Today I Learned 🎓

29 March 2026 20:49

TIL that while Akkadian, the language of Babylon, is a Semitic language, Sumerian, the oldest written language of the region, is an isolate that is not related to any known languages [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

29 March 2026 20:49

TIL that Shaquille O'Neal has a net worth of $400 million. O’Neal developed 2 skyscrapers in Newark, New Jersey, was a minority owner of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, & currently owns 150 car washes, 40 fitness clubs, a movie theater, & the Big Chicken restaurant chain. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

29 March 2026 19:49

TIL that New Hampshire is the only state without seat belt requirements [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

29 March 2026 17:49

TIL: That repairman use to consider the PS4 “roach motels”. The PS4’s design accommodates roaches better than other consoles’ because its ventilation grates are wider. Repairman claim half of consoles received for repair have been infested [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

29 March 2026 16:49

TIL that Scandinavia’s first farmers slaughtered the native hunter-gatherer population. Following the arrival of the first farmers in Scandinavia 5,900 years ago, the hunter-gatherer population was wiped out within a few generations. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

29 March 2026 13:49

TIL that when William the conqueror was besieging the town of Exeter, one of the inhabitants "bared his posterior and had broken wind in contempt of the normans", in essence farted in their general direction [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

29 March 2026 07:49

TIL that Michael Fortier, a key accomplice in the OKC Bombing, agreed to testify for the government in exchange for a reduced sentence and immunity for his wife, an additional accomplice. He served less than 8 years of a 12 year sentence and is currently in Witness Protection under a new identity. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

29 March 2026 03:49

TIL "Bobby Bonilla Day" is an annual, unofficial baseball holiday on July 1st, celebrating the New York Mets paying former player Bobby Bonilla $1.19 million every year from 2011 through 2035 [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 March 2026 23:49

TIL a 23-year-old man ingested an estimated 100 dose-units of methamphetamine (≥1g each) fearing he would be arrested for possession after he was in a car accident. He survived the highest core body temperature (113°F; 45°C) in a case with laboratory confirmation of psychostimulant drug exposure. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 March 2026 22:49

TIL the storm-chasing team TWISTEX, led by Tim Samaras, died while trying to study a massive tornado in 2013. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 March 2026 21:49

TIL that some of the original names for the rock band Butthole Surfers were “The Inalienable Right to Eat Fred Astaire’s Asshole” and “Ashtray Babyheads.”Singer Gibby Haynes, when questioned on if he would choose a more tasteful name, said he would select “I’m Going to Shit in Your Mother’s Vagina.” [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 March 2026 20:49

TIL after Bill Benter read a paper that argued the variables involved in a racehorse's success were quantifiable with probability, he taught himself statistics & how to code software to do so. He developed an algorithm that won him nearly $1B, making him the most successful horse racing gambler ever [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 March 2026 18:49

TIL a couple who found a winning lottery ticket for £30,000 on the floor of a Co-op store & cashed it in was ordered to pay the original owner of the ticket half of the prize money and were each given an 11-month suspended sentence for fraud. The couple had already spent half of it to pay down debt. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 March 2026 15:49

TIL Thomas Edison proposed to his wife in Morse code. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 March 2026 14:49

TIL there was a common and socially acceptable paid post of lover and companion of a married woman in France, Spain, and Italy called Cicisbeo. Husbands were publicly mocked if they disapproved, and therefore tended to prefer gay men to fill the role. Lord Byron is a famous example of a Cicisbeo. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

29 March 2026 20:49

TIL:- After the 1917 Halifax Explosion, the largest man-made explosion before the atomic bomb, Boston sent a medical relief train through a massive blizzard, arriving two days later. In gratitude, Nova Scotia has gifted Boston its official Christmas tree each year since 1971. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

29 March 2026 19:49

TIL that Indonesia, despite being a republic, has a special region, Yogyakarta, that is a monarchy's, and is ruled by a sultan [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

29 March 2026 18:49

TIL that in the 17th-century Ottoman Empire, drinking coffee was a capital offense. Sultan Murad IV believed coffeehouses incited rebellion, and he would personally patrol the streets in disguise, executing anyone caught drinking or selling coffee. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

29 March 2026 16:49

TIL The Columbian lawsuits, the legal dispute between Christopher Columbus' heirs and the Spanish Crown over the former's rights to the new world, went on for hundreds of years. The main lawsuit ended in arbitration in 1536, but the heirs continued to file lawsuits sporadicaly until the 18th century [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

29 March 2026 15:49

TIL Aristotle wrote that women are "deformed males," that females are born due to a "deficiency" in the father's generative heat, His views directly influened laws across Europe for centuries [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

29 March 2026 09:49

TIL that the standard test image used in image processing research for decades was a cropped Playboy centerfold [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

29 March 2026 04:49

TIL A Florida man, 71, staged his own suicide to look like MURDER by copying CSI plot and tying a weather balloon to a gun so it would float over the Atlantic and disappear after he shot himself [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

29 March 2026 01:49

TIL the entire United States Interstate highway system cost $114 Billion to construct ($660 Billion adjusted for inflation), and contains nearly 50,000 miles of roads. It has generated ~6x its cost in revenue (again, adjusted for inflation). [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 March 2026 23:49

TIL Daniel Craig was initially controversial as James Bond because fans felt he didn’t match the “tall, dark, and handsome” image, leading to protests, boycott campaigns, and even the headline “The Name’s Bland, James Bland.” [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 March 2026 22:49

TIL of Eumastas, an ancient Greek who lifted a volcanic boulder weighing over 920 lbs (417 kg) off the ground. For perspective, the current world record for a raw deadlift is only about 20% higher, yet this feat was carved into the stone in the 6th century BC. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 March 2026 21:49

TIL that despite being a relatively large predator there are no documented records of a wild Cheetah killing a human. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 March 2026 18:49

TIL a Swedish milk vendor named Pilt Carin Ersdotter was arrested in Stockholm in the 1830s for a traffic violation for having "blocked the street with her beauty". Her appearance attracted so much attention that aristocrats paid to “display” her at their homes. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 March 2026 16:49

TIL that contrary to popular belief, Einstein was actually extremely talented at mathematics during his childhood. His reputation comes from him failing the entrance exam for university when he was 16, but he did very well in the mathematics and physics sections, only behind on zoology and biology. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 March 2026 15:49

TIL that Hall of Fame basketball player Tim Duncan was a teenage standout swimmer & aspired to become an Olympic swimmer for the U.S. in 1992. When Hurricane Hugo destroyed his hometown St. Croix’s only Olympic sized pool in 1989, he pivoted to basketball at age 14. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 March 2026 13:49

TIL In 1923 an off-duty police officer was brought up on stage and hypnotized during a theatrical performance. At one point, the hypnotist handed him a piece of wood and instructed him to "shoot". The officer pulled out his concealed service weapon and began firing into the crowd, killing 3 people. [Source]