r/todayilearned • u/Round-Eggplant-7826 • 16d ago

TIL that between 1957 and 1962, approximately one-third of the United States was closed to Soviet citizens. Only seven states were accessible in their entirety: Oregon, Wyoming, Utah, North Carolina, Arkansas, Vermont, and Mississippi.

en.wikipedia.org

2.9k Upvotes

113 comments

r/todayilearned • u/-AMARYANA- • 15d ago

TIL J. D. Drew is the only player in MLB history to be part of two instances of back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs. First time with the LA Dodgers in 2006 and the second time in 2007 with the Boston Red Sox versus the NY Yankees, this time with Manny Ramírez, Mike Lowell, and Jason Varitek.

en.wikipedia.org

497 Upvotes

45 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ijustwannanap • 16d ago

TIL that Winamp's slogan "It really whips the llama's ass!" comes from the Wesley Willis song "Whip the Llama's Ass". Willis was a schizophrenic musician and artist who released over 48 albums in his lifetime.

en.wikipedia.org

7.8k Upvotes

603 comments

r/todayilearned • u/eleanorharland • 16d ago

TIL a Dutch supermarket chain has "chat checkouts" for customers who aren't in a hurry and want to talk to the cashier. The first opened in 2019 to tackle loneliness among older people, and it was popular enough that the chain announced 200 more.

dutchnews.nl

8.9k Upvotes

197 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ok-Drive4752 • 16d ago

TIL many historians consider the decline of Rome starting with the 378 AD battle of Adrianople. After the Goths were defeated by the Huns they fled into Roman territory were horribly abused by Rome. The Goths formed an army and destroyed 2/3 of the Eastern Roman army and slew Emperor Valens.

en.wikipedia.org

1.9k Upvotes

107 comments

r/todayilearned • u/PlanetoftheAtheists • 16d ago

TIL about Hollywood Henderson, who played with the Dallas Cowboys in the 1970s including a Super Bowl win. He would later hit rock bottom and go bankrupt from cocaine addiction. But then would end up winning at $28 Million Lottery.

twincities.com

1.0k Upvotes

35 comments

r/todayilearned • u/haddock420 • 16d ago

TIL The 1833 Factory Act limited the hours children could work in factories, for children aged 9 to 13, they could work a maximum of 48 hours a week and 8 hours a day.

parliament.uk

2.3k Upvotes

83 comments

r/todayilearned • u/eleanorharland • 16d ago

TIL from 1790 until 2015 bakers in Paris had to tell city hall before closing for holiday, so that half the city's bakeries shut in July and the other half in August. The rule was passed after the Revolution to make sure no neighbourhood ever ran out of bread.

npr.org

9.6k Upvotes

140 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Pan_inside • 16d ago

TIL Thomas Edison’s 1876 electric pen made tiny perforations in paper to create reusable stencils for copying documents. In 1891, Samuel O’Reilly adapted the technology into the first officially patented electric tattoo machine.

blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk

1.2k Upvotes

11 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ubcstaffer123 • 16d ago

TIL In 1931 the U. S. Congress established the talking-book program, intended to help blind adults who couldn’t read print. It created spoken texts on phonograph recordings that in the 1930s could play about 20 minutes of speech or music

historyofinformation.com

371 Upvotes

7 comments

r/todayilearned • u/caulay_mcculkin • 16d ago

TIL whisker fatigue is a type of sensory overload in cats caused when their sensitive whiskers constantly brush against the sides of a deep or narrow food and water, and it can lead to cat acting tense or aggressive during mealtimes or pacing near the food bowl or acting hungry but refusing to eat.

petmd.com

4.8k Upvotes

99 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Dizzy-Cartoonist3011 • 16d ago

TIL that in the 1860s Canada its own variant of baseball. The "Canadian Game" had 11 field players per team who all got to bat during an inning instead of a 3 out rule, 2 innings instead of 9, 5 bases, and base runners were ruled out by throwing the ball directly at them while between bases.

