r/todayilearned • u/JustLookingForMayhem • 1d ago

TIL a FBI agent in a gorilla costume was part of a sting operation that arrested two Mexican zoo officials in 1993.

latimes.com

658 Upvotes

34 comments

r/todayilearned • u/funkyflowergirlca • 1d ago

TIL Napoleon Hill, who wrote Think and Grow Rich, was a lifelong scammer. He lied about meeting Andrew Carnegie, never advised any presidents, and even inspired a cult that tried to raise an immortal baby. His whole career was built on fake stories, fraud, and constant reinvention.

gizmodo.com

3.3k Upvotes

130 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Cultural_Magician105 • 2d ago

TIL That in 2007 a 53 year old woman died from a stroke and four people recieved kidneys, lungs and liver transplants from her. All four of them developed breast cancer, with three of them dying from it. The donor had breast cancer that hadn't been found at the time of her death.

cnn.com

46.5k Upvotes

763 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 2d ago

TIL when Carrie Fisher told Harrison Ford she was going to publish her journals & reveal they had an affair (Ford was married) while filming Star Wars (1977), Ford raised his finger & said "Lawyer!" Fisher said he could read it beforehand & take anything out. She sent it to him but never heard back.

npr.org

45.5k Upvotes

1.6k comments

r/todayilearned • u/ExtremeInsert • 2d ago

TIL that as a child star, Jackie Coogan earned up to $4m (equivalent to around $91m today) but by age 21, he found most of it had been spent by his mother and stepfather. He sued in 1938 and received only $126,000. This case resulted in the 1939 enactment of the California Child Actor's Bill.

dannydutch.com

8.6k Upvotes

101 comments

r/todayilearned • u/sanandrios • 2d ago

TIL the Eiffel Tοwer was a temporary gimmick for the 1889 World Fair that was never dismantled. Its sparkling lights were also supposed to be a gimmick to ring in New Year 2000, but have stayed on.

en.wikipedia.org

4.4k Upvotes

125 comments

r/todayilearned • u/blankblank • 2d ago

TIL that the rate at which new words are added to languages has slowed in the digital era, and it's partly because the advent of automatic spell-checkers has given words recognized by these tools a "reproductive fitness" advantage, while non-standard spellings decline.

nature.com

2.7k Upvotes

88 comments

r/todayilearned • u/onwhatcharges • 1d ago

TIL that Alberta King, Martin Luther King Jr's mother was shot and killed while playing the organ at a church service. Her killer was sentenced to death, however, the King family—consistent in their commitment to nonviolence—successfully campaigned to have his sentence commuted to life in prison.

dannydutch.com

620 Upvotes

5 comments

r/todayilearned • u/T-Rex-Hunter • 2d ago

TIL, that the least common birthday is the 25th of December and that in fact of the top ten least common birthdays are all days that holidays land on.

zippia.com

4.1k Upvotes

347 comments

r/todayilearned • u/No-Community- • 2d ago

TIL that Elizabeth Taylor was deliberately late to her own funeral

cbsnews.com

6.8k Upvotes

59 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 2d ago

TIL in 2010 Bill Murray & members of the Wu-Tang Clan were hanging out at SXSW when they entered the packed Shangri-La bar together, whereupon Murray spontaneously decided to hop over the bar & become a surprise temporary bartender who served generous tequila shots regardless of what patrons ordered

theguardian.com

5.1k Upvotes

264 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TriviaDuchess • 1d ago

TIL during mating season, clam worms transform. Their muscles grow for swimming, and their bodies engorge with sperm or eggs. When ready, they swim to the surface in a frenzy and explode, releasing their gametes into the sea. The adults don’t survive mating.

en.wikipedia.org

216 Upvotes

20 comments

r/todayilearned • u/CrashRiot • 1d ago

TIL that Bethesda bought the Fallout IP for just 5.75 million dollars.

gamedeveloper.com

647 Upvotes

59 comments

r/todayilearned • u/slurpdwnawienperhaps • 2d ago

TIL the oldest person to receive their doctorate is attributed to Ingeborg Rapoport. She was 102 years old when she received her medical doctorate from the University of Hamburg in 201 5. She was denied a medical degree 70+ years earlier because her mother was of Jewish descent.

wikipedia.org

949 Upvotes

3 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Starfire-Galaxy • 2h ago

TIL Moana was the best-selling movie of 2017; it sold 4.4 million units and made a revenue of $116.3 million from home video sales.

en.wikipedia.org

0 Upvotes

8 comments

r/todayilearned • u/rosstedfordkendall • 2d ago

TIL beaver dams saved a wetland in the Czech Republic. The government was planning to do the same thing, but the bureaucracy took too long. The dams saved $1.2 million.

en.wikipedia.org

5.2k Upvotes

48 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Spykryo • 2d ago

TIL that veteran astronaut John Young's heart rate when launching on top of the Saturn V was only 70 bpm, the normal resting heart rate; meanwhile, his rookie crewmate's heart rate was 144 bpm, more than double. Young later said his heart "was too old for it to go any faster".

spaceflightnow.com

2.8k Upvotes

17 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MrMojoFomo • 10h ago

TIL that in February of 1993, Kansas City, Missouri radio station KXXR changed its name to KISF (Kiss FM). As a publicity stunt to announce the change, it played Prince's 1986 song "Kiss" for 24 hours straight

en.wikipedia.org

0 Upvotes

23 comments

r/todayilearned • u/JEBV • 2d ago

TIL a snowy owl once flew from the Artic to Honolulu, and was seen flying around the international airport. It would be shot the same day by wildlife services.

civilbeat.org

533 Upvotes

101 comments

r/todayilearned • u/RaccoonDoor • 2d ago

TIL Thailand declared war on the United States in 1942. However, the Thai ambassador to the United States refused to deliver the war declaration. As a result, the US simply ignored Thailand's declaration of war.

en.wikipedia.org

24.4k Upvotes

254 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ok_Being_2003 • 1d ago

TIL New York State contributed about 465,000 soldiers to Union armed forces during the American civil war more than any other state. Over 50,000 of them died. The highest of any northern state

247wallst.com

181 Upvotes

13 comments

r/todayilearned • u/CosmicMando • 1d ago

TIL that not all clumps of twigs and leaves in trees are bird nests — some are actually squirrel nests called "dreys."

en.wikipedia.org

170 Upvotes

24 comments

r/todayilearned • u/AhmedMostafa16 • 2d ago

TIL that in 18th century England, people would pay to attend Bedlam, a private lunatic asylum, to watch the mentally ill as entertainment

retrospectjournal.com

3.7k Upvotes

270 comments

r/todayilearned • u/GeoJono • 2d ago

TIL that the last U.S. President who was neither a Democrat nor a Republican was Millard Fillmore, the final Whig Party President, who served in the executive office from July 1850 to March 1853.

buffaloah.com

1.4k Upvotes

47 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Super_Goomba64 • 2d ago

TIL that in the United Kingdoms Parliament, there is a box of snuff (smokeless tobacco) that's been around since the 1600s, it is free for government officials to use, but the last time it was used was 1989. It is still kept to this day

en.wikipedia.org

430 Upvotes

58 comments

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