TIL Danielle Steel has sold 800 million copies of her novels.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danielle_Steel
TIL The reason "Baywatch" filmed sequences in slow motion is because they were short on money to finish the shows
https://www.menshealth.com/trending-news/a19555092/david-hasselhoff-interview/
TIL that the highest (Mount Whitney) and lowest (Badwater Basin) points in the contiguous United States are located only 85 miles apart.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Valley
TIL Mao Zedong is is generally credited with eradicating both consumption and production of opium in China during the 1950s. Under his government, 10 million addicts were forced into compulsory treatment, dealers were executed, and opium-producing regions were planted with new crops.
TIL that Australian aboriginal tribes have oral history and legends that accurately describe old geographic features and document the sea rise that are between 7,000 and 18,000 years old.
TIL Ancient Egyptians used rice bran extract, jasmine, and lupine extract in formulas to protect their skin from the sun’s harsh rays, repair skin damage and lighten their skin
https://avasol.com/blogs/the-avasol-blog/the-history-of-sunscreen-1
TIL that Maine has a yearly Moose Lottery to determine who can hunt Moose that season
https://www.maine.gov/ifw/hunting-trapping/hunting/species/moose/moose-permit.html#howtoenter
TIL that the 1988 film “Willow” featured a two-headed dragon called an Eborsisk, meant to be a reference to film critics Siskel and Ebert. Siskel and Ebert gave the film two thumbs down.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow_(film)
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/151p3xs/til_that_the_1988_film_willow_featured_a/
TIL Austria's, Wiener Zeitung one of the oldest Published Daily Newspaper published it's last edition on 06/30/2023
https://www.dw.com/en/austrias-wiener-zeitung-goes-to-print-1-last-time/a-66084050
TIL that the oldest professional sports team in North America still under the same name is the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, founded in 1873
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Argonauts
TIL a man known as Hong Xiuquan, who lived in China during the 19th century, claimed to be the brother of Jesus Christ. He tried to overthrow the then-ruling Qing Dynasty with his own Christian kingdom, known as Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The conflict resulted in approximately 20 million deaths.
TIL the history of planned obsolescence is not as cut and dry as most people think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb7Bs98KmnY&ab_channel=TechnologyConnections
TIL Ever since she was 12, Ellen Degeneres' idol has been Dian Fossey after seeing her hold a gorilla in 1970 National Geographic. Fifty years later, Ellen set up the $15 million "Ellen DeGeneres Campus" at Virunga Massif for gorilla conservation and research
TIL that the oldest surviving Mormon chapel is in Worcestershire, England. It was built in 1836 by the United Brethren, who were then converted to Mormonism by Wilford Woodruff in 1840.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadfield_Elm_Chapel
TIL Though an alligator has one of the strongest bites in the animal kingdom, the muscles that open its mouth are rather weak, so if one attacks you, hold its mouth shut!
https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_lf_w7000_0488.pdf
TIL: Ciabatta bread was created in 1982 as the Italian response to the French baguette
http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciabatta
TIL about bugchasing, the act of intentionally seeking out HIV through sexual activity
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugchasing?repost
TIL that you are not supposed to rinse your mouth with water after brushing teeth or using a mouthwash, because the fluoride coating on your teeth helps protect against cavities and rinsing your mouth after dilutes the fluoride, making it ineffective. Instead, you should wait, preferably 20 minutes.
https://www.sensodyne.com/en-us/oral-health-tips/should-you-rinse-after-brushing/
TIL Intel was originally going to be called Moore Noyce after two of its co-founders, but the name was rejected because it sounded too similar to "more noise"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel#History
TIL stress is the #5 killer of Americans… but only if they believe stress is bad
https://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress_your_friend
