Today I Learned 🎓

14 July 2025 17:49

TIL Willie Nelson released an album called “The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories?” with all the proceeds going to the IRS in order to clear his tax debts. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 July 2025 14:49

TIL actor Johnny Lewis killed his 81 year old landlady and her cat, attacked neighbors, then died from a fall. No drugs or alcohol were found in his system. His death was ruled accidental, and some believe untreated head trauma led to his violent behavior. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 July 2025 14:49

TIL Kansai International Airport in Japan averages 20-30 million passengers a year and it has not lost a single piece of luggage since opening in 1994. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 July 2025 12:49

TIL that the countries on the Indian subcontinent have won less gold medals at the Olympics (14 golds in total) than the Baltic countries (25), despite having more than 300x the population [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 July 2025 10:49

TIL about the Mirror Test, a method for determining whether a non-human animal has the ability of self-recognition when looking into a mirror. Elephants, chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas, dolphins and manta rays have successfully passed the test. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 July 2025 06:49

TIL that when the Crown Prince of Albania, Leka returned to Albania in 2022, he brought with him 11 cases of automatic weapons, grenades, and hunting arms. The authorities seized them but gave them back after being deemed items of cultural heritage. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 July 2025 02:49

TIL nobody is entirely sure why the beverage 7UP was named 7UP [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 July 2025 00:49

TIL 5 Kyoto temples have bloodstained ceilings taken from Fushimi Castle floorboards, site of a siege & mass suicide that delayed Ishida Mitsunari’s forces. This allowed Tokugawa leyasu to prepare for the battle of Sekigahara, unifying Japan. The ceilings honor the fallen samurai of Fushumi Castle. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

13 July 2025 23:49

TIL that Benjamin Franklin left about 1,000 pounds sterling in a trust for Boston and Philadelphia in his will. The money couldn’t be touched for 200 years. When it matured in the 1990s, Boston had over $5 million, which was used to fund scholarships and public works. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

13 July 2025 21:49

TIL Ron Gilbert, co-developer of the 1987 game "Maniac Mansion," coined the phrase "cutscenes" for the game's innovative use of non-playable videos that "interrupt gameplay to advance the story and inform the player about offscreen events." [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

13 July 2025 18:49

TIL that due to teasing, basketball player God Shammgod went by Shammgod Wells until high school. He only reverted to his birth name when he enrolled in college as he was told he would have to register under his legal name and could not afford to have it legally changed. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

13 July 2025 17:49

TIL in 2020 a man in Como, Italy stepped outside to cool off after fighting with his wife and ended up walking 450km. His walk eventually ended a week later when he was stopped in Fano and fined €400 for breaking the curfew. His wife, who had reported him missing, travelled to Fano to collect him. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

13 July 2025 16:49

TIL the German submarine U-864 was sunk along the Norwegian coast in 1945 with 67 tons of mercury on board. The wreck has contaminated nearby cod, cusk and crab, and there are plans to entomb the remains in sand and concrete. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

13 July 2025 11:49

TIL that Timothy Dexter (a wealthy but eccentric businessman) faked his death to see how many people would attend his funeral. Over 3,000 mourners showed up, but he revealed the ruse after berating his wife for not mourning enough. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

13 July 2025 10:49

TIL that the bacterium devastating millions of olive trees in Italy, causing over €5.5 billion in annual damages, has been traced back to a single infected coffee plant imported from Costa Rica in 2008 [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 July 2025 16:49

TIL the oldest human footprints ever found outside Africa are nearly 1 million years old, and were discovered on a beach in Norfolk, England. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 July 2025 14:49

TIL Citibank accidentally paid $893 million to Revlon's lenders in 2020, instead of $7.8 million that they meant to, mostly due to bad U.I. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 July 2025 13:49

TIL Prince Charles & Princess Diana only met in person 13x before getting engaged and when they were asked if they were in love, Charles said "whatever in love means". Then on the night before their wedding, he reportedly told her that he didn't love her in order to get everything out in the open. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 July 2025 11:49

TIL the name of the Australian outback town Coober Pedy, where almost everyone lives underground, translates to whitefellas hole in Aboriginal [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 July 2025 08:49

TIL the term "gaslighting" comes from a 1938 play where a man dims the gas lights in his home and convinces his wife she's imagining it, to make her think she's going insane. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 July 2025 02:49

TIL Roseanne Barr was hit by a car, and the car's hood ornament impaled her skull; the incident left her with a traumatic brain injury. Her behavior changed so radically that she was institutionalized for eight months at Utah State Hospital. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

14 July 2025 01:49

TIL the tradition of white wedding dresses were started by Queen Victoria. in 1840 Before then brides used their best dress of any color, even black ones. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

13 July 2025 23:49

TIL that Sylvester Stallone’s famous look is due to a nerve injury at birth, not Bell’s Palsy [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

13 July 2025 22:49

TIL during WWI, syphilis treatment was administered at a hospital over a 30-day period, thereby guaranteeing an escape from the frontline (even if temporary) for an infected soldier. The result was that some prostitutes in France with particularly bad syphilis infections could charge more. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

13 July 2025 20:49

TIL that Battle of Wounded Knee received disproportionate number of Medals of Honor when compared to some other battles and by some is considered a massacre given how many casualties were unarmed woman and children [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

13 July 2025 17:49

TIL that from 1992-1997, two-thirds of Albania’s population invested in state-backed pyramid schemes, with many people investing their life savings. When 25 schemes collapsed, civil unrest erupted, lasting over six months, toppling the government and requiring UN intervention to restore order. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

13 July 2025 16:49

TIL that on 13 July 1985, the US leg of Live Aid was opened by a complete unknown called Bernard Watson - an 18yo high school graduate from Miami Beach with no professional musical experience. He slept outside the stadium for a week to convince Bill Graham - the concert's promoter - to let him play. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

13 July 2025 14:49

TIL that in 1929, Jimmy Doolittle made the first flight using only instruments, with the cockpit windows blacked out. Proving pilots could fly “blind.” This paved the way for modern aviation. He later led the famous 1942 Doolittle Raid, the first U.S. airstrike on Japan in WWII. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

13 July 2025 10:49

TIL that during the 1990 Spanish Grand Prix, F1 driver Martin Donnelly survived a terrifying 140 mph crash that flung him onto the track while still strapped to his seat, as his car split in half. His injuries were so severe that a priest was called to administer last rites. He survived. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

13 July 2025 09:49

TIL on the US West Coast, particularly Northern California, it's more common to play "Ro-Sham-Bo", instead of "Rock-Paper-Scissors". [Source]