TIL that In Australia, a crocodile believed to be "part-albino" and nicknamed by people in the area as "Michael Jackson", attacked and killed a man.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2014/aug/20/albino-crocodile-kills-man-video
TIL that for 1308 years (128 CE - 1436) the dome of the Pantheon has been the largest dome in the world. The new record was then held by the dome of Florence Cathedral for 435 years (1436 - 1871). They both still hold the record for their "category" (unreinforced solid concrete and brick and mortar)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_domes?wprov=sfla1
TIL: Palantir Technologies' Name and Logo are derived from the Palantir Seeing Stones from JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1523yi2/til_palantir_technologies_name_and_logo_are/
TIL A 2014 linguistics study on filler words found that 1) women use “um” ~22% more than men, 2) men say “uh” 250% more than women, & 3) men use filler words ~38% more than women
TIL that the failed Superman film which had cast Nicolas Cage ending up costing Warner Brothers around $30 million. $20 million of that was paid to Nicolas Cage, his guarantee if the production halted.
https://www.looper.com/11884/superman-lives-never-made/
TIL the name of the video game "Doom" (1993) comes from a quote said by Tom Cruise's character in the film "The Color of Money" (1987). The quote in question is "What you got in there? / In here? Doom.".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_(1993_video_game)#Concept
TIL historians don't know why important warlord Ivar the Boneless was called "boneless." Theories range from him losing a leg to impotence & beyond.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivar_the_Boneless
TIL crystal skulls aren’t Mesoamerican. So far all the specimens submitted to scientific inquiry are proven to be European in origin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_skull
TIL honeybees engage in a “dance-debate frenzy” when looking for a new home. Scouts perform a dance in which movements/positions encode directions & vigor indicates quality of a site. Those with opposing views headbutt the dancer: “head-butting seems to be the honeybee signal for ‘shut up!’"
https://www.nature.com/scitable/blog/accumulating-glitches/honeybees_can_avoid_deadlock_when/
TIL that a crocodile escaped from a duffel bag on a small Congolese airline. The frightened passengers ran towards tor front of the plane to escape from it, which cause the plane to nosedive and crash. There were only 2 survivors: one passenger and the crocodile
https://abcnews.go.com/Travel/plane-crashes-crocodile-escapes-panic/story?id=11947027?repost
TIL that during World War II, publication of the Michelin Guide was suspended. In 1944, at the request of the Allied Forces, the 1939 guide to France was specially reprinted for military use; its maps were judged the best and most up-to-date available.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelin_Guide
TIL that hyperbole is pronounced as "hi-per-buh-lee" and not "hyperbowl'. Now im trying to figure out how to correct an english teacher on mispronunciations
TIL that in 1944, double agent Arabel/Garbo was awarded the German Iron Cross and, four months later, the Order of the British Empire Medal. Along with Lauri Törni, he is one of the few people to have received a military distinction from both the Axis and the Allies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Pujol_Garc%C3%ADa?wprov=sfla1
TIL When a hamster egg cell is fertilized with human sperm a Humster is created.
TIL Steven Seagal has never won an Oscar, Golden Globe, or Emmy award of any kind. In fact, he has never even been nominated for an Oscar, Golden Globe, or Emmy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Seagal
TIL that, in the 1870’s, Oscar Wilde was madly in love with a young woman named Florence Balcome for two years, only to lose her to author Bram Stoker
TIL: HP was busted multiple times shipping their laptops like the EliteBook, ProBook, Pavilion and Envy with keyloggers that could record keystrokes to a local file accessible by anyone. This alarming discovery by a cyber-security firm impacted over 460 laptop models. And it happend multiple times.
TIL in a 2021 study, orcas seemed to avoid pilot whales in the majority of the interactions documented around Iceland. "Occasionally things will get heated and the pilot whales will chase the killer whales at high speeds, with both species porpoising out of the water."
https://hakaimagazine.com/news/icelands-confusing-inter-cetacean-conflict/
TIL the Mercenary War (264–241 BC), also called the Truceless War, saw Carthage having to fight the mercenaries it previously hired due to a dispute over the payment of wages arrears, joined by revolting cities in the hinterland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercenary_War
TIL- In ww1 planes forward firing gun was synchronized with the propeller to fire through the propeller
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/151w3my/til_in_ww1_planes_forward_firing_gun_was/