TIL in 2021, a man at a convenience store in Pennsylvania placed $2 on the counter for a Mountain Dew that was priced at 2 for $3, and walked out. The price for one Mountain Dew, however, was $2.29. The man was charged with a felony, sent to jail on a $50,000 bond, and faced up to 7 years in prison
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/trending/man-charged-with-felony-under-three-strikes-law-after-police-…
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/15luwni/til_in_2021_a_man_at_a_convenience_store_in/
TIL Mexico is named after its capital Mexico City, not the other way around.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico
TIL Most upmarket hotels now offer a pillow menu. You can choose from more common ones like feather or goose down or you can try some unique pillows such as anti-aging and lullaby.
TIL that between 2010 and 2012, Jerome Powell worked on getting Congress to raise the U.S. debt ceiling during the debt-ceiling crisis of 2011. He presented the implications to the economy and interest rates of a default or a delay in raising the debt ceiling. He worked for a salary of $1 per year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_Powell
TIL about The returning soldier effect. It is a phenomenon which suggests that more boys are born during and immediately after wars.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18952111/
TIL that the themesong of the well known show FUTURAMA is based and partially sampled from a 1960s song by french composer Pierre Henry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qssa6ec7faQ&t=157s&ab_channel=LASombraUS
TIL Ernst Jünger, who would later write about his experiences in WW1 in his memoir "Storm of Steel", had traveled to Verdun in November 1913 and volunteered for the French Foreign Legion. He was later dismissed at the behest of the German Foreign Office 6 weeks later.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_J%C3%BCnger
TIL that Mr. Sissoko who finessed banks for $242M, had more than 23 wives, and who lived the Robin Hood life has only spent 43 days in jail.
https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-42878021
TIL that the phrase "dog days of summer" is millennia old and refers to the star Alpha *Canis* Majoris (aka Sirius) appearing in the sky in July
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirius#Observational_history
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/15lohph/til_that_the_phrase_dog_days_of_summer_is/
TIL that official Pokémon cards of Katy Perry, Post Malone and J Balvin made for a 25th anniversary album were created but never mass produced. The only owners of these rare cards are the people on the cards themselves and there are no plans to release them for sale
https://bleedingcool.com/games/pokemon-tcg-will-never-release-katy-perry-post-malone-cards/
TIL Magenta isn't a real color. Turns out its just a placeholder that your brain uses when it gets a mixture of Red and Blue light without any Green light
https://www.reeditionmagazine.com/to-the-minute/magenta-the-color-that-doesnt-exist-and-why
TIL that Fidel Castro had a long and interesting diplomatic relation with Francisco Franco.
TIL that Fidel Castro had a long and interesting political relation with Francisco Franco even after the Spanish civil war.
TIL in 1985 French intelegence bombed and sank Greenpeace's ship The Rainbow Worrior, while it was docked in New Zealand. One person died. The ship was to lead a protest against renewed nuclear tests in the Pacific.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_Rainbow_Warrior?wprov=sfla1
TIL that in 2009, after Steve Irwin's death, a new species of snail was named after him in honor of his memory: The Crikey Steveirwini. 🐌
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crikey_steveirwini?wprov=sfla1
TIL that before George Clooney starred in the TV-show ER, he was on a different TV-show that was also called ER.
https://www.thelist.com/1299434/little-known-sitcom-george-clooney-showbiz-start/
TIL an early free trade agreement between the US and Canada was terminated by the US partly because of American anger towards the British's unofficial support of the Confederacy during the Civil War.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian%E2%80%93American_Reciprocity_Treaty
TIL that, after his dog Jacksie was killed by a car, four-year-old C. S. Lewis adopted the same name as a tribute and wouldn't answer to any other. He later accepted Jack, which became the name by which he was known to friends and family for the rest of his life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis#Childhood
TIL Pigeons use Earth's magnetic field to navigate. A small spot on their beak contains magnetite which acts as a tiny GPS unit for the homing pigeon by giving it information about its position relative to Earth's poles.
