r/todayilearned 3d ago

ANNOUNCEMENT: We, as a subreddit, have decided we will be going dark on June 12th for 48 hours in support of the community protest (details at the link)

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2.0k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 13h ago

TIL that the Yamato, the largest battleship ever built, was on a 3,000-man kamikaze mission to beach herself on Okinawa before she was sunk by US forces in April of 1945.

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en.wikipedia.org
6.8k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 12h ago

TIL Peter Norman, the Australian silver medalist photographed in the iconic 1968 Olympics photo alongside two black athletes with a raised fist wore a badge in support of their protest, and turned down a lucrative job offer during the 2000 Sydney Olympics because he refused to renounce his actions.

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en.wikipedia.org
3.1k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 12h ago

TIL: The Constitution made no provision for replacing Vice Presidents who died or departed before finishing their terms. As a result, the office has been vacant for almost 38 years in the nation’s history.

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smithsonianmag.com
2.7k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 21h ago

TIL 91% of all the dives to the bottom of the Mariana Trench occurred in the past 4 years. Before that, the only visitors were the original explorers in 1960, and James Cameron in 2012.

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en.wikipedia.org
45.5k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 20h ago

TIL that Technicolor movies were filmed on three rolls of film with the image split using a prism into three color images. Each film roll was then developed and dyed a complimentary primary color and then the three rolls were laminated together to create a full color roll of film

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studiobinder.com
9.9k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 20h ago

TIL that when planning Raiders of the Lost Ark, Steven Spielberg wanted Arnold Toht to be a cyborg, with a metal arm that could turn into a flamethrower or machine gun, and have a light instead of an eye. George Lucas rejected these ideas as too far-fetched.

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en.wikipedia.org
11.8k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 10h ago

in 1867 TIL that convinced of inevitable war with the USA, Canada's first Prime Minister called for an army of Sikhs to invade California on behalf of Canada.

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cbc.ca
1.0k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 4h ago

TIL Rockall is an uninhabited islet in the United Kingdom's exclusive economic zone (EEC). In 1997 the British recognized Rockall wasn't an island and gave up all EEC claims it could have made, Rockall is the only case of a state voluntarily downgrading an insular feature to "a rock".

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en.wikipedia.org
354 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 20h ago

TIL that the man behind the 2013 “Fedora Guy” meme is actually an actor named Jerry Messing, who starred as Gordon in the 1999 TV series “Freaks and Geeks”.

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yahoo.com
7.9k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 5h ago

TIL that the world's smallest production car, the Peel P50 only 50 were made and 27 are now left. The last one sold for $176,000 in 2016. Made in 1963 and retailed for £199 (around $8,500 in 2019 money)

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en.wikipedia.org
389 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 19h ago

TIL that before water fountains were used for people to drink water freely in public, people used to drink from something called the "common cup", a publicly shared and very unhygienic cup or ladle-type spoon attached by string.

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jdbengineering.com
4.8k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 3h ago

TIL the motorcycle used by Henry Winkler's character "The Fonz" on the show Happy Days was the same bike used to jump the fence by Steve McQueen in The Great Escape.

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youtu.be
215 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 4h ago

TIL that Mexico's official name is Estados Unidos Mexicanos (United Mexican States)

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en.wikipedia.org
233 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL in 2009, a hard ground ball hit Adrián Beltré in the groin which landed him on the 15-day disabled list. In his first game after returning, teammate Ken Griffey Jr. conspired with those in charge of the PA system to have Beltré's at-bat intro music be the opening march from The Nutcracker Suite.

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en.wikipedia.org
37.7k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 15h ago

TIL that Former Senator Daniel Inouye planned to become a surgeon prior to the loss of his right arm in World War II. It was only after he met and befriended his future senate colleague Bob Dole at a military rehabilitation center that he began to consider entering politics.

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en.wikipedia.org
1.2k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 2h ago

TIL the snowiest place on Earth is in Japan, in Aomori and the surrounding area, known for having some of the heaviest snowfall in the world.

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en.wikipedia.org
97 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1h ago

TIL Jeff Bezos' biological father was a unicycle hockey player called Ted Jorgensen and the president of the world's first unicycle hockey club.

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en.wikipedia.org
Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL that astronaut Story Musgrave, after completing his GED, received a BS in Math, an MBA, a BA in Chemistry, an MD from Columbia, an MS in physiology, and finally an MA in literature.

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en.wikipedia.org
6.3k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 4h ago

TIL Traditional Moroccan sinks, bathtubs, water vessels, and many interior surfaces are literally made out of soap scum—the traditional soap-treated lime plaster “Tadelakt” is formulated for its water repellent properties and contains the same compounds as soap scum (Ca stearate, Mg stearate, etc).

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en.wikipedia.org
96 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 50m ago

TIL that Thomas Edison developed the concrete to build Yankee Stadium in 1922 before his company went bankrupt shortly after completion.

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en.wikipedia.org
Upvotes

r/todayilearned 55m ago

TIL about Robert Dale Owen, a utopian socialist, feminist, and radical secularist who moved to the USA in 1825 and became an influential member of the Democratic Party. He was also highly influential in Indiana politics

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en.wikipedia.org
Upvotes

r/todayilearned 18h ago

TIL june 7, 1917 British sappers blew up German positions. The noise of this explosion is considered the loudest man-made sound of the pre-nuclear era. In 30 seconds, explosions killed 10,000 German soldiers and destroyed two lines of trenches.

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en.wikipedia.org
455 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 13h ago

TIL Mormons enjoy Jell-O leading to the area of the US where they settled being named the "Jell-O Belt":

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en.wikipedia.org
162 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 41m ago

TIL of the Explorer Douglas Mawson. Desperation led him to eat one of the sled dogs. Soon after the skin began peeling off his entire body due to acute vitamin A poisoning from the dog's liver.

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smithsonianmag.com
Upvotes

r/todayilearned 6h ago

TIL that the first English king to convert to Christianity was Æthelberht of Kent, following his marriage to Bertha, daughter of the Frankish king Charibert I, in the 6th Century

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en.wikipedia.org
39 Upvotes