Today I Learned 🎓

17 April 2025 16:49

TIL that the longest hiccuping spree lasted 68 years. Charles Osborne, from the USA, hiccuped continuously from 1922 to 1990, totaling over 430 million hiccups. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

17 April 2025 15:50

TIL Alan Turing was known for being eccentric. Each June he would wear a gas mask while cycling to work to block pollen. While cycling, his bike chain often slipped, but instead of fixing it, he would count the pedal turns it took before each slip and stop just in time to adjust the chain by hand [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

17 April 2025 12:49

TIL height surgery is a thing— (mostly) men are enduring months of pain, bone-breaking procedures, and intense rehab just to get a few inches taller. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

17 April 2025 08:49

TIL that the UAE enforces and moniters traffic laws using AI driven cameras. Any violations results in a SMS giving either a fine or a warning [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

17 April 2025 05:49

TIL before the modern ambulance, funeral homes used hearses to bring patients to the hospital. This is because the hearse was often the only vehicle long enough to fit a stretcher inside. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

17 April 2025 00:49

TIL that the original iPhone that Steve Jobs presented on stage in January 9, 2007 was a buggy, barely functioning prototype and that the device was finalised just weeks before retail release. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 April 2025 23:49

TIL in 1903, Serbia’s unpopular King Alexander and Queen Draga Mašin were brutally assassinated in their bedroom. The autocratic king had suspended the constitution multiple times, and the couple was loathed by the public and military. Their bodies were tossed from a balcony in piles of manure. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 April 2025 22:49

TIL that the Nintendo DS was never meant to replace the Game Boy line of systems, but to act as a “third pillar” between the Game Boy Advance and the GameCube. This was so Nintendo could just continue releasing Game Boys if the DS flopped. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 April 2025 20:49

TIL that the original iPhone that Steve Jobs presented on stage in January 9, 2007 was a buggy, barely functioning prototype and that the device was finalised just weeks before retail release. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 April 2025 19:49

TIL North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un lived in Switzerland from 1992 until 2000, where he attended a private school, and was described as "well-integrated". [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 April 2025 17:49

TIL John D'Amato, mobster and acting boss of the DeCavalcante crime family in New Jersey, was murdered in January 1992 after he was suspected of engaging in homosexual activity. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 April 2025 16:50

TIL Atlantis-believer Graham Hancock gave a TEDx talk in 2013 where he openly claimed to have been “pretty much permanently stoned” for 24 years. He credits his consumption of ayahuasca with helping him get off cannabis. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 April 2025 14:49

TIL Irvin Rosenfeld has received medical marijuana from the government since 1982. He smokes 10-12 joints a day for his bone cancer, and receives a shipment of 300 joints every 25 days. The program was set up by the federal government in 1982 for cancer and glaucoma patients but was later disbanded. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 April 2025 11:49

TIL Nasa buys Taco Bell tortillas for space missions because they have up to a one year shelf life [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 April 2025 08:49

TIL in Japan, there are more pets than children. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

17 April 2025 15:50

TIL Two candidates for the 1889 Paris Exhibition were a 300 meter high watering can - or guillotine. Instead the Eiffel Tower won out. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

17 April 2025 13:49

TIL that the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of Earth’s oceans, descends nearly 11 kilometers (about 36,000 feet) into complete darkness. Down there, temperatures are near freezing, and the pressure is over 1,000 times greater than at sea level enough to crush most human-made submarines. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

17 April 2025 09:49

TIL that most planes are painted white to save fuel and reflect sunlight keeping the plane cooler and reducing the need for air conditioning [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

17 April 2025 07:49

TIL about endospores - bacteria that can lie dormant in permafrost for over 10,000 years [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

17 April 2025 03:49

TIL there exists an Italian exclave within Switzerland named Campione d’Italia. It is only one square mile in area and it houses Europe’s largest and oldest casino [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 April 2025 23:49

TIL that as far as 5,000 B.C., people believed the false notion that the unmistakable pain that we now recognize as a toothache was caused by a tiny tooth worm, which was thought to bore into its victims’ teeth. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 April 2025 22:49

TIL that the term "FOMO" (Fear of Missing Out) was coined by Harvard MBA student Patrick J. McGinnis in a 2004 article. FOMO is recognized in psychology as a phenomenon linked to anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 April 2025 22:49

TIL in 2015, a 70 year old man in China spent 57 days in the hospital after a panda arrived at his farm and attacked him. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 April 2025 19:49

TIL the habit of sitting on the toilet too long, even if one isn't straining, significantly increases the risk of hemorrhoids [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 April 2025 17:49

TIL a 17-year-old boy in Cardiff was murdered in a contract killing carried out at the wrong address. The killers mistook him for someone else over a £1,000 hit. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 April 2025 17:49

TIL of Atsumi Yoshikubo, a Japanese tourist who vanished while solo hiking in Canada's Yellowknife region. Despite her personal and professional achievements, Atsumi was a deeply troubled woman who apparently wandered off into the Canadian wilderness with no intention of being found. She was. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 April 2025 16:50

TIL: Ernesto Miranda, Namesake of the Miranda Rights, Sold Autographed 'Miranda Cards' with the Warning Text for $1.50 Each in Phoenix After His 1972 Parole, Later Found Dead with Cards on His Body After a 1976 Bar Fight Stabbing [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 April 2025 13:49

TIL that Since May 2022, Wendy Williams has been living under a legal guardianship that oversees both her finances and health. Williams was assigned a guardian after Wells Fargo froze her accounts in 2022, a result of her financial adviser claiming that she was of “unsound mind,” [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 April 2025 09:49

TIL that while the human brain comprises only 2% of total body weight, it uses 20% of the oxygen breathed and 20% of energy consumed. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 April 2025 06:49

TIL there is an endangered crafts list in the UK called "the red list " [Source]