r/todayilearned • u/heavy_pterodactyl • 10h ago
TIL that as the reigning monarch of 14 countries, King Charles III is allowed to travel without a passport and drive without a license.
natgeokids.comr/todayilearned • u/FaZe_Boris69 • 7h ago
TIL that one of Hitler's earliest allies and close friends, Ernst Röhm, was actually openly homosexual, despite the Nazis' hatred for homosexuality. He was the leader of the SA until 1934, when he was killed during the Night of the Long Knives.
en.wikipedia.orgr/todayilearned • u/jdward01 • 8h ago
TIL the Big Gulp was invented in 1976, when Coca-Cola suggested that 7-11 use 32 oz. cups, much larger than 20 oz. cups being used by McDonalds at the time. The first regional order of 500 Big Gulp cups sold out in a week, eventually forcing automakers to make cupholders bigger as popularity grew.
en.wikipedia.orgr/todayilearned • u/beneaththeslope • 5h ago
TIL Mohamed Mashally, once a rich doctor who closed down his clinic after a kid killed himself so that his younger brother get treatment. The doctor then dedicated himself to help to poor free of charge.
english.alarabiya.netr/todayilearned • u/ryraps5892 • 6h ago
TIL the U.S. largest state: Alaska, is bigger than California, Texas, and Montana combined, and over 2500 miles from east to west.
alaska.orgr/todayilearned • u/False_Employ9474 • 21h ago
TIL Iceland has no McDonald's restaurants anywhere in the country. McDonald's left Iceland on 30 October 2009, as a result of the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis and high import tariff on imported ingredients which required the prices of their products to increase.
icelandreview.comr/todayilearned • u/AspireAgain • 4h ago
TIL that on dry, cloudless nights in the desert, water can freeze at temperatures as high as 41 degrees Fahrenheit, 5 Celsius. This is due to a process referred to as or "Night Sky Cooling" or "Radiative Cooling", and allowed desert dwellers to regularly make ice more than 2000 years ago.
realclearscience.comr/todayilearned • u/jamescookenotthatone • 12h ago
TIL A coal seam in Australia is believed to have been burning for 6,000 years, making it the oldest coal fire. The site's name is Mount Wingen but is commonly called Burning Mountain and the fire is traveling south 1m per year discoloring the ground as it goes.
en.wikipedia.orgr/todayilearned • u/enormityop • 5h ago
TIL why all clocks go clockwise. In Medieval times, the sun-dials used as clocks in Northern Hemisphere used to trace clockwise. Early timepieces were made to mimic this motion. This, however, became such a norm that we started describing rotational motion in 2D as "clock"wise and counter"clock"wise
sciencefocus.comr/todayilearned • u/AdmiralAkbar1 • 8h ago
TIL the term "death row" comes from an assassination attempt on FDR. The shooter Giuseppe Zangara was sentenced to death, but there was already a convict awaiting execution, and FL law forbade them from sharing cells. A second cell was built, turning the "death cell" into the first "death row."
en.wikipedia.orgr/todayilearned • u/HeavyMetalOverbite • 1h ago
TIL the Army of the United States is not the same as the US Army. The Army of the US is one of four components, also including the Regular Army, the Army Reserve and the National Guard. If you're drafted you go into the Army of the US, but it's been dormant since 1973.
en.wikipedia.orgr/todayilearned • u/Joelsax47 • 11h ago
TIL that Jules Verne's Mysterious Island was based on Frisland, an island that appeared on maps from the 16th to the 18th century. Frisland was a hoax contrived by a pair of brothers who devised a culture reminiscent of the societies of Gulliver's Travels.
blogs.loc.govr/todayilearned • u/Fantastic-Berry-737 • 6h ago
TIL hair smells bad when burned because keratin needs large amounts of the sulfur-containing amino acid cysteine for polymer crosslinking, which give it it's rigid properties
en.wikipedia.orgr/todayilearned • u/ArcticBiologist • 13h ago
TIL Orcas cooperated with humans in Australia to catch whales. Humans would give the orcas the tongue and lips of a caught whale as payment.
en.wikipedia.orgr/todayilearned • u/SalMinellaOnYouTube • 1h ago
TIL the Interstate Highway Numbers have meanings. Odd Numbers go primarily North-South. Even Numbers go primarily East-West. Adding a 2 (such as 295) usually designates a loop returning to its parent highway (95).
wikipedia.orgr/todayilearned • u/DadToOne • 21h ago
TIL Gordon Ramsay's tongue is insured for $10 million
mashed.comr/todayilearned • u/MrJownz • 1d ago
TIL that if you have a kid in the 4th grade your entire family can get into National Parks free for a whole year!
everykidoutdoors.govr/todayilearned • u/mankls3 • 18h ago
TIL the show the honeymooners was one of the first tv shows to depict married life as non idyllic and gritty
en.wikipedia.orgr/todayilearned • u/drdookie • 2h ago
TIL the first Grammy for The Pointer Sisters was a country song, Fairytale. The song’s success led to them become the first Black group to perform at the Grand Ole Opry.
en.wikipedia.orgr/todayilearned • u/scottie315 • 1d ago
TIL that Icelandic Air allows up to a 7 day layover in Iceland at no additional cost
icelandair.comr/todayilearned • u/deddPan • 1h ago
TIL that the 'funny bone' is not actually a bone in the arm, but a nerve. The ulnar nerve is connected from shoulder to hand and is protected by bones and muscles. As it passes thru the elbow it is only protected by the cubital tunnel, making it the most prone area in the body to 'strike a nerve'.
webmd.comr/todayilearned • u/leonli1010 • 3h ago
TIL Chinese jade burial suits could take up to ten years to make and were ordered well in advance of death. Liu Sheng was known as a man who enjoyed good living and by the time he died in 113 BC his stomach had grown so large that another hundred plaques were added.
en.wikipedia.orgr/todayilearned • u/Sur_Lumeo • 8h ago
TIL glass is permeable for hydrogen ions, like a sieve
readcube.comr/todayilearned • u/VengefulMight • 1h ago
TIL that the prestige in holding the Blue Riband for the highest average speed in crossing the Atlantic, was such that the British government gave the shipping firm Cunard a £2.5 million loan to help take the title back from Germany, which Cunard did.
en.wikipedia.orgr/todayilearned • u/lucamila5 • 1d ago