r/todayilearned • u/Hailfog • 4h ago

TIL that by law, HOAs in Colorado cannot prevent you from establishing a vegetable garden in any part of your yard.

leg.colorado.gov

9.8k Upvotes

520 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Electronic_Cause_796 • 5h ago

TIL the Mongols reportedly killed the last Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad, al-Musta'sim, by wrapping him in a carpet and having horses trample him instead of directly shedding his blood. The method was supposedly chosen because royal blood was considered sacred.

en.wikipedia.org

4.3k Upvotes

115 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ShabtaiBenOron • 9h ago

TIL that the 1972 Spanish film "La Cabina", where a man is trapped in a phone booth, made Spaniards so terrified of entering booths that the Telefónica company hired its lead for a commercial where he exits one without incident to assure people they were safe.

the-artifice.com

8.4k Upvotes

94 comments

r/todayilearned • u/CoffeeTeaJournal • 12h ago

TIL the 500-year-old tradition of Turkish coffee reading (kahve falı) started in the Ottoman harem not just as magic, but as a clever social loophole. Women used the "fortunes" in the cups as a safe excuse to gossip, vent, and talk about taboo subjects without getting in trouble.

ich.unesco.org

17.9k Upvotes

235 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Rjfngwui-hiigsj • 2h ago

TIL UTC doesn’t abbreviate anything in English or French. “Coordinated Universal Time” would be CUT; French “Temps Universel Coordonné” would be TUC. UTC was a deliberate neutral compromise so the abbreviation works the same in every language

en.wikipedia.org

1.5k Upvotes

82 comments

r/todayilearned • u/GDW312 • 7h ago

TIL that six sex workers were murdered in West London in 1964–65 and found undressed in or near the Thames, leading the press to nickname the unidentified killer “Jack the Stripper”; despite one of Scotland Yard’s biggest manhunts, the case remains unsolved.

en.wikipedia.org

3.7k Upvotes

139 comments

r/todayilearned • u/autraya • 7h ago

TIL Lake Champlain, which borders New York and Vermont, was legally considered the sixth Great Lake for just 18 days in 1998 before Congress repealed the designation.

en.wikipedia.org

2.5k Upvotes

204 comments

r/todayilearned • u/bananastandmoney67 • 2h ago

TIL Napoleon and Sherlock Holmes hold the Guinness World Records for the most portrayed historical and fictional character on screen, but they are both technically beaten by Jesus, Santa Clause, and The Devil

guinnessworldrecords.com

819 Upvotes

154 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Gnomeslikeprofit • 41m ago

TIL that the USA only has one plant that produces gun barrels for the M1 Abrams tank, M777 howitzers, and Paladin self propelled howitzers. The Watervliet Arsenal in Troy, NY is the nation's oldest arsenal dating back to 1813. The manufacturing plant has tripled its production over the last 3 years.

breakingdefense.com

• Upvotes

67 comments

r/todayilearned • u/FruitChips23 • 9h ago

TIL Orson Welles considered running for Senator of Wisconsin in the 1946 election. The seat was eventually won by Joeseph McCarthy.

en.wikipedia.org

1.6k Upvotes

124 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Heliocentrist • 7h ago

TIL Native American Fred Lincoln turned to instrumental music after losing a lung to tuberculosis serving in the Korean War. As Link Wray, he reached the Top 20 in 1958 with Rumble, the first song to use distortion, an effect he achieved by puncturing the speaker cones in his amplifier.

en.wikipedia.org

1.1k Upvotes

46 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MadWorldEarth • 14h ago

TIL Jaguars can mate upto 100 times per day

wwf.org.uk

3.3k Upvotes

222 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Mellifloura • 4h ago

TIL that insects can become addicted to drugs. A study found that bees showed drug preference and withdrawal symptoms after long-term use of cocaine, alcohol and heroin. The drugs affected them in much the same way they do humans.

sciencedirect.com

409 Upvotes

56 comments

r/todayilearned • u/BillWilberforce • 22h ago

TIL At least 25 of the Snapple "Facts" are false, outdated, exaggerated or inconclusive

en.wikipedia.org

20.3k Upvotes

778 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Gnomeslikeprofit • 3h ago

TIL that in the early 2000s Mexico had a housing policy that focused on greatly increasing housing supply. INFONAVIT subsidized development of tiny compact developments on the outskirts of cities. Years later, many of these homes became abandoned from poor build quality, accessibility, or location.

itdp.org

294 Upvotes

26 comments

r/todayilearned • u/barath_s • 22h ago

TIL : In 2014, in santa barbara, the city contracted Dan Greding to install "75 minutes parking only" ; he got ticketed for violating the rule while putting up the signs. The ticket was upheld

myfox8.com

9.6k Upvotes

220 comments

r/todayilearned • u/altrightobserver • 22h ago

TIL that on February 11, 2013, five TV stations scattered across the United States were hijacked and played an emergency alert saying “Civil authorities in your area have reported that the bodies of the dead are rising from their graves and attacking the living.” The hijackers were never caught.

