_separator) Another source suggests that 76% of the world pop uses decimal separator compared to 24% using a version of comma separation (https://www.datacamp.com/tutorial/decimal-comma-or-decimal-point-a-googlevis-visualization)
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#90
TIL in 1999, Martin Lawrence collapsed from heat exhaustion while jogging in heavy clothing and a plastic suit in preparation for Big Momma’s House. He recovered in the hospital after entering a three-day near fatal coma due to a body temperature of 107 °F, his breathing assisted by a ventilator.
bottomless.abyss.of.bordem 3 years ago
The media tried to portray him as crazy, violent, and suicidal at the time, when all along it was a medical emergency. I guess heat exhaustion and dehydration are only acceptable reasons for skinny white ladies.
Tucson Dispatch 3 years ago
IF YOU EVER SAW RUN TELL DAT YOU KNOW MARTIN CAN HANDLE A RUBBER SUIT
#91
TIL Gregor Mendel's research into inheritance was largely ignored or misunderstood until Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns independently duplicated his works in 1900. Mendel's paper on plant hybridization had only been cited 3 times in the previous 35 years.
#92
TIL Canadian country/pop singer Shania Twain is the only female artist in history to have three consecutive albums certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); one of those albums - Come On Over - has been certified Double Diamond.
Vic D 3 years ago
I think you are talking about Celine Dion...Dion has sold an estimated of 200 million to 250 million records worldwide[38] and is recognized as one of the world's best-selling music artists.[39][40] In 2004, she received the Chopard Diamond Award at the World Music Awards recognizing her status as "the best-selling female artist" of all time.[41] In 2007, Dion was honored with the Legend Award at the World Music Awards in recognition of her global success and outstanding contribution to the music industry.[41] She's also the first and only female singer to have tallied three 8-million sellers in the US since 1991.[42] Her albums Falling into You, Let's Talk About Love, All the Way... A Decade of Song, The Colour of My Love and These Are Special Times are among the top 100 certified albums according to the RIAA.[43] Four of her albums (Let's Talk About Love, All the Way... A Decade of Song, Falling into You and These Are Special Times) are among top 10 of the best-selling Canadian album
#93
TIL In 1999 Tiger Woods hit a tee shot that landed behind a boulder. The boulder was ruled a 'loose impedement' which allowed it to be moved. Several of Tiger's gallery and his caddie worked together to move the boulder, allowing Tiger to birdie the hole.
#94
TIL that the popularity of "Doer" names for Boys - like Racer, Trooper, Charger, Wrangler, etc. - rose by 1000% between 1980 and 2000, and has since largely stabilized at around 50,000 "Doer" named Boys per year.
Izzy Curer 3 years ago (edited)
Boys get verb names, girls get noun names. Action versus object. Pick a category, and try to come up with an equal number of names for each sex. It's nearly impossible. Plant names, for instance. There are countless girl names based on vegetation, but very few for boys.
#95
TIL that David Blaine has over the course of a decade been buried alive for 7 days, encased in ice for 64 hrs, stood on 100ft high pillar for 35 hrs, survived only on water for 44 days and spent 7 days submerged underwater water
Irish woman abroad 3 years ago
I'm thinking that this guy should be locked up - but he'd probably enjoy it!
#96
TIL that CarMax was founded by the now-defunct consumer electronics company, Circuit City
#97
TIL Jelly has traditionally been savory. The oldest known meat jelly recipe is from the 10th-century cook book Kitab al-Tabikh and ingredients include boiled fish heads, vinegar, and whole onions. Jelly containing fruits would come later.
Bianca Saville 3 years ago
Calves foot jelly has been eaten for hundreds of years.
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#98
TIL about Amobi Okoye, who moved to the US at 12 without any knowledge of American Football before graduating at 16 with All-state honors. He turned down Harvard to play for Louisville and went on to become the youngest NCAA, and eventually youngest NFL player in history.
#99
TIL that the first touch screen in a car was in a 1986 Buick Riviera. The display offered automatic climate control, AM/FM radio with optional graphic equalizer, trip calculations, gauges and even the vehicles diagnostic info. This included status on the powertrain, brake wear and electrical system.
