Today I Learned 🎓

26 June 2025 00:49

TIL that to join the Civilian Conservation Corps, candidates were required to have at least six teeth. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

25 June 2025 22:49

TIL that there is a constructed language called Toki Pona that is by perfectly usable, but it is minimalistic by design and has only 120-140 basic words. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

25 June 2025 20:49

TIL that according to PER, the basketball analysis statistic that attempts to incorporate all aspects of a player's game, the best NBA player of all time is Nikola Jokić [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

25 June 2025 19:49

TIL that George Washington died with a net worth of $594.2 million in today’s money, and drew a presidential salary of $25,000 (~$900k today) which was around 2% of the government’s budget at the time. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

25 June 2025 17:49

TIL that just like Sephardi Jews have a Judeo-Spanish language (Ladino) and Ashkenazi Jews have a Judeo-German language (Yiddish), Italian Jews have their own Judeo-Italian language (Italkian) which is today spoken natively by 250 people, most of them in Italy [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

25 June 2025 14:49

TIL. Astronauts left mirrors on the moon for scientists on earth to bounce lasers off. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

25 June 2025 12:49

TIL that when an escalator was first installed in a London department store "customers unnerved by the experience were revived by shopmen dispensing free smelling salts and cognac" [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

25 June 2025 07:49

TIL A French Man in 2004 Survived 34 Days Lost in a cave without access to food and almost no water. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

25 June 2025 04:49

TIL that ‘Gone With the Wind’ was the only novel by Margaret Mitchell that was published in her lifetime. She wrote a novella which wasn’t published until four decades after her death, a novelette which was rejected by publishers and a novel which is now considered lost. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

25 June 2025 03:49

TIL deep penetrating "earthquake bombs", made of almost 50% high-tensile steel, were invented by Barnes Wallis, the British inventor of the bouncing bomb used by the Dambusters in WW2. The 22,000lb / 10,000kg Grand Slam was the largest non-nuclear bomb used in WW2. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

24 June 2025 23:49

TIL The difference between cupcakes and muffins lies in how the ingredients are mixed. Muffins are a quick bread with gently combined ingredients. Cupcakes are made from well blended batter [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

24 June 2025 21:49

TIL that after the city of Tbilisi flooded in 2015, numerous animals including big cats, wolves, bears, hyenas and a hippo escaped the Tbilisi Zoo and had to be rounded up by police. An African penguin made it all the way to the border of Azerbaijan. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

24 June 2025 20:49

TIL that in the Middle Ages, scholars and alchemists were alleged to be assisted by a Brazen Head, an automaton that could answer any question asked of it. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

24 June 2025 20:49

TIL when the Luxembourgish runner Josy Barthel unexpectedly won gold in the 1500 metres in the 1952 Helsinki Olympic games, the band improvised a tune since they didn't have the sheet music for the anthem of Luxembourg [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

24 June 2025 19:49

TIL there are organisms that live in the clouds. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

25 June 2025 23:49

TIL that in 1906, a serial killer in Morocco was sentenced to death by immurement (being walled in). [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

25 June 2025 22:49

TIL the process of making meat Kosher involves specifically the removal of the sciatic nerve due to the belief that Jacob had his sciatic nerve injured by an angel. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

25 June 2025 20:49

TIL that the population density of Manhattan is 40% lower now than it was back in 1910, when it reached its peak population of 2.2M, compared to its now-present population of 1.6M. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

25 June 2025 18:49

TIL that aftershocks from the 1868 Hawaiʻi earthquake have continued until the present day -- after more than 150 years! [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

25 June 2025 16:49

TIL that the first women in America to earn a PhD in computer science was a Catholic nun, Sister Mary Keller [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

25 June 2025 13:49

TIL of the Church of Adonitology, which is a religion where it’s followers worship women with big butts [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

25 June 2025 09:49

TIL at Animal Kingdom in Disney World balloons aren’t allowed so they created a “balloon daycare” where your balloon is stored and they’ll give you a report card about its day and its activities. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

25 June 2025 06:49

TIL that 1 in 12 men and 1 in 250 women are colourblind [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

25 June 2025 04:49

TIL in demonology, among guys with such names as Azazel or Paimon, there is a demon named "Leonard" [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

24 June 2025 23:49

TIL Galapagos tortoises have been known to kill the finches that groom them for parasites. The tortoise will suddenly retract its limbs to lay flat, and purposely fall on the bird, killing it and consuming it for protein. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

24 June 2025 22:49

TIL that there is a strategy for winning competitive debates called “spreading”, which involves making as many arguments as possible within a short time so that the opponent is unable to respond to them all. The technique has been described as unfair and as “sounding like a cattle auctioneer”. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

24 June 2025 21:49

TIL in 2009 a Maryland wastewater treatment plant was found to be inhabited by over 100,000,000 orb-weaving spiders, the largest recorded aggregation in history. The entire facility was covered in dense sheets and volumes of webbing, leading to it being nicknamed it the "Back River Arachnotopia". [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

24 June 2025 20:49

TIL Apple had a third co-founder, Ronald wayne, who sold his 10% shares for just $800 in 1976--today, that would be worth around $300 billion [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

24 June 2025 20:49

TIL that the 23 year reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius is considered the most peaceful in the history of the Roman Empire. There’s no record of Antoninus leading any military action, and it’s likely he likely never saw or commanded a Roman army or came within 500 miles of a legion during his reign. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

24 June 2025 19:49

TIL on November 11, 1918, the US Navy's 14-inch railway guns were last fired at 10:57:30 to ensure that the shells would impact just before the 11am armistice [Source]