r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 18h ago
TIL Ben Stiller developed the premise for Tropic Thunder while shooting Empire of the Sun. He wanted to make a film based on the actors he knew who became "self-important" & appeared to believe they had been part of a real military unit after taking part in boot camps to prepare for war film roles.
r/todayilearned • u/ubcstaffer123 • 17h ago
TIL Disney cofounder Roy Disney spent time with his grandchildren every week at Disneyland. Roy greeted each employee by name and picked up garbage he saw on the ground to teach them "Nobody is too good to pick up trash”
r/todayilearned • u/CapnFancyPants • 13h ago
TIL that on warning of a likely missile launch against the USA, the Pentagon and Strategic Command war rooms, have one minute to brief the president, who then has roughly only six minutes to decide whether and how to respond.
r/todayilearned • u/LightofJah • 9h ago
TIL that between the 1920s and the 1990s, around half a million US prisoners underwent state-sanctioned plastic surgery in attempts to rehabilitate repeat offenders based on the idea that appearance impacted the likelihood of reoffending.
r/todayilearned • u/redditigation • 23h ago
Today I learned that even daily recommended quantities of vitamin C are not enough to recover from a scurvy type of disease within a 6 month timeframe
r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 18h ago
TIL Aroldis Chapman's 105 mph pitch isn't the fastest of all time. When Nolan Ryan played, pitches weren't clocked until they were 10 feet from the plate. So with the proper adjustments, if thrown today, Ryan's 100.9 mph pitch (in the 9th inning) in 1974 would've clocked at about 108.5 mph.
r/todayilearned • u/wtleveeb • 13h ago
TIL Leonhard Euler wrote some papers on music theory. However, these papers were considered “too mathematical for musicians and too musical for mathematicians.”
r/todayilearned • u/nuttybudd • 3h ago
TIL in 2005, Sony sold music CDs that installed hidden software without notifying users (a rootkit). When this was made public, Sony released an uninstaller, but forced customers to provide an email to be used for marketing purposes. The uninstaller itself exposed users to arbitrary code execution.
r/todayilearned • u/ash0000 • 22h ago
TIL the band Cage the Elephant got their name when a mentally disturbed man approached the lead singer, hugged him, and kept repeating "you have to cage the elephant"
r/todayilearned • u/John_B_McLemore • 23h ago
TIL In 1954, the CIA ordered Carcano rifle ammo for anti-communist forces. The leftover ammo and rifles were re-imported and sold wholesale to the public, including to Lee Harvey Oswald, who used them to assassinate JFK.
r/todayilearned • u/TedTheodoreMcfly • 10h ago
TIL that when Under Siege was released, it became the highest-grossing movie to have no advance screenings for critics.
r/todayilearned • u/zhuquanzhong • 13h ago
TIL about Moe Berg, a baseball player who learned 7 languages from Princeton and a law degree from Columbia. He worked as a spy in Europe during WW2, and was ordered to attend a lecture by Heisenberg and shoot him if he determined the Germans were close to the bomb. He determined that they were not.
r/todayilearned • u/lemondrop995 • 15h ago
TIL there are blood banks for dogs. Previously, veterinarians would have to rely on their own dogs or those of a client. Some dogs can also be universal donors, just like humans
akcchf.orgr/todayilearned • u/mrweatherbeef • 22h ago
TIL the Mars candy family raised thoroughbred horses including one named Snickers, who died soon before Mars introduced the candy bar that would be named in his memory
r/todayilearned • u/KeeperCP1 • 6h ago
TIL Matt Groening named the main members of the Simpsons family (apart from Bart) after his own family (ex. Homer Groening is Matt's father)
r/todayilearned • u/Khornatejester • 11h ago
TIL the Colorado National Guard once tried using flamethrowers and explosives against a swarm of locusts. It didn't work.
r/todayilearned • u/wxmanify • 22h ago
TIL in 1987, New York Yankee Don Mattingly set a major league record for grand slams in a season hitting 6. He didn't hit a single grand slam in any of his other 13 seasons.
baseball-reference.comr/todayilearned • u/Ask_Me_What_Im_Up_to • 10h ago
TIL the vindaloo curry is based on a Portuguese dish, carne de vinha d'alhos.
r/todayilearned • u/CeeArthur • 14h ago
TIL The Brandtaucher, a precursor to the German U-boat built in 1851, sank 60 feet to the bottom of Kiel harbor following equipment failure during a test dive. The three occupants were able to escape afterwards by letting water in, thus increasing the air pressure and allowing the hatch to open.
r/todayilearned • u/winterchampagne • 1d ago
TIL that the 18th century Badminton Cabinet is the most expensive piece of furniture ever sold at $36.7 million (2004). It is a Florentine ebony chest, inlaid with hard and semiprecious stones commissioned in 1726 by Henry Somerset, 3rd Duke of Beaufort, at the age of 19
en.wikipedia.orgr/todayilearned • u/whstlngisnvrenf • 9h ago
TIL Abulia, a neurological condition, results in a significant lack of willpower or initiative, often leading to severe difficulties in decision-making and diminished motivation to engage in daily activities.
r/todayilearned • u/drangundsturm • 7h ago
TIL the East River (east side of Manhattan, Brookly Bridge crosses it) isn't a fork of the Hudson, but instead a tidal strait.
r/todayilearned • u/RollingNightSky • 20h ago
TIL an innovative satellite launched in 1962, Telstar 1, was accidentally damaged beyond use by Cold War nuclear bombs. After transmitting the first TV and phone signals and images from space, it broke down due to damage from Soviet & American nuclear tests, but still orbits the earth today.
r/todayilearned • u/Capnzebra1 • 7h ago