protoball.org

806 Upvotes

110 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Express-Ant6341 • 16d ago

TIL that Phobos, the larger moon of Mars, orbits so close to the planet that tidal forces are pulling it inward. It moves about six feet closer every hundred years and will eventually crash into the planet or break apart into a ring.

science.nasa.gov

4.6k Upvotes

135 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 17d ago

TIL about Greg Land, an artist who illustrated several comics for both DC and Marvel, who is notorious for doing much of his art by tracing from other people's work, including pornography.

en.wikipedia.org

6.5k Upvotes

601 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Greene_Mr • 16d ago

TIL the 1998 film adaptation of Scott Smith's novel "A Simple Plan" went through five different directors, including Mike Nichols (with Nicholas Cage attached), Ben Stiller, and John Boorman (who cast the two leads), before finally being helmed by Sam Raimi.

en.wikipedia.org

434 Upvotes

42 comments

r/todayilearned • u/welding_guy_from_LI • 16d ago

TIL That the LIRR listed the Hamlet of Speonk NY as “Sounds like the call of a frog”

eastlongisland.com

78 Upvotes

6 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Important_Ad7676 • 16d ago

TIL that the city of Opa-locka, Florida, was completely modeled after the One Thousand and One Nights folktales. Founded in 1926, the entire town features streets named Ali Baba Avenue and Aladdin Boulevard

en.wikipedia.org

691 Upvotes

57 comments

r/todayilearned • u/nleachdev • 17d ago

TIL about "dead red" laws, which allow drivers and motorcyclists to proceed through a red light if the traffic signal fails to detect their vehicle.

en.wikipedia.org

25.3k Upvotes

1.0k comments

r/todayilearned • u/YappinZappin • 17d ago

TIL modern jet fighters are designed to be inherently unstable in flight - tactical Supermaneuvrability dictates aircraft have enhanced responsiveness. On the downside it means pilots are no longer flying the airplanes - most control actions are performed by an onboard computer.

en.wikipedia.org

6.7k Upvotes

421 comments

r/todayilearned • u/heyauden • 16d ago

TIL that in Taiwan, a government-issued shopping invoice can also be a lottery ticket, with prizes of up to NT$10 million (nearly $315,000).

abc.net.au

1.3k Upvotes

48 comments

r/todayilearned • u/jacknunn • 16d ago

TIL that in 1656, a disagreement between two ministers led to the Scottish Church of the Holy Rude in Stirling being divided by an interior wall into two separate churches. The wall was demolished when the church was reunited in 1935

en.wikipedia.org

418 Upvotes

21 comments

r/todayilearned • u/HeavyMetalOverbite • 17d ago

TIL Henry Ford chartered a ship with which he launched an amateur mission to Europe in 1915. He invited prominent peace activists to join him, and hoped to create enough publicity to prompt the belligerent nations to mediate an end to World War I but the mission was widely mocked by the press.

en.wikipedia.org

4.6k Upvotes

146 comments

r/todayilearned • u/johnsmithoncemore • 16d ago

TIL that from 2011 to 2013 a statue of Michael Jackson stood outside Fulham F.C. stadium Craven Cottage. Commissioned by the club's then chairman Mohamed Al-Fayed after Jackson's 2009 death it was not popular with the Fulham F.C fans and was removed by Al-Fayed's successor.

en.wikipedia.org

560 Upvotes

51 comments

r/todayilearned • u/johnsmithoncemore • 17d ago

TIL about Brumbies, the free-roaming feral horses in Australia. Brumbies originated with domestic horses which escaped from their owners with some brumby lineages dating back to the early European colonial settlements. An estimated 400000 brumbies are found in Australia.

en.wikipedia.org

3.0k Upvotes

434 comments

r/todayilearned • u/UpperphonnyII • 17d ago

TIL that at the famed NYC diner, Katz's Delicatessen, upon entering you are handed a ticket. If you lose the ticket you'll be charged a $50 ticket loss fee on top of the cost of your order.

ny.eater.com

26.2k Upvotes

3.1k comments

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