Today I Learned 🎓

08 July 2025 20:49

TIL a California serial killer dubbed the “Tipster Killer” would anonymously call a crime‑tip hotline after each of his murders—providing directions to his victims’ bodies so he could collect the reward. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 July 2025 18:49

TIL the Denver International Airport is guarded by a 32-foot-tall sculpture of a demonic horse. In 2006 it had killed its sculptor when he was in the middle of making it when a 9,000-pound section fell on him, but eventually was completed by his sons in 2013. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 July 2025 17:50

TIL after 8 long-expired medications were discovered in a retail pharmacy in their original, unopened containers, an anaylsis found that 12 of the 14 active ingredients in the medications had retained full potency for at least 28 years, with 8 of those 12 retaining full potency for at least 40 years [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 July 2025 16:49

TIL that after Franklin Roosevelt's death in 1945, President Harry Truman asked former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt what he could do for her. She replied, "Is there anything we can do for you? Because you're the one who's in trouble now." [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 July 2025 13:49

TIL that fetuses experience around 85 decibels of background noise (as noisy as a busy street) from the mother's body in the womb [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 July 2025 09:49

TIL Simpsons creator Matt Groening was born to Homer and Marge Groening (neé Wiggum) and two of his siblings are called Maggie and Lisa. His grandfather is Abram A. Groening [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 July 2025 05:49

TIL about Terry Wallis, who spent 19 years in a minimally conscious state following a 1984 car accident, suddenly spoke “Mom” on June 11, 2003, making him the longest documented coma‑like recovery with regained consciousness [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 July 2025 03:49

TIL that Catholic communion wafers (the Eucharist) are not permitted to come in gluten free varieties via decree from Pope Francis [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 July 2025 01:49

TIL the difference between Putt-Putt and mini golf: Putt-Putt courses have basic, minimalist designs with a strict par 2 on each hole. Mini golf courses are more tricky and elaborate, so the holes have pars up to 6. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 July 2025 00:49

TIL the owner of the WTC argued that the 9-11 attacks were 2 separate occurrences, and so therefore based on the contract terms, he deserved twice the insurance payout - the courts partially agreed and 9 of the 20 insurers had to pay double [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

07 July 2025 20:49

TIL of parasitic castration, a strategy of parasites, where the host's ability to reproduce is destroyed by the parasite, to its benefit [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

07 July 2025 19:49

TIL that the first journalist to report the outbreak of the Second World War was a rookie British reporter on her very first week on the job. While travelling along the German–Polish border, she spotted thousands of troops, tanks, and artillery massed for invasion. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

07 July 2025 18:49

TIL that natural gas is actually odorless, and the smell we associate with it was invented in the 1970s by British engineer Peter Hansen. He was asked to create the "nastiest smell" possible so people could detect gas leaks. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

07 July 2025 16:49

TIL sweet baked beans (like Bush’s) originate from Native Americans [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

07 July 2025 14:49

TIL Alexander Fleming on discovering penicillin was quoted as saying: “When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn’t plan to revolutionise all medicine by discovering the world’s first antibiotic, or bacteria killer. But I suppose that was exactly what I did.” [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 July 2025 20:49

TIL Frito-Lay introduced fat free chips in 1998. Initially successful sales started to drop as some customers started to report abdominal pains, anal leakage and other symptoms after eating them. A warning label was added, but they were eventually discontinued in 2016. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 July 2025 18:49

TIL that a mention of Chilean sea bass in Jurassic Park, coinciding with the FDA approving the fish’s culinary rebranding, caused demand for the fish to skyrocket [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 July 2025 16:49

TIL that some cities have a "night mayor" who is specifically in charge of developing a city's nightlife. The title originated in Amsterdam. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 July 2025 14:50

TIL that all Senators and senior members of the House, are assigned a one-room hideaway as private office. These rooms are not listed in any directory and doors are marked only by a room number. In 1945, Harry Truman learned of FDR's death while having cocktails in Sam Rayburn's hideaway. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 July 2025 10:49

TIL before becoming the first Xiongnu emperor, to be sure of his men's loyalty, Modu Chanyu commanded them first to shoot his favourite horse and one of his favourite wives. Any who refused were summarily executed. He became emperor by ordering his men to murder his father with arrows while hunting. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 July 2025 06:49

TIL that the abandoned Central State Hospital, formerly known as the Georgia State Lunatic, Idiot, and Epileptic Asylum, is surrounded by 25,000 unmarked graves [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 July 2025 04:49

TIL in 1967, Singapore experienced a mass panic over shrinking genitals; hundreds of men ran to hospitals convinced their penises were retracting into their bodies due to “genital retraction syndrome” [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 July 2025 03:49

TIL a French serial killer (Henri D. Landru) was exposed because he always bought round-trip train tickets for himself but only one-way tickets for the women he murdered [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 July 2025 01:49

TIL that in 2010 McDonald's recalled 12 million radioactive Shrek drinking glasses that were painted with dangerous levels of Cadmium. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

08 July 2025 00:49

TIL that Ryan Gosling was fired from The Lovely Bones after gaining 60 pounds for the role by drinking melted Häagen-Dazs ice cream. He had envisioned the character as overweight, but the director disagreed, leading to his dismissal. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

07 July 2025 20:49

TIL Céline Dion, along with her husband, filed a $5 million defamation lawsuit against the Quebec tabloid Allô Vedettes, which claimed that the couple paid $5,001 to rent the swimming pool of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas so that Dion could sunbathe topless and Angélil could go skinny dipping. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

07 July 2025 18:49

TIL The Beatles stopped playing live shows in 1966, primarily because they couldn’t hear themselves over their fans. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

07 July 2025 17:49

TIL Marco Polo's father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo Polo, preceded him in China and meeting Kublai Khan by several years. Because of this early voyage, Marco did not meet his father or uncle until he was fifteen years old. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

07 July 2025 15:49

TIL that Sweden recently moved the entire mining town of Kiruna a few miles east, because the local iron mine started encroaching under the town. All historic buildings were moved, piece by piece, to their new locations. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

07 July 2025 13:49

TIL that during the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony, NBC cut out the tribute to the London 7/7 bombing victims [Source]