Victor Botha 3 years ago
Old fashioned rotary-knobs and slide controls are so much more tactile and infinitely easier to use. Vehicle designers have totally ignored the fact that we have over millenia, developed an extremely sensitive touch, that is why blind people are able to learn braille.
#100
TIL that the visual effects of the film, The Fountain, cost only a total of $140,000 on a budget of $35 million due to macro photographer Peter Parks’ creative solutions and a bare minimum of CGI.
Jos Tiguidou 3 years ago
One of the most beautiful movies ever made. A love story through the ages that largely went unnoticed.
Mere Cat 3 years ago
Thanks for this comment, made me check out more details. Adding it to my "want to see" list :)
Load More Replies... #101
TIL A report about American fast food consumption concludes people actually eat more fast food as their income levels go up
cecilia kilian 3 years ago
It would be interesting to know what demographic was included in this report. A very low income family who liveds on store brand franks and white bread, etc. might start getting more fast food if the wage-earners get better-paying jobs. I doubt that Bezos, Dorsey & the like eat much fast food.
Load More Replies... T'Mar of Vulcan 3 years ago
Well, in some countries (like South Africa), fast food isn't cheap. It's cheaper than going to a restaurant, but not by much. I never once went to a restaurant as a child. I think the first time my family went out to eat was when I was in my late teens. And yet we weren't poor.
#102
TIL of Carrie Nation, a woman who fought against the widespread alcohol consumption in the US before the prohibition by attacking saloons with a hatchet
Katie Lutesinger 3 years ago
"Boy, that lady with the hatchet really got me stirred up! I need something to steady my nerves! Pass the whiskey, Joe, be a pal."
CatFist 3 years ago
You mean that bi-weekly American history podcast? Where each week Dave Anthony tells a story from American history to his friend Gareth "Gary" Reynolds", who has no idea what the topic is going to be about? Yeah, I think I've heard of that podcast 😛
Load More Replies... #103
TIL that Alarm clocks did exist before the snooze function, so there was already a standard gear setup that innovators had to work with. Getting the gear teeth to line up to allow for exactly ten minutes wasn’t possible, so they chose to set it at nine minutes and a few seconds.
Freddie Torsten 3 years ago
No, it has gears. I guess the mobile people just kept on going with it
Load More Replies... #104
TIL in 2004 Volvo introduced a concept car that was built for women without a hood and dent-resistant bumpers
Irish woman abroad 3 years ago
Didn't you read the bit about the bumpers, grr, they were implying that women can't park.
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A Lad 3 years ago
this style crawled out of. Many people answering this question often say “Well, maybe they’re German.” Because Germans capitalize every noun. No no. These are English speakers. They, for some strange reason, just type in the most asinine way. I have the same issue with those who comment on my artwork. One egregious person particularly. Even after I told him not to. And this person is not German, is not an ESL. They are American. Which means they had an American education, went to an American school, and was taught American English. And in American English, we do not capitalize first letter of every single word. Not even in book titling is every word capitalized. But for some strange reason, these idiots want to go out of their way to capitalize every single word, which makes what they are typing difficult to read. And yes, typing this way is also very difficult as it requires you to hold down the shift key for the first letter of every word. This Is Not How You Type!” And
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A Lad 3 years ago
this style crawled out of. Many people answering this question often say “Well, maybe they’re German.” Because Germans capitalize every noun. No no. These are English speakers. They, for some strange reason, just type in the most asinine way. I have the same issue with those who comment on my artwork. One egregious person particularly. Even after I told him not to. And this person is not German, is not an ESL. They are American. Which means they had an American education, went to an American school, and was taught American English. And in American English, we do not capitalize first letter of every single word. Not even in book titling is every word capitalized. But for some strange reason, these idiots want to go out of their way to capitalize every single word, which makes what they are typing difficult to read. And yes, typing this way is also very difficult as it requires you to hold down the shift key for the first letter of every word. This Is Not How You Type!” And
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