TIL that the Panama Canal is actually North to South from the Atlantic side, and the Atlantic entrance is 37 km West of the Pacific entrance...so, you actually go West to East when taking the canal from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal
TIL that Hydra are small freshwater invertebrates whose stem cells exist in a continuous state of renewal. Kept safe and in isolation, these organisms show no signs of aging.
https://biology.ucdavis.edu/news/hydra-and-quest-understand-immortality
TIL about The Manifest Destiny that made people believe they had the right to take others land to expand capitalism and democracy
https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/manifest-destiny
TIL after directly adapting Ricky Gervais’ antagonistic boss from the British version of The Office for the first few episodes, they completely rewrote character of Michael Scott to be more likable for the American audience.
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/14yu7mq/til_after_directly_adapting_ricky_gervais/
TIL July 13th is "Jeff Goldblum Day" as officially declared by the Pittsburgh City Council in 2004
https://www.wtae.com/article/pittsburgh-celebrates-july-13-jeff-goldblum-day/22144047
TIL According to North Korean state media, Kim Jong II was born under a double rainbow on a sacred mountain. And before his death, the skies glowed red and Mount Paektu and the impenetrable sheet of ice at the heart of the volcano cracked.
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna45763055
TIL in Italian legal system "The right to lie on the part of the accused is a given"
TIL about "Dishwasher Salmon" - 'Dishwasher salmon is an American fish dish made with the heat from a dishwasher, particularly from its drying phase. It is not generally recommended and can lead to undercooked fish and food poisoning.'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dishwasher_salmon
TIL I learned that in 2017, Title Insurance companies in Texas sold $1.8 billion worth of policies and paid only $24 million in claims.
https://www.texasobserver.org/entitled-to-profit-in-texas-title-insurance-is-a-total-scam/
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/14xyv2t/til_i_learned_that_in_2017_title_insurance/
TIL that nearly 16,000 COVID cases went unreported in England because Public Health England used a legacy .xls Excel spreadsheet file that can only handle up to 65536 rows to record cases instead of a proper database.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54423988
TIL Margaret Thatcher had a habit of marking her territory by swinging her handbag around in meetings, leading to the term "handbagging", a term that made its way into the Oxford English Dictionary
https://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/article/margaret-thatcher-handbag
TIL there's a 1860 photograph of what Boston looked like from above taken by pioneering photographer from a hot air balloon.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/283189
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/14x7tbe/til_theres_a_1860_photograph_of_what_boston/
TIL when The Beatles split up in April 1970, Paul and George were still only 27 years old
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Break-up_of_the_Beatles
TIL a woman was sentenced to life in prison for poisoning her child to death with antifreeze. She gave birth to a second child while in prison, who was given to foster care. But he became sick with the same symptoms, indicating a genetic metabolic disorder, not poisoning. She was later released.
TIL Frenchman Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) was the first author to describe his work as essays; he used the term to characterize these as "attempts" to put his thoughts into writing. Subsequently, essay has been defined in a variety of ways by MyPerfectWords.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essay
TIL about ''The strongest man in the world'' Croatian Marijan Matijević who pulled two cargo ships with his hands through New York harbour and prevented an airplane from taking off by holding it with a rope. He helped Nikola Tesla when he needed funding and was known for various humanitarian acts.
https://www.plitvicetimes.com/officialy-strongest-man-world-story-marijan-matijevic/
TIL In 1917, the world’s first animated feature film was made in Argentina. It was a political satire called El Apostol made up of 58,000 drawings and had a running time of 70 minutes. The film was lost after a fire destroyed the producer’s studio in 1926.
TIL that scientists have discovered a species of bacteria called Deinococcus radiodurans, which has earned the nickname "Conan the Bacterium" due to its extraordinary ability to withstand extreme levels of radiation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinococcus_radiodurans
TIL The Order of the Pug was a secret society founded by Roman Catholics in mid-18th century Bavaria, In the initiation ritual the new members of the community had to wear dog collars and scratch at the door to be admitted inside.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Pug
TIL that people are buying used books from Goodwill and reselling them on Amazon as a full time job
https://www.newsbreakapp.com/n/0kqJfY9t?pd=08kl1NXS&lang=en_US&s=i16&send_time=1689044946
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/14wf57j/til_that_people_are_buying_used_books_from/
