TIL Nile Rodgers had a lot to do with creating The Reflex. One of Duran Durans' greatest hits.
TIL Charles Harrelson, Woody Harrelson's Father, was a convicted Hitman who admitted to killing both a Federal Judge and President John F. Kennedy during his arrest.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Harrelson
TIL the average elephant poops 220 pounds (100 kg) a day.
https://a-z-animals.com/blog/elephant-poop-everything-youve-ever-wanted-to-know/
TIL about the Vectrex, a video game console released in November 1982 in North America that came with its own 9 inch monochrome CRT monitor, detachable wired controller, had vector-based graphics, and games for it came with translucent colorful overlays for the screen. The initial price was $199.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/15oo9zv/til_about_the_vectrex_a_video_game_console/
TIL from WTC debris, the structural steel was bought by scrap metal industry and sold to Chinese and Indian second hand metal markets. Several buildings were built with Twin Tower steel across Indian cities, including a college and a trade centre.
TIL You aren’t supposed to rinse toothpaste after brushing your teeth— just spit it out. Dentist said “read the directions” so I did. She was right.
https://www.sensodyne.com/en-us/oral-health-tips/should-you-rinse-after-brushing/
TIL the amazing film "Barbarian" (2022) was written AND directed by Zach Cregger, one of the guys from Whitest Kids You Know.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarian_(2022_film)
TIL: that Hisayuki Machii, the founder of one of Japan's most notorious Yakuza gangs, was Korean.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hisayuki_Machii
TIL Timothy Dalton was offered the role of James Bond several times. The first was for Live And Let Die, which he turned down because he believed he was too young (24). He also turned down For Your Eyes Only, and he came very close to being passed over for The Living Daylights.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Dalton#James_Bond_(1986%E2%80%931994)
TIL that in Wuppertal, Germany in 1950, the circus elephant Tuffi broke through a window of a moving overhead railway and fell 12 metres down in a river, while on promotion tour for a circus. Luckily she survived with minor injuries.
TIL I learned that Ed McMahon never handed out any checks for Publisher’s Clearing House. He now worked for American Family Publishers, a company that nobody has ever heard of.
TIL about William Rankin, a pilot who in 1959 parachuted into and survived passing through a cumulonimbus thunderstorm cloud while it was fully developed, an experience so traumatic that he dubbed it "being in a huge, uncontrollable laundry machine."
TIL during WWII, the Smithsonian invented new Fish names that were easy to pronounce, so the Navy could name Submarines after them.
TIL that in 1972 a meteor entered earth's athmosphere just 57km over Utah, travelling northwards at 15km/s and left it again over Alberta, creating the "1972 Great Daylight Fireball". And there's a crazy f ing video of it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/15ogkvm/til_that_in_1972_a_meteor_entered_earths/
til that asylums and institutions existed into the 90s where people inside were given hepatis on purpose by staff, where they were left and often abandoned by their parents
https://www.npr.org/2008/03/07/87975196/remembering-an-infamous-new-york-institution
TIL that Oppenheimer was accused of being a communist and kicked off his security clearance?!
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/15ogf3j/til_that_oppenheimer_was_accused_of_being_a/
TIL that neuroplasticity, also known as neural plasticity, or brain plasticity, is the ability of neural networks in the brain to change through growth and reorganization. Learning a new skill and learning new information can change neuron pathways and rewire the brain to function in new ways.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroplasticity
TIL the origin of the famous "Take my wife--please!" joke. Comedian Henny Youngman went with his wife to a radio show and asked a stagehand to "take my wife, please" (i.e. escort her to a seat). The stagehand thought it was a joke and laughed, so Henry made it part of his standup routine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henny_Youngman#Personal_life
TIL that Chris Chan recently got a release order and is now free from jail. His Nintendo Switch and Pokemon GO accounts also recently became active again.
https://www.insider.com/chris-chan-saga-timeline-incest-charges-arrest-2021-8
TIL about the Gravity Falls episode 'Soos and the Real Girl' where Dipper and Mabel go to a pizzeria and encounter possessed animatronics haunted by a school girl AI who knows they are in a game. This episode is thought to have predicted DDLC and aired less than a month after Five Nights at Freddys.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_Falls_(season_2)?repost
