Today I Learned 🎓

17 July 2025 13:49

TIL that Melbourne is 20km closer to Antarctica than is to Darwin Australia. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

17 July 2025 10:49

TIL Swimmer's Itch is considered to be an emerging infectious disease you can get simply swimming in slow-moving rivers, lakes or ponds [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

17 July 2025 08:49

TIL there was a Marine who was a duck, Sergeant Siwash, and was also awarded a Purple Heart. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

17 July 2025 04:49

TIL of John O’Niell who followed Osama Bin Laden while at the FBI said “we’re due for something big” the night before dying in the World Trade Center on Sept 11, 2001, where he worked as the head of security since Aug 2001. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

17 July 2025 00:49

TIL the most successful German u-boat commander—who sank 193 ships and 453,000 tons of material throughout WW1—was known to strictly follow prize law, giving civilian ships adequate time to evacuate on lifeboats and directions to the nearest port [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 July 2025 21:49

TIL the only organization to have ever operated full scale nuclear facilities without a single serious safety incident is the US Navy, largely credited to the work of Hyman G Rickover [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 July 2025 17:49

TIL Madrid nearly tripled its metro network in 12 years from 71mi (114km) to 197mi (317km). One 35 mile expansion program cost as much as 1.5 mile extension in NYC adjusted for inflation. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 July 2025 16:49

TIL only 3.5% of Norway's land is considered arable land [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 July 2025 15:49

TIL that when a formerly Christian person converts to some varieties of Slavic neopaganism, they undergo a formal ceremony called raskrestitsia (de-Christianization) which involves kneeling on twigs, as priests carrying fire walk around them in a circle. At the end, they receive a scoopful of mead. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 July 2025 13:49

TIL that the Apollo spacesuits were designed and hand-stitched by seamstresses from Playtex, better known for making bras and girdles. Their 21-layer A7L suit design, built for NASA, beat competing military prototypes and provided astronauts with mobility and thermal insulation. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 July 2025 09:49

TIL The diameter of the Earth times 108 is the diameter of the Sun. The diameter of the sun times 108 is the distance between the Earth and Sun. The diameter of the moon times 108 is the distance between the moon and Earth. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 July 2025 06:49

TIL that pencils were invented after a massive deposit of solid graphite was discovered in England, being the only place in the world with pieces large enough to cut into solid rods. England's monopolies over these lead other countries to smuggle graphite and recycle graphite powder. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 July 2025 01:49

TIL that James H. Salisbury, the inventor of Salisbury steak, was an early proponent of germ theory and invented his steak to prevent diarrhea [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 July 2025 00:49

TIL that opossums almost never carry rabies due to their lower body temperature [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 July 2025 22:49

TIL that in the 1900 Summer Olympics, the Dutch team recruited a young boy from the crowd to be their coxswain. He ran off after the team won and his identity remains unknown. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

17 July 2025 11:49

TIL that while Avocados are mostly used in savory dishes in the West, they’re often enjoyed as desserts in Southeast Asia [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

17 July 2025 09:49

TIL about Perrine, Florida - In 1948, after it elected a black mayor the all-white city council dissolved the town [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

17 July 2025 07:49

TIL about “wet bulb temperature” a combination of heat and humidity so extreme that if it reaches around 35°C (95°F), even fit, healthy individuals resting in the shade with unlimited water can no longer cool down by sweating. Death can occur within hours. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

17 July 2025 02:49

TIL that Clint Eastwood personally called Richard Harris to ask him to play English Bob in the 1992 film Unforgiven. Harris was, at that moment, watching High Plains Drifter, another Eastwood film. This led Harris to believe he was being pranked. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 July 2025 23:49

TIL Denver, CO has an official mayor's residence that no mayor has ever lived in. It was donated to the city in 1998 and none of the 5 mayors since that time has opted to move in. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 July 2025 19:49

TIL Walt Disney’s last words were “Kurt Russell” [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 July 2025 17:49

TIL that Morocco was the first country to formally recognize the United States as an independent nation in 1777. The Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship, signed in 1786, is the longest unbroken treaty in U.S. history. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 July 2025 16:49

TIL that 7 in 10 Canadian drivers admit to speeding at least occasionally, with the average speeder going 12km/h over the limit on highways, 10km/h over on larger roads, and 7km/h over on residential streets. Many view this as not "technically speeding" due to lack of enforcement. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 July 2025 14:49

TIL In the oldest surviving law code, some of the laws include: "If a man knocks out the eye of another man, he shall weigh out half a mina of silver." and "If a man has cut off another man's foot, he is to pay ten shekels." [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 July 2025 12:49

TIL that it was popularly believed in ancient Rome that Emperor Nero would return from the dead to rule the Empire again as "Nero Redivivus", and this belief influenced early Christian depictions of the Antichrist [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 July 2025 06:49

TIL During the famine of 1328-30 many cities in Italy expelled people to preserve supplies. Florence took them in and provided aid for them along with its own citizens. They established government taskforces that implemented relief measures and spent about 60k gold florins in aid programs [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 July 2025 02:49

TIL of the 1st Alabama Cavalry Regiment, made up of Alabamans who had remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War. They served as General Sherman's close escort during his March to the Sea, where his army destroyed Southern industry, property, and infrastructure. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

16 July 2025 00:49

TIL the Calibri font caused the Pakistani Prime Minister to be disqualified from office in 2017. Forged documents about the PM's income that claimed to be from 2006 used the font, but the font was not publicly released until 2007. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 July 2025 23:49

TIL Boston Corbett, who killed John Wilkes Booth (Lincoln’s assassin), castrated himself with a pair of scissors. A friend recounted he claimed “the Lord directed him” to do it. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

15 July 2025 22:49

TIL That the US manufactured so many M1 Garand Rifles for WWII that they are still selling off the surplus today - 80 years after the war ended [Source]