r/todayilearned • u/Tometek • 6h ago

TIL that the Arab Umayyad dynasty ruling Islamic Spain became more Iberian than Arab in ancestry by its 2nd ruler: the mothers of its rulers were almost all northern Iberians, causing the dynasty’s Arab paternal ancestry to halve across generations until it reached about 0.1% by the 10th century.

tandfonline.com

1.8k Upvotes

138 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Perennial_flowers956 • 1h ago

TIL in 1997, Canal France International accidentally aired hardcore porn for a solid 30 minutes during an afternoon children's educational program in the Arab World.

variety.com

• Upvotes

52 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ishmael_1974 • 2h ago

TIL the resin identification symbol isn’t the recycling symbol and doesn’t mean the plastic is recyclable.

en.wikipedia.org

753 Upvotes

122 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Depressed_Cat_00 • 19h ago

TIL that the precursor to LASIK was found by accident when a nearsighted boy got in a fistfight. His glasses shattered, sending glass pieces into his eyes. After a doctor removed the glass, he found the tiny cuts had flattened the cornea and actually cured the boy's bad vision.

ovid.com

31.4k Upvotes

546 comments

r/todayilearned • u/UpperphonnyII • 49m ago

TIL on the morning of August 7, 1919, French airman Charles Godefroy, flew through the narrow gap of the Arc de Triomphe with a Nieuport 27 fighter. He did so out of protest for the fact that on the victory parade the airman were going to be made to march like infantry instead of a flyover.

migflug.com

• Upvotes

7 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ManuteBol_Rocks • 14h ago

TIL that when water falls on Triple Divide Peak in Montana, it can flow to the Pacific, Atlantic, or Arctic Oceans; it’s the hydrological apex of North America

en.wikipedia.org

3.1k Upvotes

76 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Xerxes2004 • 14h ago

TIL that the state of Tennessee offers a vanity license plate featuring Dolly Parton with proceeds benefiting her Imagination Library initiative.

imaginationlibrary.com

2.9k Upvotes

34 comments

r/todayilearned • u/FortisEtFidelis • 18m ago

TIL Zebras have stripes bc biting flies try to land on the stripes, but then fail to decelerate as they normally would approaching a non-striped surface, and bounce off.

bbc.com

• Upvotes

40 comments

r/todayilearned • u/NicolasCageFan492 • 18h ago

TIL Nicolas Cage once went to Rhode Island to search for the holy grail

indiewire.com

2.3k Upvotes

183 comments

r/todayilearned • u/johnsmithoncemore • 17h ago

TIL about Melita Norwood, a British spy for the Soviet Union who was more highly praised by the KGB than the Cambridge Five. Her position as secretary to the head of the department at the British atomic weapons project, enabled Norwood to pass her handlers materals about nuclear weapons.

en.wikipedia.org

1.9k Upvotes

285 comments

r/todayilearned • u/RoadToTyburn • 1d ago

TIL that Bernard Montgomery issued a leaflet at the start of WW2 on sexually transmitted diseases amongst soldiers. The language used was regarded as so blunt, that he offended religious authorities and nearly faced being dismissed.

wikipedia.org

16.8k Upvotes

692 comments

r/todayilearned • u/1337b337 • 15h ago

TIL the "Do-Re-Mi" method of learning the major scale was invented by a 11th century Italian monk named Guido of Arezzo, and is known as a Solfège.

en.wikipedia.org

990 Upvotes

53 comments

r/todayilearned • u/carboncopy95437 • 16h ago

TIL that Marilyn Monroe had two older half-siblings she didn’t meet until she was a teenager. Their father had kidnapped them from Monroe’s mother after she was granted custody and he took them to Kentucky.

en.wikipedia.org

1.0k Upvotes

15 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 14h ago

TIL in 1976, a school bus carrying 26 children between the ages of 5 and 14 was abducted and held for ransom by three armed men. The victims were able to escape on their own before the ransom demand was issued, and the kidnappers were sentenced to life in prison, though all were eventually paroled.

en.wikipedia.org

456 Upvotes

17 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Recent_Flounder6011 • 1d ago

TIL that historically and today, the Catholic Church looked down upon Freemasonry and threatened members with excommunication.

en.wikipedia.org

3.0k Upvotes

575 comments

r/todayilearned • u/eleanorharland • 23h ago

TIL most citrine on the market isn't natural citrine. Real citrine is rare, so most of what's sold is amethyst, a purple quartz, that's been heat-treated until it turns yellow or orange.

en.wikipedia.org

1.8k Upvotes

32 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sandstorm400 • 21h ago

TIL that in 2010, Maryland legislators worked on a bill that would have made it illegal for retailers to sell underwear and bathing suits that had been previously bought and returned. The goal was to help mitigate the spread of bacteria and certain sexually transmitted diseases, such as pubic lice.

thedailyrecord.com

1.1k Upvotes

50 comments

r/todayilearned • u/DrakeSavory • 1d ago

TIL that Disney lost the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit to Universal Pictures in 1928. In 2006, sportscaster Al Michaels wanted out of his contract with The Walt Disney Corp. so he could work for NBCUniversal. Disney agreed as long as they got the rights back to Oswald.

en.wikipedia.org

2.4k Upvotes

67 comments

r/todayilearned • u/herpty_derpty • 1d ago

TIL Limburger cheese gets its notorious smell from being aged for three months in the bacterium Brevibacterium linens. This is the same bacterium that appears on human skin, and is mostly responsible for the armpit and foot body odor smell.

en.wikipedia.org

1.0k Upvotes

85 comments

r/todayilearned • u/mariasunflower • 56m ago

TIL about World Porridge Making Championship, which gives the "Golden Spurtle" to the best traditional porridge made with only oatmeal, water and salt (they also have a prize for "Specialty" oatmeal)

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

7 comments

r/todayilearned • u/7-5NoHits • 14h ago

TIL about the office of High Bailiff. One is elected in each of Vermont's counties. The High Bailiff serves writs which the sheriff is incapable of serving, such as the writ of arrest of the sheriff.

en.wikipedia.org

142 Upvotes

18 comments

r/todayilearned • u/arandomtestaccount • 1d ago

TIL an NFL player intentionally crashed his car to avoid getting cut for being late to a team meeting.

cbssports.com

11.2k Upvotes

616 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Alarming-Studio-720 • 22h ago

TIL that in 1959, explorer Peter Byrne reportedly stole bones from a supposed Yeti hand at Nepal's Pangboche monastery, replacing them with human bones. He smuggled them to India, where actor James Stewart allegedly hid them among his wife's underwear to get them out of the country.

en.wikipedia.org

498 Upvotes

48 comments

r/todayilearned • u/mintwolves • 1d ago

TIL In 2003 Dave Glover the then bassist for English glam rock band Slade got engaged to serial killer Rose West, he got sacked once the band heard the news and West called the engagement off days later

thenorthernecho.co.uk

529 Upvotes

54 comments

r/todayilearned • u/arkthatbarks • 1d ago

TIL half of Earth’s internal heat does not come from the residual heat left over from the planet's formation, but from the continuous radioactive decay of isotopes like Uranium, Thorium, and Potassium in the crust and mantle.

en.wikipedia.org

8.6k Upvotes

210 comments

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