Today I Learned 🎓

16 June 2025 17:49

TIL in December 2018, lean finely textured beef(pink slime) was reclassified as "ground beef" by the Food Safety And Inspection Service of the United States Department Of Agriculture. It is banned in Canada and the EU. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 June 2025 16:49

TIL First Lady of the Confederacy Varina Davis did not support slavery, supported women's suffrage, and always thought the Confederacy was doomed to lose the war. Her tenure as First Lady was described as, "a disaster," mostly because people noticed her ambivalence to the role. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 June 2025 15:49

TIL that when the Britannic, which was the sister ship of the Titanic, struck a German mine and began to sink, two lifeboats full of passengers left the ship without permission and were pulled into the vessel’s rotating propellers. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 June 2025 11:49

TIL The record for most stolen bases in one season of professional baseball is held by a woman. Sophie Kurys playing for the Racine Belles, stole 201 bases during the 1946 season. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 June 2025 07:49

TIL that even though Gomez Addams is a Spaniard, he's only been played by Anglo American, Italian American and (lately) Latino actors, never by a Spaniard. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 June 2025 04:49

TIL the highest blood alcohol level reported in a child or adolescent who survived occurred in 1995 when a 15-year-old boy survived a BAC of 0.757%. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 June 2025 01:49

TIL the U.S. banned commercial nuclear fuel reprocessing in 1977, even though it could safely recover about 95% of the energy left in spent fuel (aka 'waste'). [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 June 2025 00:49

TIL that from the 1940s through the 1970s, all Ivy League colleges and Seven Sisters colleges (as well as Swarthmore) required all incoming freshmen to pose nude ostensibly to gauge the rate and severity of rickets, scoliosis, and lordosis in the population. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 June 2025 22:49

TIL the folktale "The Smith and the Devil" found in the Grimm Brothers' Compilation of tales was traced back to Proto-Indo-European roots in the Bronze Age (6000 years ago) with "high certainty" [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 June 2025 20:49

TIL there's a conspiracy theory in China that says that most of Western history is a hoax. They believe that most of the history of Ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt is fabricated. For instance, they believe Greek sculptures and architecture can't be from that time because "they're too refined" [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 June 2025 17:49

TIL despite receiving criticism from some religious groups, the 1973 film “Jesus Christ Superstar” was beloved by Pope Paul VI. He told director Norman Jewison: “Not only do I appreciate your beautiful rock opera film, I believe it will bring more people to Christianity than anything ever has.” [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 June 2025 16:49

TIL that Jeremy Clarkson’s mother, Shirley Clarkson, designed and created the very first Paddington Bear toy in the early 1970s, prototypes that she made for Jeremy and his sister later became a licensed product that funded his education and helped launch his TV career [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 June 2025 15:49

TIL Paper is the best option on the first throw in a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors when playing against inexperienced players because they tend to lead with Rock. And Scissors is the best option on the first throw against experienced players because they won't lead with Rock as it'd be "too obvious" [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 June 2025 13:49

TIL People with social anxiety disorder have a different gut microbiome - transplanting their microbiome to mice causes the mice to suffer from increased social fear [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 June 2025 12:49

TIL: During WWII, the Germans built a fake wooden airfield to deceive the Allies. After months of observation, the Royal Air Force dropped a single fake wooden bomb on it. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 June 2025 16:49

TIL of The British pet massacre, where an estimated 750,000 cats and dogs, a quarter of England's pet population, were euthanized due to a government pamphlet suggesting the public do so, at the beginning of WW2. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 June 2025 16:49

TIL New Zealand was removed from the US' "Nuclear Umbrella" in 1986 as punishment for advocating global disarmament, which means that any country could strike them without facing retaliatory (nuclear) strikes. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 June 2025 14:49

TIL about Central Western Time (UTC+08:45) - a miniscule timezone located in Australia used only by a handfull of roadhouses along the Eyre Highway, one of which is the small Cocklebiddy community. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 June 2025 11:49

TIL that ants can recognize themselves in a mirror. In an experiment, blue dots were marked on ants' heads. When presented with a mirror, 23/24 tried removing the dot. Without the mirror, none tried to remove the dot, and nor did a control marked in a non-contrasting colour. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 June 2025 05:49

TIL that Sega released Phantasy Star Online on Dreamcast in North America on January 30, 2001. On January 31, 2001 Sega announced it would discontinue the Dreamcast and restructure as a third-party developer. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 June 2025 04:49

TIL that Blue Öyster Cult were forced to ban cowbells from their concerts after the SNL sketch, and never featured the instrument live until after it aired [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 June 2025 01:49

TIL a nationwide survey conducted by the CDC (and using data collected from 1999-2002) found that 29% of American men and 9% of women reported to have had at least 15 sexual partners in their lifetime. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 June 2025 23:49

TIL that crocodiles are more closely related to pigeons than they are to any lizard. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 June 2025 20:49

TIL after Betty White (88), the second oldest SNL host was Miskel Spillman who hosted at 80 years old. She was the winner of SNL’s “Anyone Can Host” contest and remains the only non-celebrity to ever host the show [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 June 2025 19:49

TIL that the paint used on aircraft can noticeably reduce fuel efficiency by ~1%, which is why many are white [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 June 2025 17:49

TIL the US military uses jet fuel (JP-8) not only in planes, but in ground vehicles like tanks aswell [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 June 2025 15:49

TIL The US military wasn’t allowed to invade North Vietnam. Resulting in the use of an extreme amount of heavy bombing as effectively the only way to attack the North’s forces within the North. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 June 2025 13:49

TIL the word Wiener is German for 'Viennese.’ While this word is commonly used in German to refer to Vienna sausage, in Austria the food is usually called Frankfurter Würstl [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 June 2025 12:49

TIL that Colombia had a period in its history called the "Dumb Homeland" period because of how incredibly dumb their politicians acted at the time. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 June 2025 10:49

TIL British Delegates Negotiating the Treaty of Paris, Recognizing American Independence, Felt so Ashamed for Having to Accede to Colonials That They Refused to Pose for the Portrait Marking the Occasion, by Famed Painter Benjamin West, Leaving it Unfinished [Source]