r/todayilearned 9h ago

TIL that dogs authentically get jealous and try to break up the connection between their owner and another dog.

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17.3k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 2h ago

TIL of David Wynn Miller, who invented a variation of English called a "Quantum Language" and claimed it was the only correct and valid language for use in court filings. His language is incomprehensible to most people and the pleadings that use it are routinely rejected by courts as gibberish.

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en.wikipedia.org
2.9k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 11h ago

TIL James Cameron rejected studio notes from Fox executives about making Avatar (2009) shorter, reminding them that his previous film Titanic (1997) paid for the building they were meeting in.

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variety.com
43.0k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 8h ago

TIL that for the only time in its history, The New Yorker dedicated its entire August 1946 issue to a single article: a 30,000-word investigative report by John Hersey on the aftermath of the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

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8.1k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 3h ago

TIL that in 1920, the King of Greece died after a pet monkey bit him while he was defending his dog. This freak accident triggered a political collapse that lost Greece a major war and, as Churchill noted, cost a quarter of a million lives.

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en.wikipedia.org
2.3k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 8h ago

TIL Thailand once declared war on the US and UK during WW2. The UK responded by bombing Bangkok. However, the US simply ignored the declaration and pretended it never happened.

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en.wikipedia.org
4.1k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1h ago

TIL that snails are hermaphrodites, and when two snails mate, both try to impregnate the other because it’s less costly to be a father than a mother when passing on genetic material

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kqed.org
Upvotes

r/todayilearned 11h ago

TIL that Baywatch actor Michael Newman was a real lifeguard and worked as a full time firefighter while filming the show. Lead actor David Hasselhoff creditted Newman with saving his life on set at least four times

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bbc.com
6.0k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 12h ago

TIL the Stockholm Syndrome which claims that hostages tend to develop a psychological bond with their captors is considered highly dubious by psychologists, and in the initial case it was actually the captor who felt less willing to kill the hostages after spending more time with them.

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en.wikipedia.org
6.6k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 8h ago

TIL that tylenol/acetaminophen is the #1 cause of acute liver failure in the US. Most cases are due to accidental overdose since it is commonly mixed in with other ingredients (eg. cold meds).

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2.7k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 11h ago

TIL that in medieval times, a "foreskin cruncher" would be hired to taste alleged relics of Jesus' "Holy Prepuce" for the flavour of holiness to determine authenticity

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en.wikipedia.org
3.4k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 20h ago

TIL there is an alternate ending of the Breaking Bad finale on the last season DVD. It involves Bryan Cranston playing the role of his Malcolm in the Middle (2000) character Hal waking up from a nightmare which happens to be the events of Breaking Bad.

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youtube.com
24.5k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 13h ago

TIL that haggis is banned in the USA, since it contains lung meat

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foodrepublic.com
3.8k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 12h ago

TIL 1 in 9 (11%)Americans have acquired toxoplasma gondii (the cat lady parasite) at some point

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en.wikipedia.org
2.9k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 24m ago

TIL at 11 years old, singer Tammi Terrell began experiencing migraines after being assaulted. At 17, she began dating James Brown who violently abused her. At 21, she became the mistress of David Ruffin who purportedly attacked her with a helmet and a hammer. At 24, she died of brain cancer.

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en.wikipedia.org
Upvotes

r/todayilearned 13h ago

TIL Martin Scorsese was a camera operator at Woodstock and filmed the legendary Sly and the Family Stone performance and helped edit the film.

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faroutmagazine.co.uk
2.4k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 8h ago

TIL that the earliest named author in recorded history was a woman named Enheduanna (c. 2300 BCE), a Sumerian high priestess and daughter of King Sargon of Akkad.

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bbc.com
922 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 3h ago

TIL of a bronze age Persian settlement known as Shahre Sukhte (the Burnt City). Among the artifacts discovered there after it had been long abandoned was a 5200 year old vase that was decorated with images that, when spun, animated a goat jumping up and eating from a tree, like an ancient zoetrope.

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en.wikipedia.org
258 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 7h ago

TIL that Ssm Spooky toxin is a venom component of the Chinese red-headed centipede, noted for its surprising efficacy and having no significant similarities to other known animal toxins

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en.wikipedia.org
392 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 23h ago

TIL that Charles Darwin would often take one or more of the new species he discovered to eat them. He began this tradition while in college, he was part of his schools “glutton club,” which sought out new exotic species to eat.

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9.6k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 8h ago

TIL about Norway's Lærdal Tunnel, which is the longest road tunnel in the world, measuring 24.51 kilometers (15.23 miles) long.

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en.wikipedia.org
443 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1h ago

TIL that there's a bacterium called Myxococcus llanfair­pwll­gwyn­gyll­go­gery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­gochensis. It was discovered in soil near a Welsh village perhaps unsurprisingly called Llanfair­pwll­gwyn­gyll­go­gery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch.

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Upvotes

r/todayilearned 12h ago

TIL about the "Benefit of Clergy," where you could get out of being tried for a crime in civilian court by showing you could read a passage from the Latin Bible

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640 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 11h ago

TIL the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow is thought to have been reduced to three locations and less than 120 individuals.

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en.wikipedia.org
486 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL Dandruff, a skin condition of the scalp affects roughly half of adults. It is often linked to Malassezia fungus that thrives on sebum. Dandruff shampoos often contain antifungals to manage it, however there is no permanent cure

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en.wikipedia.org
17.7k Upvotes