TIL that Trump was once a supporter for universal healthcare (www.ontheissues.org)
TIL Burger King sold a burger with so much food coloring that it turned people's poop bright green (www.usatoday.com)
TIL Adenosine is an organic compound that, when injected, stops the heart for a few seconds and is used to treat heartbeats, that are too fast (140-250bpm), in effect turning it off an on again. (en.wikipedia.org)
TIL that at age 17, in 1980, Jodie Foster already had a decent handle on why some in the US are so thick about the situation in Palestine (www.interviewmagazine.com)
JODIE: The reason it has been difficult for the United States to understand the Palestinian side is not only because of the media but because colonialism is in our history. We can’t face the fact that colonialism is wrong and that it steps on a lot of toes and hurts a lot of people.
TIL that Mexico sent nearly 200 members of the military on a 20-day mission to support the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. (historicalmx.org)
TIL the film "Close encounters of the Third Kind" is shown every single night at the Devil Tower KOA, making it one of the most screened movies ever. (cowboystatedaily.com)
TIL that in January 2014, a seven-year-old girl named Charlotte Benjamin wrote a letter to Lego, pointing out the lack of female characters compared to male ones. (en.wikipedia.org)
TIL that in January 2014, a seven-year-old girl named Charlotte Benjamin wrote a letter to Lego, pointing out the lack of female characters compared to male ones. A few months later, in June 2014, Lego introduced a “Research Institute” set showcasing female scientists, which quickly sold out.
TIL Bill Cosby, Gene Hackman, Eartha Kitt, Burt Lancaster, Steve McQueen, and Barbra Streisand were some of the names on Nixon's "Enemies List" (en.wikipedia.org)
TIL In the 1800s, individuals secured government jobs through connections to presidents, not by merit. This practice ended after a disgruntled job-seeker assassinated President James A. Garfield, (www.americanhistorycentral.com)
TIL TIL: LaserDiscs were first marketed and sold in 1978 — and they were originally called DiscoVision! (en.wikipedia.org)
TIL about the Gell-Mann amnesia effect; when experts find articles published within their field to be full of errors, but trust articles about other fields in the same publication (en.m.wikipedia.org)
TIL Columbus never set foot in North America; he only explored the Caribbean and parts of Central and South America. (en.wikipedia.org)
TIL that in Sparta, after the wedding, brides would have their hair cut short and be dressed in men's clothing so that they would appear less threatening to their groom during the wedding night. (en.wikipedia.org)
TIL Yuri Gagarin returned to Earth during his historic first manned spaceflight by ejecting 6 km from the ground and parachuting down by himself. (airandspace.si.edu)
TIL about Vertical Series, insane soap operas streamed in chunks of ~90 seconds in a vertical video format. They are all silly, terrible and some possibly written by AI. It is becoming a huge success. (www.rollingstone.com)
“Guys, please watch this insane ad I got on TikTok,” the caption of a viral thread on X (formerly Twitter) read last month. The thread, which has more than 20 million views, contains clips from a film titled Forbidden Desires: Alpha’s Love, about a college professor named Adrian who falls in love with his student, who also...
TIL that in Victorian London mail delivery routes would go by every house 12 times a day. (www.mentalfloss.com)
TIL the Japanese words 青 (ao) and 青い (aoi) can refer to either blue or green depending on the situation. (en.wikipedia.org)
TIL that homeopathy isn't about placebo and people actually think there is a non placebo effect (en.wiktionary.org)
TIL that whales were saved from massacre when kerosene appeared (1860s) because, until then, whale oil was widely used as illumination fuel. (en.wikipedia.org)
TIL On average, Mercury is the closest planet to Earth — and to every other planet in the solar system (en.wikipedia.org)
TIL that in 2006, a woman named Edith Macefield turned down a reported offer of $1 million to sell her 108-year-old farmhouse to make way for a commercial development in the Ballard neighborhood (en.wikipedia.org)
TIL that in 2006, a woman named Edith Macefield turned down a reported offer of $1 million to sell her 108-year-old farmhouse to make way for a commercial development in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. Instead, the five-story project was built surrounding her house.
TIL a British short film about the dangers of paedophiles was presented by Rolf Harris who was later charged as a paedophile (en.wikipedia.org)
TIL Leona Helmsley was a real piece of shit (en.wikipedia.org)
During the trial, a former housekeeper testified that she had heard Helmsley say: “We don’t pay taxes; only the little people pay taxes”, a quote which was identified with her for the rest of her life.
TIL what the ancient Mesopotamians ate for dinner (www.bbc.com)
for the lamb stew known as tu’hu, first you get water. Then you sear leg meat in fat. In go salt, beer, onion, rocket, coriander, Persian shallot, cumin, beets, water. Crushed leek and garlic and more coriander, for a fiery taste. Then add kurrat, an Egyptian leek.
TIL about the "Dilberito," a vegetarian wrap concocted by Dilbert creator Scott Adams to tie into his comic strip. The product was a colossal failure, (en.wikipedia.org)
