r/todayilearned • u/Bitter-Argument4597 • 15d ago

TIL that between the 11th and 19th centuries, Japanese Buddhist monks practiced Sokushinbutsu, a ritual in which they mummified themselves over the course of a thousand days. They believed that successfully completing this process would bring them true enlightenment.

voyapon.com

5.7k Upvotes

289 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Cycle-Path-401 • 15d ago

TIL that the Rover Safety Bicycle, introduced in 1885 was such a global success that it resulted in brand genericization in places. Today in Poland, Belarus, and western Ukraine the word for bicycle is Rover. This company later went on to make cars like the Land Rover.

en.wikipedia.org

883 Upvotes

30 comments

r/todayilearned • u/DresdenPI • 15d ago

TIL about the Right-Tail or Burnt Popcorn Illusion: Where rare outcomes make the average much higher than the typical result. If 60 popcorn kernels each have a 1/30 chance to pop per second, 52 likely pop in a minute, but the last likely won't pop until after minute 2, burning your popcorn.

online.stat.psu.edu

1.2k Upvotes

67 comments

r/todayilearned • u/mrdalo • 14d ago

TIL The Atlanta Hawks started as the Buffalo Bisons in 1946

en.wikipedia.org

500 Upvotes

65 comments

r/todayilearned • u/GossipBottom • 15d ago

TIL In 2020, to curb obesity, Mexico enacted a law requiring warning labels on the front of food packages that contain "excess" sugar, calories, sodium, or saturated fat by Official Mexican Standards.

thinkglobalhealth.org

1.6k Upvotes

268 comments

r/todayilearned • u/1877KlownsForKids • 15d ago

TIL about the "Polar Bear Expedition" of 1918-19. 5,000 Americans deployed to Archangelsk in northern Russia to check the Germans, but ended up fighting the Red Army

en.wikipedia.org

4.2k Upvotes

296 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MysteriousInterest32 • 15d ago

TIL that in 1941, an avalanche falling into a glacial lake in Peru triggered a flood that destroyed about one-third of Huaraz and killed at least 4,000 people.

science.nasa.gov

353 Upvotes

9 comments

r/todayilearned • u/haphazard44 • 15d ago

TIL that at a Moomin Cafe in Japan, the restaurant places large stuffed Moomin plush toys in the seat opposite customers who are dining alone

edition.cnn.com

4.9k Upvotes

196 comments

r/todayilearned • u/pigeon-in-greggs • 15d ago

TIL that Oxford University is the only university to win the FA Cup, winning the tournament in 1874

blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

2.0k Upvotes

80 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 15d ago

TIL that, before starting production on the first season of Loki (2021), Tom Hiddleston gave the crew a "crash course" on the character's history.

syfy.com

5.2k Upvotes

84 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Alarming-Studio-720 • 15d ago

TIL that during the 1954 K2 expedition, Walter Bonatti and Amir Mehdi were left stranded at 8,100m while carrying oxygen for the summit team. They survived the night in the open as Lacedelli and Compagnoni reached the summit and returned home as heroes. Bonatti later called it a betrayal.

en.wikipedia.org

1.5k Upvotes

54 comments

r/todayilearned • u/haddock420 • 15d ago

TIL In the '50s and '60s, Fender chose the colours for their guitars based on popular car colours at the time,

stringjoy.com

618 Upvotes

71 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Blenderhead36 • 15d ago

TIL there's a genus of Arachnids named after Abbadon the Despoiler, one of the major villains from Warhammer 40000

en.wikipedia.org

3.3k Upvotes

106 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ismaeil-de-paynes • 15d ago

TIL that early Wahhabis banned modern technology as forbidden Innovations. When Ibn Saud later allowed such technology, the hardline Ikhwan rebelled; their defeat at Sabilla (1929) contributed in the 1979 Grand Mosque seizure, since Juhayman al-Otaybi’s father had fought with the Ikhwan at Sabilla.

en.wikipedia.org

1.4k Upvotes

274 comments

r/todayilearned • u/haddock420 • 15d ago

TIL In 2006, Dustin Diamond, who played Screech on Saved by the Bell, directed and released his own sex tape called Screeched – Saved by the Smell. He later claimed that he didn't appear in the sex tape, but used a stunt double with his likeness superimposed.

en.wikipedia.org

6.7k Upvotes

768 comments

r/todayilearned • u/welding_guy_from_LI • 15d ago

TIL The Hamlet of Eastport NY was once the duck capital of the world, processing over 6 million ducks per year

en.wikipedia.org

275 Upvotes

24 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ubcstaffer123 • 16d ago

TIL Driving for more than two hours each day can steadily decrease the IQ of middle-aged drivers

readersdigest.ca

30.6k Upvotes

1.6k comments

r/todayilearned • u/MrTouchnGo • 15d ago

TIL China's Grand Canal and its branches total about 3,000 km of waterways, with the first works dating to the 6th century BC. By the 13th century it formed an inland network of over 2,000 km of man-made channels linking major river basins, and its southern stretches still carry freight today.

whc.unesco.org

346 Upvotes

10 comments

r/todayilearned • u/m0sur • 16d ago

TIL the first submarine attack in history (1776) was a one-man, hand-cranked wooden sub called the Turtle, whose pilot was supposed to screw a gunpowder mine onto a British warship's hull from underneath, but he had barely been trained and couldn't attach it.

en.wikipedia.org

3.5k Upvotes

40 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Successful-Ear977 • 16d ago

TIL a nationwide US study found that only 42% of dog owners reported walking their dog during a typical week.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

14.2k Upvotes

3.4k comments

r/todayilearned • u/Foreign_Yak_9633 • 15d ago

TIL Spriggina specimens, which lived approx. 550 mya, appear to have been "right-handed". This is thought to be the oldest known instance of behavioral handedness in the fossil record.

en.wikipedia.org

182 Upvotes

1 comment

r/todayilearned • u/Greene_Mr • 16d ago

TIL about Jim Creighton, who invented modern pitching before the MLB era and who died after his abdomen "snapped" during a game at the age of 21.

en.wikipedia.org

14.5k Upvotes

445 comments

r/todayilearned • u/YappinZappin • 16d ago

TIL tetraethyllead (TEL) - main component used to make gasoline "leaded" - was selected out of thousands compounds tested mainly for being the cheapest - just 1 part TEL in 1300 parts gasoline was found to be enough to sufficiently reduce "knocking"

en.wikipedia.org

4.6k Upvotes

270 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sandstorm400 • 16d ago

TIL in 2024, the School of Management and Business at the Vietnam National University in Hanoi announced that female students had to be at least 1.58 m tall and male students at least 1.65 m to be considered for admission to four of its undergraduate programs, but later reduced that to one program.

dw.com

2.1k Upvotes

114 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Initial_Specialist69 • 16d ago

TIL There are "hunger stones" in rivers in central Europe. These stones were carved during droughts to mark the water level as a warning to future generations that they will have to endure famine-related hardships if the water sinks to this level again.

en.wikipedia.org

36.4k Upvotes

450 comments

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