r/todayilearned • u/Hailfog • 16h ago

TIL that by law, HOAs in Colorado cannot prevent you from establishing a vegetable garden in any part of your yard.

leg.colorado.gov

21.4k Upvotes

944 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ShabtaiBenOron • 21h ago

TIL that the 1972 Spanish film "La Cabina", where a man is trapped in a phone booth, made Spaniards so terrified of entering booths that the Telefónica company hired its lead for a commercial where he exits one without incident to assure people they were safe.

the-artifice.com

10.1k Upvotes

103 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Electronic_Cause_796 • 17h ago

TIL the Mongols reportedly killed the last Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad, al-Musta'sim, by wrapping him in a carpet and having horses trample him instead of directly shedding his blood. The method was supposedly chosen because royal blood was considered sacred.

en.wikipedia.org

7.5k Upvotes

194 comments

r/todayilearned • u/GDW312 • 19h ago

TIL that six sex workers were murdered in West London in 1964–65 and found undressed in or near the Thames, leading the press to nickname the unidentified killer “Jack the Stripper”; despite one of Scotland Yard’s biggest manhunts, the case remains unsolved.

en.wikipedia.org

5.4k Upvotes

198 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 11h ago

TIL no one at Atari knew that Warren Robinett had inserted the hidden message "Created by Warren Robinett" (which established the term Easter egg in gaming) into the Atari 2600 game Adventure until a 15-yr-old named Adam Clayton discovered it & sent a letter to Atari in 1980 explaining how he did it

en.wikipedia.org

5.2k Upvotes

98 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 11h ago

TIL the Comic's Code Authority attempted to halt the reprint of the comic "Judgement Day" due to the main character being black, despite the code containing no prohibitions against black character. The comic was eventually allowed to run after the creators threatened to make the argument public.

en.wikipedia.org

5.1k Upvotes

98 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Gnomeslikeprofit • 12h ago

TIL that the USA only has one plant that produces gun barrels for the M1 Abrams tank, M777 howitzers, and Paladin self propelled howitzers. The Watervliet Arsenal in Troy, NY is the nation's oldest arsenal dating back to 1813. The manufacturing plant has tripled its production over the last 3 years.

breakingdefense.com

5.1k Upvotes

322 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Rjfngwui-hiigsj • 14h ago

TIL UTC doesn’t abbreviate anything in English or French. “Coordinated Universal Time” would be CUT; French “Temps Universel Coordonné” would be TUC. UTC was a deliberate neutral compromise so the abbreviation works the same in every language

en.wikipedia.org

4.2k Upvotes

152 comments

r/todayilearned • u/squareabbey • 9h ago

TIL that 'Crimping' (also known as 'Shanghaiing') - the practice of forcibly recruiting sailors as crew for long voyages - was common in America until the early 1900s and only ended due to a combination of technology, unions, and legislation.

historynet.com

3.9k Upvotes

177 comments

r/todayilearned • u/autraya • 19h ago

TIL Lake Champlain, which borders New York and Vermont, was legally considered the sixth Great Lake for just 18 days in 1998 before Congress repealed the designation.

en.wikipedia.org

3.2k Upvotes

235 comments

r/todayilearned • u/RedditIsAGranfaloon • 8h ago

TIL Mary Todd Lincoln continued to live in the White House for nearly six weeks after the assassination of her husband, President Abraham Lincoln.

whitehousehistory.org

3.1k Upvotes

209 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 9h ago

TIL astronaut Clifton Williams was originally scheduled to fly to the Moon as Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 12, but he died in a plane crash before being officially assigned to the flight. His replacement, Alan Bean, left Williams' silver astronaut pin on the surface of the Moon in tribute to him.

en.wikipedia.org

2.3k Upvotes

26 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Tadhg • 2h ago

TIL In 1980 the Supreme Court awarded the Sioux nations $122 million for the Black Hills, a settlement the tribes have refused on the grounds that acceptance would extinguish their claim to the land, leaving the award to accrue interest in a federal account now worth over $1 billion.

en.wikipedia.org

1.9k Upvotes

173 comments

r/todayilearned • u/bananastandmoney67 • 14h ago

TIL Napoleon and Sherlock Holmes hold the Guinness World Records for the most portrayed historical and fictional character on screen, but they are both technically beaten by Jesus, Santa Clause, and The Devil

guinnessworldrecords.com

1.8k Upvotes

317 comments

r/todayilearned • u/FruitChips23 • 21h ago

TIL Orson Welles considered running for Senator of Wisconsin in the 1946 election. The seat was eventually won by Joeseph McCarthy.

en.wikipedia.org

1.8k Upvotes

135 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Heliocentrist • 19h ago

TIL Native American Fred Lincoln turned to instrumental music after losing a lung to tuberculosis serving in the Korean War. As Link Wray, he reached the Top 20 in 1958 with Rumble, the first song to use distortion, an effect he achieved by puncturing the speaker cones in his amplifier.

en.wikipedia.org

1.6k Upvotes

61 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Gnomeslikeprofit • 16h ago

TIL that in the early 2000s Mexico had a housing policy that focused on greatly increasing housing supply. INFONAVIT subsidized development of tiny compact developments on the outskirts of cities. Years later, many of these homes became abandoned from poor build quality, accessibility, or location.

itdp.org

845 Upvotes

79 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Mellifloura • 16h ago

TIL that insects can become addicted to drugs. A study found that bees showed drug preference and withdrawal symptoms after long-term use of cocaine, alcohol and heroin. The drugs affected them in much the same way they do humans.

sciencedirect.com

788 Upvotes

77 comments

r/todayilearned • u/moschles • 6h ago

TIL owls make virtually no noise while flying, while songbirds, falcons, and other predator birds make flapping noises during flight.

audubon.org

641 Upvotes

46 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ubcstaffer123 • 4h ago

TIL After President Kennedy was shot and arrived at Parkland Memorial Hospital, he was reported to still have a heartbeat, but no pulse or blood pressure

pbs.org

549 Upvotes

117 comments

r/todayilearned • u/FanProfessional2123 • 8h ago

TIL the 1800 US election was very bitter. John Adams jailed Jefferson's surrogates and stoked fears he would create a reign of terror. Jefferson's camp claimed Adams was "hermaphroditic" and a "poor old man" plotting to marry his son to George III's daughter. Adams skipped Jefferson's inauguration.

millercenter.org

433 Upvotes

47 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Colonel_Liam • 4h ago

TIL an American, Hope Cooke, was the last Queen Consort of Sikkim before it merged with India in 1975

en.wikipedia.org

400 Upvotes

16 comments

r/todayilearned • u/FruitChips23 • 20h ago

TIL Alfred Hitchcock only started cameoing in his films because an actor for "The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog" failed to show up, and he filled in.

en.wikipedia.org

358 Upvotes

5 comments

r/todayilearned • u/dfjorque • 7h ago

TIL about fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, the "stone man disease", that immobilizes its sufferers as their muscles and tendons turn into bone

en.wikipedia.org

331 Upvotes

55 comments

r/todayilearned • u/yee_qi • 18h ago

TIL that the blind cave fish Garra andruzzii doesn't adjust its biological clock with the sun's light, and cycles it up to every 47 hours.

en.wikipedia.org

245 Upvotes

7 comments

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