TIL human babies float in their own pee in the womb and drink it too. If I had to learn this so do you
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/53732/do-fetuses-go-bathroom-womb
#til #todayilearned
TIL About USS The Sullivans - The first ship in the Navy named after more than one person. It was named after 5 brothers who were killed when their ship was torpedoed in WWII, an event that led to the policy portrayed in Saving Private Ryan. USS The Sullivans itself sunk in 2022 as a museum ship.
https://buffalonavalpark.org/exhibits/uss-the-sullivans/
#til #todayilearned
TIL that Microsoft skipped version 13 of Microsoft Office due to concerns about triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13).
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1czp4ws/til_that_microsoft_skipped_version_13_of/
TIL that 17 million telegrams are still sent every year. By comparison, over 200 billion e-mails are sent every day. They are most commonly sent to meet certain legal requirements or to express congratulations or condolences.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyN07jKXJ3o
#til #todayilearned
TIL that a juvenile orca started a fashion trend of wearing dead salmon as a hat and the whole group started wearing them.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/killer-whales-keep-attacking-sinking-090349442.html
#til #todayilearned
TIL that Will Smith turned down the role of Neo in The Matrix to star in Wild, Wild West
https://ew.com/movies/2019/02/14/will-smith-the-matrix/
#til #todayilearned
TIL: Seiji Yoshida WW2 memoir, "My War Crimes" detailing his many war crimes against comfort women became a hit and even used by George Hicks, the NYT, etc. It even spread across Korea. However, after his death, his son revealed he made up his war crimes for money as he was poor after the war.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seiji_Yoshida
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1cznc02/til_seiji_yoshida_ww2_memoir_my_war_crimes/
TIL the Gestapo compiled a "Black Book" listing prominent residents of Great Britain to be rounded up after a successful invasion. In addition to obvious names like Churchill, the Nazis set their sights on Bertrand Russell and Virginia Woolf.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Book_(list)
#til #todayilearned
TIL Two Australians invented the electric drill in 1889! Arthur Arnot and William Brain of Melbourne, Australia. Then in 1895 the first portable drill was made by two German brothers.
https://createdigital.org.au/australias-mining-industry-worlds-first-electric-drill/
#til #todayilearned
TIL American Men are getting married more than American Women because American Men are not marrying American Women
https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/09/unmarried-women-men.html
#til #todayilearned
TIL AI scientists put a 1 in 6 chance that AI advances will lead to human extinction or similarly permanent and severe disempowerment of the human species
https://aiimpacts.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Thousands_of_AI_authors_on_the_future_of_AI.pdf
#til #todayilearned
TIL Big Ben has a Prison Room. Last time it was used as a prison room was in 1880, when a newly elected atheist member of Parliament refused to swear an oath to the Queen.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ben#Prison_Room
#til #todayilearned
TIL 'Michael' was the most frequently given male name every year between 1954-1998 except for 1960 (David) and it fell out of the top five in 2011 for the first time since 1949.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_(given_name)
#til #todayilearned
TIL Pickleball was actually created back in 1965.
https://usapickleball.org/what-is-pickleball/history-of-the-game/
#til #todayilearned
TIL the origin of the phrase “government cheese”
https://www.history.com/news/government-cheese-dairy-farmers-reagan
#til #todayilearned
TIL that there is an urban legend that the British Board of Film Classification would reject any film which contained a penis which looked more erect than the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1czhlyk/til_that_there_is_an_urban_legend_that_the/
TIL homicide clearance rates in the US declined from a peak of 93% in 1962 to 64% in 1994. The rate then plateaued (with some variation) for the next 25 years. There is currently no satisfactory explanation for either the initial decline or why it ended when it did.
https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-criminol-022422-122744
#til #todayilearned
TIL That one of the two Vice Presidents to resign was Spiro Agnew, who was VP under Richard Nixon, the only President to resign.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiro_Agnew
#til #todayilearned
TIL Mount Everest is named after British surveyor George Everest who never visited or saw it
#til #todayilearned
TIL Silphium is an unidentified/extinct plant - the exact identity is unclear, highly debated - that was used as a contraceptive and an abortifacient by ancient Greeks and Romans. The plant was also used as seasoning, medicine, perfume, aphrodisiac.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silphium
#til #todayilearned
