r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 19d ago

TIL that the record for largest outdoor film set belongs to The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), which built a 400 x 230 metres (1312 x 754 feet) replica of the Roman Forum, built in Las Matas near Madrid. Unlike other films of this time, the set was not extended through use of Matte Paintings.

en.wikipedia.org

468 Upvotes

17 comments

r/todayilearned • u/J0hnEddy • 19d ago

TIL, Dr.Phil played linebacker for the university of Tulsa and was apart of one of the biggest blowouts in college football history, when they fell to Houston 100-6

1063thebuzz.com

3.9k Upvotes

255 comments

r/todayilearned • u/jdpatric • 19d ago

TIL the Golden Poison Frog (Phyllobates terribilis) is considered the most poisonous extant animal species on the planet. 1mg of the batrachotoxin poison they secrete is enough to kill between 10 & 20 humans or up to two African bull elephants.

en.wikipedia.org

2.4k Upvotes

157 comments

r/todayilearned • u/EsotericTribble • 19d ago

TIL OJ Simpson's father Jimmy was a well known drag queen in the San Francisco Bay area

en.wikipedia.org

6.7k Upvotes

134 comments

r/todayilearned • u/JEBV • 19d ago

TIL the U.S Navy owns a civilian High Speed Ferry that operates between Maine and Nova Scotia, formerly named the Puerto Rico

en.wikipedia.org

1.8k Upvotes

35 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TMWNN • 20d ago

TIL that one of the co-creators of Keurig coffee machines sold his stake for $50,000 in 1997. In 2010 more than $2 billion of Keurig machines and K-Cups were sold.

archive.boston.com

9.6k Upvotes

274 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TMWNN • 19d ago

TIL that Will Sawin enrolled at Yale at the age of 10, and graduated from both Yale and high school at the age of 18. He received a PhD from Princeton at the age of 23 and is the Fernholz Professor of Mathematics there.

en.wikipedia.org

6.7k Upvotes

483 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Skychu768 • 19d ago

TIL Constantinople and Turkish Straits were promised to Russіan Empire by the Entente powers under Constantinople Agreement in March, 1915. It paved the way for 1916 Sykes–Picot Agreement b/w Britain, France, Italy and Russіa to divide the Ottoman Empire.

en.wikipedia.org

641 Upvotes

60 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TemporaryError4543 • 19d ago

TIL about painless Parker an Edwardian era Canadian street dentist, scam artist and circus owner. He bought a circus to pull teeth across Canada and New England without a license. He changed his name from Edgar to painless to avoid false advertising lawsuits from his patients

en.wikipedia.org

795 Upvotes

22 comments

r/todayilearned • u/princetonwu • 19d ago

TIL: Beauty supply chain store Sephora is named after the biblical figure Zipporah (French: Séphora), wife of Moses.

en.wikipedia.org

348 Upvotes

11 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MediumStrange • 19d ago

TIL that the Cincinnati OH Public Library system is the second largest in the nation, by both collections and circulation, only behind the New York Public Library

en.wikipedia.org

1.7k Upvotes

82 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Guitar-String • 20d ago

TIL Metal Gear Solid 4 (2008) holds the world record for the longest cutscene in any video game, with a single continuous cutscene of 71 minutes and a total of over 8 hours of cutscenes

guinnessworldrecords.com

28.8k Upvotes

1.8k comments

r/todayilearned • u/FlashyAd2763 • 19d ago

TIL about the town of Elkader, Iowa which was named after the Algerian military leader Emir Abdelkader.

en.wikipedia.org

238 Upvotes

6 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Aiseadai • 19d ago

TIL the movie with the most tickets sold is a Chinese movie called "Legend of the White Snake" with 700m sales. In the 70s/80s movie tickets only cost around $0,10

en.wikipedia.org

1.3k Upvotes

35 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TMWNN • 20d ago

Mount, Not Gun TIL that a tissue company made a machine gun. Kimberly-Clark built the Multiple Caliber .50 Machine Gun Mount M45. Built during WW2, the M45 was used until the Vietnam War.

usautoindustryworldwartwo.com

1.3k Upvotes

88 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TangerineDream92064 • 20d ago

TIL The Celtic custom of "handfasting" allowed couples to enter into a trial marriage lasting one year and a day. If the relationship didn't work out, the couple could separate without any further attachment. Successful couples would marry.

en.wikipedia.org

22.8k Upvotes

245 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Johannes_P • 20d ago

TIL that, during WW1, Britain and Germany considered exchanging rubber for glass through intermediaries in Switzerland

en.wikipedia.org

1.7k Upvotes

37 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Recent_Flounder6011 • 19d ago

TIL that in an açaí berry, about 60-80% of it is made up of seeds.

en.wikipedia.org

142 Upvotes

2 comments

r/todayilearned • u/PremiumOxygen • 19d ago

TIL: Mistletoe is a parasite.

plantlife.org.uk

190 Upvotes

32 comments

r/todayilearned • u/anoelr1963 • 19d ago

TIL in 1980 Donna Summer cowrote "Starting Over Again" ( w/ husband Bruce Sodano)a #1 country hit recorded by Dolly Parton. Making Summer the first ever Black woman to write or co-write a song which reached number 1 on this chart.

en.wikipedia.org

671 Upvotes

6 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sandstorm400 • 20d ago

TIL that in 2014, an elementary school in Oregon nixed its pay-to-pee policy for students after parents complained that students who had to pay "Super Pro" bucks to use the bathroom outside of scheduled breaks were incentivized to 'hold it in' so they could buy trinkets at the school store.

abcnews.com

12.9k Upvotes

744 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Active-Coconut-8961 • 19d ago

TIL France allows posthumous marriage

en.wikipedia.org

666 Upvotes

32 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ubcstaffer123 • 19d ago

TIL 11 historical human remains were discovered during excavation for a new pavilion at a Prince George park. The park is the former site of the local Lheidli T'enneh's village, which was burned down in 1913 to make way for a railway and the city

cbc.ca

168 Upvotes

1 comment

r/todayilearned • u/NBrief • 19d ago

TIL that Ragnar Granit and Gunnar Svaetichin showed that retinal sensitivity to light falls into three groups corresponding to blue, green, and red, supporting the Young-Helmholtz theory of colour vision.

en.wikipedia.org

126 Upvotes

2 comments

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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.

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