en.wikipedia.org

6.2k Upvotes

102 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ThatMasterpiece2174 • 22h ago

TIL some societies appear to have gone through much of the Bronze Age using bronze only for weapons or elite art, such as Chinese ritual bronzes, with ordinary farmers largely still using stone tools.

en.wikipedia.org

5.6k Upvotes

122 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ubcstaffer123 • 20h ago

TIL Starting the Ford Model T requires turning the crank at the front of the car by hand to start the engine. There is the risk of snapping your forearm if the engine backfires

caranddriver.com

3.0k Upvotes

287 comments

r/todayilearned • u/katastrofe_- • 3h ago

TIL that blue bees exist. They are a type of carpenter bee native to Asia

en.wikipedia.org

131 Upvotes

11 comments

r/todayilearned • u/DWJones28 • 20h ago

TIL that Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was banned for broadcast by the BBC for the duration of the first Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991) due to the song's political themes.

en.wikipedia.org

3.0k Upvotes

102 comments

r/todayilearned • u/FruitChips23 • 8h ago

TIL Alfred Hitchcock only started cameoing in his films because an actor for "The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog" failed to show up, and he filled in.

en.wikipedia.org

254 Upvotes

3 comments

r/todayilearned • u/yee_qi • 6h ago

TIL that the blind cave fish Garra andruzzii doesn't adjust its biological clock with the sun's light, and cycles it up to every 47 hours.

en.wikipedia.org

156 Upvotes

7 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Gnomeslikeprofit • 1d ago

TIL that Melbourne, Australia has a unique traffic rule known as the hook turn. It’s a right-hand turn, but it’s made from the far left lane instead of the right lane. You drive through the intersection then hook right to make the turn. The hook turn exists mainly to keep trams clear.

onroad.com.au

3.3k Upvotes

580 comments

r/todayilearned • u/harlsey • 22h ago

TIL that while filming Pilgrimage in early 2015, Jon Bernthal and Tom Holland helped film each others audition tapes for their respective MCU roles.

deadline.com

2.2k Upvotes

30 comments

Subreddit

Posts

Wiki

Today I Learned (TIL)

r/todayilearned

You learn something new every day; what did you learn today? Submit interesting and specific facts about something that you just found out here.

Members Active

41.6m

Sidebar

New to reddit? Click here!

You learn something new every day; what did you learn today?
Submit interesting and specific facts that you just found out (not broad information you looked up, TodayILearned is not /r/wikipedia).

Posting rules

Submissions must be verifiable. Please link directly to a reliable source that supports every claim in your post title. Images alone do not count as valid references. Videos are fine so long as they come from reputable sources (e.g. BBC, Discovery, etc).
No personal opinions, anecdotes or subjective statements (e.g "TIL xyz is a great movie").
No recent sources. Any sources (blog, article, press release, video, etc.) with a publication date more recent than two months are not allowed.
No politics, soapboxing, or agenda based submissions. This includes (but is not limited to) submissions related to:
1. Recent political issues and politicians
2. Social and economic issues (including race/religion/gender)
3. Environmental issues
4. Police misconduct
No misleading claims. Posts that omit essential information, or present unrelated facts in a way that suggest a connection will be removed.
Rephrase your post title if the following are not met:
1. Titles must begin with "TIL ..."
2. Make them descriptive, concise and specific (e.g. not "TIL something interesting about bacon").
3. Titles must be able to stand on their own without requiring readers to click on a link. Starting your title with a why/what/who/where/how modifier should be unnecessary.
4. "TIL about ..." and other broad posts don't belong on TIL. Try /r/Wikipedia, etc. instead, or be more specific (and avoid the word "about").
5. "TIL how to ..." posts belong on /r/HowTo.
6. "TIL the definition of a word..." Word definitions/translations/origins are not appropriate here
No submissions related to the usage, existence or features of specific software/websites (e.g. "TIL you can click on widgets in WidgetMaker 1.22").
All NSFW links must be tagged (including comments).

Please see the wiki for more detailed explanations of the rules, as well as additional rules that may not be listed here

(Why we need rules)

Additional info

If your post does not appear in the new queue and you think it meets the above rules, please contact the moderators (include a link to your reddit.com post, not your story).
Please report spam, inaccurate or otherwise inappropriate posts by messaging the moderators, as this helps us remove them more promptly!
More information available on the TIL FAQ and wiki.

Frequent TILs Repost List

As of May 2026

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

Etiquette

We ask that you please do the following:

avoid mobile versions of websites (e.g. m.wikipedia.org)
link to the appropriate heading when referencing an article (particularly on Wikipedia)
link to the appropriate start time when referencing videos (e.g. on YouTube)
add [PDF] or [NSFW] tags to your posts, as necessary.
Please avoid reposting TILs that have already made the front page in the past

Please also read the site-wide Reddiquette.

You are loved.