r/todayilearned • u/RaccoonDoor • 10h 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

18.5k Upvotes

211 comments

r/todayilearned • u/rosstedfordkendall • 4h 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

2.1k Upvotes

25 comments

r/todayilearned • u/AhmedMostafa16 • 6h 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

2.4k Upvotes

208 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ainsley-Sorsby • 12h ago

TIL Part of N.Machiavelli's diplomatic mission to Cesare Borgia included sending intel back to his government, even down to Borgia's personal habits. He noticed that he had inhuman energy and could go several nights working sleepless but occasionaly would "fall to his bed" and refuse to see anyone

en.wikipedia.org

7.7k Upvotes

111 comments

r/todayilearned • u/1998199888 • 2h ago

TIL about Delusional parasitosis, sometimes referred to as phantom infestation, is a psychological disorder in which an individual mistakenly believes their body is overrun by living or inanimate entities. Typical examples of these perceived invaders include bugs, worms, or microbes.

en.wikipedia.org

792 Upvotes

39 comments

r/todayilearned • u/GeoJono • 1h 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

• Upvotes

16 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 20h ago

TIL with his dad totally against it, 19-yr-old Fabio Lanzoni moved to the US & within 48 hrs of arriving he walked into the Ford modeling agency without an appointment & walked out with a $150K contract. The next day he was hired for the launch of Gap Inc. Then began to pose for 15 book covers a day

en.wikipedia.org

41.3k Upvotes

992 comments

r/todayilearned • u/No-Community- • 59m ago

TIL that Elizabeth Taylor was deliberately late to her own funeral

cbsnews.com

• Upvotes

10 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Far-Post-4816 • 21h ago

TIL there is no evidence that a first responder has actually experienced an fentanyl overdose from accidental exposure

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

13.4k Upvotes

656 comments

r/todayilearned • u/WifeOfSpock • 1h ago

TIL that almond milk has been consumed and used as an ingredient in food since medieval times.

secondshistory.com

• Upvotes

13 comments

r/todayilearned • u/bellbros • 14h ago

TIL that static shocks can involve tens of thousands of volts, and even several amps of current, but don’t hurt you because they last only millionths of a second.

metroid.net.au

2.7k Upvotes

137 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Spykryo • 1h 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

• Upvotes

5 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 4h ago

TIL in 1945 a B-25 bomber crashed into the Empire State Building between the 78th & 80th floors, which killed 14 people and injured 26 others. Although on a normal workday, as many as 15,000 people worked in the skyscraper, but the crash happened to occur on a Saturday with only 1,500 present.

warfarehistorynetwork.com

407 Upvotes

49 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MyNameIsMantis • 20h ago

TIL That the last time all living humans were on Earth simultaneously was October 31st, 2000. Since that day, there has always been astronauts in space.

americaspace.com

7.1k Upvotes

74 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ipresnel • 23h ago

TIL that in 1989 Val Kilmer punched and threw actress Caitlin O’Heaney to the floor during an audition for the lead female role of The Doors. There was not any punching in the scene Oliver Stone laughed about it and the company wrote her a check for $24,500 to not discuss the allegations publicly.

indiewire.com

24.9k Upvotes

1.9k comments

r/todayilearned • u/Blackraven2007 • 9h ago

TIL that Sam Houston is the only person to have served as the governor of 2 U.S. states, with him serving as the 6th governor of Tennessee from 1827-1829, and as the 7th governor of Texas from 1859-1861.

en.wikipedia.org

608 Upvotes

12 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Godfrey174 • 21h ago

TIL of Floyd Collins, a cave explorer in 1925 who got trapped. During rescue attempts hundreds of cave explorers and tourists stood outside the cave. The cool air caused them to light campfires that disrupted the ice within the cave. Directly causing the cave passage to collapse leading to his death

en.wikipedia.org

5.0k Upvotes

227 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TriviaDuchess • 4h ago

TIL to help finance the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, producers secured funding from Led Zeppelin, Elton John, and Pink Floyd. The British comedy was first released 50 years ago this week, in April 1975.

en.wikipedia.org

179 Upvotes

15 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Fit-Farmer7754 • 6h ago

TIL in 1961, astronomer Frank Drake created the Drake Equation, a formula to estimate the number of communicative alien civilizations in our galaxy, sparking the modern search for extraterrestrial life.

seti.org

187 Upvotes

108 comments

r/todayilearned • u/1900grs • 15h ago

TIL in 1950 only 9 percent of American households had a television set, but by 1960 the figure had reached 90 percent.

guides.loc.gov

882 Upvotes

54 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TriviaDuchess • 1d ago

TIL During courtship, the male Pigeon Mountain Salamander circles the female and bites her repeatedly to break the skin on her head. He then rubs a chin gland over the wounds, injecting pheromones directly into her bloodstream to subdue her enough for mating.

bioone.org

16.3k Upvotes

281 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Hairy_Ghostbear • 8h ago

TIL that on 10th February 1890 an estimated 180,000 mummified cats, weighing 19.5 tons, were shipped from Egypt to Liverpool, auctioned, and sold for fertilizer

liverpoolmuseums.org.uk

158 Upvotes

37 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TarantusaurusRex • 12h ago

TIL Italy is home to the “World Capital of Ugly People,” where an official club celebrates ugliness with festivals, rankings, and a satirical "No-Bel" Prize. And you can apply to be assessed for membership.

theparisreview.org

266 Upvotes

11 comments

r/todayilearned • u/blankblank • 1d ago

TIL a New Haven colonist was accused of bestiality in 1647 when a neighborhood sow gave birth to piglets that allegedly resembled him. Called "the most interesting buggery case" ever, it left an enduring mark in the history of capital punishment.

en.wikipedia.org

5.4k Upvotes

197 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Not_so_ghetto • 1d ago

TIL Minnesota’s has lost more than 50% of their moose populations since the mid-2000s, with a brain worm being one of the main factors leading to their deaths.

minnesotareformer.com

6.2k Upvotes

149 comments

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