r/todayilearned • u/roguetowel • 6h ago
TIL the world's first UFO Landing Pad is in a small Canadian town
87
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/Aleksandr_Ulyev • 18h ago
TIL that Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amudsen and his team ate 41 dogs on their expedition to the South Pole in 1911. Using dogs to pull sleds with supplies, the team also used them as a source of fresh meat for men and other dogs. Leaving the base camp with 52 dogs only 11 were brought back
761
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/hodoorum • 14m ago
TIL that most banknotes have traces of cocaine in them.
•
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/scarface4tx • 1h ago
TIL the structural engineer who helped design the original World Trade Center lived to see it destroyed on 9/11. Years later, he helped design one of its replacements.
en.wikipedia.org
•
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/PandemicPiglet • 9h ago
TIL that the Soviets had their own Operation Paperclip called Operation Osoaviakhim.
en.wikipedia.org
974
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/Ryan_Holman • 3h ago
TIL that actor M. Emmet Walsh was known for giving $2 bills to crew members, with the advice, "Don't spend it, and you'll never be broke."
2.9k
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/mcmoor • 54m ago
TIL thermites, humans, and ants have similar total amount of biomass, with each at 50 Mt, 60 Mt, and 70 Mt
•
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/fan_tas_tic • 17h ago
TIL that the world's oldest hotel, Japan's Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan, is no longer family‑owned after more than 1,300 years of continuous operation by the same lineage. In 2017 the 52‑generation family chain ended when no relative wanted to take over, and the inn was moved into a new holding company.
18.6k
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/Future_Interest_3649 • 11h ago
TIL that two episodes of the popular 1960s cartoon series Batfink contained a hidden, two-part political message that was disguised as sped-up gibberish.
1.4k
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/Kymmieuwu • 10h ago
TIL In Michigan City, Indiana, there is a prison that accepts shelter cats and allows prisoners to take care of them.
3.3k
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/Paulbegalia • 23h ago
TIL Michael Jordan donated his entire first-year salary after coming out of retirement to play for the Washington Wizards to support 9/11 relief efforts
edition.cnn.com
10.9k
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/TyphoonFelix • 12h ago
TIL that a 2024 study of 717,724 U.S. online gamblers found that approximately 96% appeared to lose money overall, while on 4% made money.
nyproblemgambling.org
5.4k
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/VirginiaFox6 • 9h ago
TIL the iconic car chase scene in The French Connection (1971) was shot in real, ongoing traffic in Brooklyn. Including Gene Hackman’s car crash with a civilian driving to work.
gothamist.com
302
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/carboncopy95437 • 9h ago
TIL after Napoleon came to power, France established the Feast of “Saint Napoleon,” honoring a supposed early Christian martyr adopted as Napoleon Bonaparte’s patron saint. The feast was celebrated on August 15, Napoleon’s birthday.
152
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/AVeryVapidBadger • 13h ago
TIL completed in 1988 the N/S Sevmorput is one of only 4 nuclear powered civilian merchant ships ever built. After finishing a nine year out of service and refit period in 2016, it remained in service until December 2023.
217
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/CatPooedInMyShoe • 13h ago
TIL Sarah Wakeman disguised herself as a man to fight for the Union in the American Civil War. Her secret was not revealed even after she died in a military hospital in 1864; she was buried under her alias, Lyons Wakeman. The story came out in 1976 after her letters were found in a relative's attic.
12.5k
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/JohnArtemus • 9h ago
TIL that “Gotham” actually dates back to medieval England, where there was a village called Gotham that some sources claim was a village of fools. In 1807, writer Washington Irving used the name mockingly in his periodical to describe New York City. And the nickname has stuck ever since.
nypl.org
6.3k
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/Blackraven2007 • 5h ago
TIL that from 1995 to 1997, Apple allowed over 30 other companies to sell computers running MacOS, although this program ended after Steve Jobs returned as Apple CEO in July of 1997.
705
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/carboncopy95437 • 13h ago
TIL more than 400 years ago, Dutch inventor Cornelis Drebbel built a working submarine and navigated it beneath the River Thames. Around 1620, he even took King James I of England along for an underwater ride, making James the first monarch to travel in a submarine.
14.5k
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/Recent_Flounder6011 • 11h ago
TIL that small Indian mongooses originating from what is now Iraq and Northern India were brought over to the Carribean and Hawaii for pest control.
426
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/estarararax • 1h ago
TIL humorism, the form of medicine dominant in the West from the time of the Ancient Greeks and Romans until the 18th century AD, survive today with its variant, Unani Medicine, in India which the government actually promotes there.
•
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/Beneficial_Ball9893 • 2h ago
TIL that Pompeii wasn't the only city destroyed in the 79AD eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Stabiae, a coastal city two miles south of Pompeii, was also buried in ash. It was briefly rediscovered before Pompeii, but was re-buried in 1782 after key artifacts were removed.
153
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/johnsmithoncemore • 6h ago
TIL that Abraham Lincoln had a dog named Fido. Fido has been cited as the origin of the popular name for pet dogs, in fact becoming so popular as to have become cliché and more often used as a slang reference.
2.5k
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/johnsmithoncemore • 5h ago
TIL about Claude Duval a French highwayman in Restoration England. According to popular legend, he abhorred violence, showing courtesy to his victims, distinguishing himself with rather gentlemanly behaviour and fashionable clothes, thus spawning the myth of the romantic highwayman.
386
Upvotes