/f/todayilearned

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TIL Captain America co-creator Jack Kirby was drafted into the U.S. Army during WWII, landing at Omaha Beach in Normandy. When a lieutenant found out he was a comics artist, he made Kirby a scout who would advance into towns and draw reconnaissance maps and pictures, an extremely dangerous duty.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by geekteam6 t3_11ejm68 on February 28, 2023 at 8:54 PM

31 comments

14,486

TIL When a cow has opposite sex twins, the female twin is usually born intersex and infertile. This happens because the twins blood supplies are linked, which exposes the female to male sex hormones.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by awawe t3_10pd5bb on January 30, 2023 at 8:31 PM

195 comments

12,005

TIL that in 1554 Elizabeth Crofts hid in a wall on Aldersgate Street, where she pretended to be a heavenly voice. Reputedly 17,000 people came to listen to her give out anti-Catholic propaganda.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by Kurma-the-Turtle t3_119wh86 on February 23, 2023 at 12:26 PM

171 comments

10,919

TIL Queen Sophie of the Netherlands’ marriage with King William was so turbulent that when she died, she was buried in her wedding dress because she viewed her life ended on the day she got married.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by AsianInvasian93 t3_xudjj0 on October 3, 2022 at 8:24 AM

75 comments

9,213

TIL that the dogs in competitive agility don’t rehearse the course ahead of time. The courses are randomized at each competition, and the trainers (without their dogs) only see the layout beforehand on the same day. When the dog runs the course they are literally seeing it for the first time.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by Pyraunus t3_yb6lph on October 23, 2022 at 3:16 AM

124 comments

9,189

TIL the first known résumé was written by Leonardo da Vinci, when applying to be a military engineer for the Duke of Milan. It's mainly just a list of his designs for siege weapons (including trebuchets). He briefly mentions his art: "In painting, I can do everything possible." He got the job.

lettersofnote.com

Submitted by Pfeffer_Prinz t3_10jfshm on January 23, 2023 at 3:57 PM

111 comments

8,383

TIL eels swim from a lake in Australia through stormwater drains and across the ocean to lay eggs in New Caledonia where they die. Their eggs hatch and make the return journey back to the lake they came from.

centennialparklands.com.au

Submitted by Aussiewhiskeydiver t3_y68cv3 on October 17, 2022 at 11:15 AM

122 comments

7,772

TIL Tolkien assisted on the Oxford Dictionary's first edition, focused on 'W' words waggle to warlock. He "learned more in those two years than in any other"; and certain etymologies continued to puzzle him for years, with many pages of notes written later on 'walrus' for a lecture at Leeds

public.oed.com

Submitted by PianoCharged t3_11c604h on February 26, 2023 at 5:08 AM

111 comments

7,220

TIL: The Government of Canada has an office that creates coats of arms for Canadian citizens, and that all Canadian Citizens may apply to the Governor General for a coat of arms and even an officially-recognized personal flag

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by ryguy_1 t3_11w3pob on March 20, 2023 at 1:00 AM

198 comments

7,181

TIL after a seizure left him paralyzed except for his left eyelid, Jean-Dominique Bauby (1952-1997) wrote the bestselling book "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" by blinking to select each letter as an assistant recited the alphabet to him.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by chumloadio t3_yzj62u on November 19, 2022 at 6:55 PM

162 comments

6,837

TIL that the theme song from Mission Impossible get is it's iconic beat of "long long short short" from the Morse code of "M" and "I", which is long long short short.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by pango3001 t3_zhj58n on December 10, 2022 at 4:45 AM

206 comments

6,832

TIL that calls directed to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline rose by 27% after the release of 1-800-273-8255 by American rapper Logic.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by Sun_Aria t3_zyo2z8 on December 30, 2022 at 2:14 AM

157 comments

6,818

TIL a special law in the UK was created to ensure that the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital will forever be able to collect royalties from stage performances, audiobooks, book releases, etc. of Peter Pan in the UK. This is the only work with an 'exception' to copyright laws.

gosh.org

Submitted by [deleted] t3_126e6pb on March 30, 2023 at 6:28 AM

109 comments

6,723

TIL Charles Dickens had a talking pet raven named Grip, who terrorized his dog, buried valuables in the yard, and died eating "a pound or two" of lead paint. As a character in one of his novels, Grip is believed to have inspired Poe's famous poem, and is on display in a Philadelphia public library

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by jableshables t3_11uqn42 on March 18, 2023 at 2:58 PM

71 comments

6,511

TIL that in Chinese Folk Religion, a mortal human being could ascend into godhood not through the decisions of a clergy/church, but by the sheer number of people who believe that their extraordinary achievements led to apotheosis, which forced Confucian/Taoists clerics to canonize a person as a God.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by Khysamgathys t3_124n0s0 on March 28, 2023 at 12:20 PM

204 comments

6,490

TIL that turkeys can sometimes reproduce asexually, forming near-clones of themselves.

vox.com

Submitted by WaryLouka t3_z4gxrz on November 25, 2022 at 4:04 PM

177 comments

6,084

TIL scientists believe people started wearing clothes between 83k and 170k years ago because that's when clothing lice diverged from head lice.

scienceopen.com

Submitted by cwood1973 t3_11az35z on February 24, 2023 at 7:01 PM

196 comments

6,068

TIL there are people in France who have actually done time in jail for stealing garden gnomes in the name of The Garden Gnome Liberation Front

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by Koivosto t3_1001lpd on December 31, 2022 at 7:26 PM

39 comments

6,067

TIL Last year 93yo actor James Hong became the oldest person ever to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has over 600 acting credits spanning 70 years.

latimes.com

Submitted by n3xus-7 t3_11dmkdr on February 27, 2023 at 8:54 PM

200 comments

5,885

TIL A 2017 study found that the introduction of iodized salt in 1924 raised the IQ for the one-quarter of the population most deficient in iodine.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by kstinfo t3_xxqvb7 on October 7, 2022 at 5:39 AM

196 comments

5,875

TIL for the Untouchables Brian De Palma casted Bob Hoskins in case De Niro could not appear. De Palma mailed Hoskins a check for his contracted fee of $200,000 with a "Thank You" note, which prompted Hoskins to call up De Palma and ask him if there were any more films he didn't want him to be in.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by KongoOtto t3_z5n8pu on November 27, 2022 at 12:59 AM

202 comments

5,855

TIL Pluto hasn't completed an orbit around the sun since its discovery. Pluto's orbit takes about 248 years, and Pluto was discovered in 1930.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by irbinator t3_1071dmg on January 9, 2023 at 1:58 AM

187 comments

5,699

TIL that in WW2, a Marine Corps Corsair pilot used his propeller to chew off the tail of an enemy aircraft after his guns jammed, while under fire from the enemy plane's tailgunner. The enemy plane crashed but the Corsair pilot made it back to base, receiving the Navy Cross for his actions.

valor.militarytimes.com

Submitted by hipster_deckard t3_11v227u on March 18, 2023 at 9:54 PM

158 comments

5,698

TIL that Gresham College, an institution of higher learning in London, does not enroll students or award degrees, and instead hosts over 140 free public lectures every year. Since 2001, all lectures have been made available online.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by Kurma-the-Turtle t3_z6syg5 on November 28, 2022 at 10:19 AM

44 comments

5,664

TIL about anti ninja floors in Japan. They were purposefully made to squeak as to alert people of intruders.

science.howstuffworks.com

Submitted by tpb01 t3_yf8hvz on October 28, 2022 at 12:32 AM

187 comments

5,566