listing: all - local
1
97
TIL that in 1848 a railroad worker survived an accident where an iron bar pierced through his head, destroying most of his left frontal lobe. However, his personality and behavior changed considerably (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/til
26 comments fedilink
2
130
TIL about the Hairy frog, remarkable not only for its hairlike structures, but also for intentionally breaking its bones of the toe and use the sharpened bones as claws. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/til
6 comments fedilink
3
84
TIL about the Tree That Owns Itself, a white oak in Georgia, USA, that, according to legend, has legal ownership of itself and of all land within eight feet (2.4 m) of its base (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/til
2 comments fedilink

While this is noted as more legend than history, I still think it's pretty interesting.

4
67
TIL that in 1968, Liechtenstein held a referendum on women's suffrage where both men and women were allowed to vote. Despite this, the No-side won with 56.3% of the total and 49.5% of the women vote (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/til
17 comments fedilink

Women's suffrage would not be introduced in Liechtenstein until 1984.

5
340
TIL that to promote potatoes, French agronomist Parmentier put guards around his potato fields, making them seem valuable. At night, they were left unguarded, so peasants could steal potatoes and grow (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/til
26 comments fedilink
6
82
TIL about the Garamantes, an advanced civilization in the Sahara desert, based on irrigation from aquifers. Its disappearance was possibly caused by the depletion of the fossil water it relied on. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/til
2 comments fedilink
7
78
TIL that in 1961, the only doctor at a Soviet research station in Antarctica got appendicitis, and had to performed surgery on himself to remove his appendix. Two weeks later he resumed regular duties (www.bbc.com)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/til
8 comments fedilink

Bonus: Nowadays Australian doctors staying over the winter must remove their appendix preemptively, in order to avoid similar situations.

8
178
TIL that teabags were invented by accident. In 1908, a New York tea merchant sent tea samples to customers in small silk bags. The customers put the bags directly in hot water, and the teabag was born (www.tea.co.uk)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/til
20 comments fedilink

Bonus: The Britons were reluctant to the new American invention for a long time. In the early 1960s tea bags only made up 3% of the market, but in 2007 it had risen to 96%.

9
105
TIL about the Mammoth Site in SD. it has 65+ intact mammoth skeletons (en.m.wikipedia.org)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/til
10 comments fedilink
10
226
TIL that a French and British submarine collided in 2009. They both moved so quietly that they could not detect each other and accidentally happened to run into each other. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/til
17 comments fedilink
11
96
TIL that there is a successful Vienna orchestra playing solely with instruments made out of vegetables. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/til
6 comments fedilink
12
142
TIL that in 2012 a large solar storm nearly missed Earth by a margin of nine days. If it hit, it could have caused damages to a cost of around $2.6 trillion. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/til
24 comments fedilink
13
48
TIL the original word for "wolf" in Swedish was "ulv." Superstition lead to people adopting the word "varg," which originally meant "stranger." They believed that saying "ulv" would summon a wolf (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/til
4 comments fedilink
14
38
TIL that Waffen-SS had a primarily Muslim division. Most members were Bosnian Muslims. The Nazis used the Mufti of Jerusalem to promote the division and bolster recruitment. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/til
1 comments fedilink
15
83
TIL about the unfinished skyscraper Goldin Finance 117 in Tianjin, China. Reaching 597 m high, it's the world's sixth tallest building, but construction stopped in 2015 and it now stands abandoned (www.theb1m.com)
submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/til
7 comments fedilink

List of tallest building on Wikipedia.

16
48
TIL You can emulate in your browser retro programs and games in the Internet Archive. (archive.org)
submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/til
3 comments fedilink

I was playing with it and it is so interesting to use software from the past.

17
76
TIL Hector (aka "Hector the Convector") is a large cumulonimbus cloud that forms regularly every afternoon at the Tiwi Islands of Australia from March to September. It can be seen from the mainland. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/til
12 comments fedilink
18
182
TIL that the world's largest pyramid by volume is not in Egypt, but in Mexico. The Great Pyramid of Cholula has twice the volume. It is 450 m long, but only 66 m tall. (www.bbc.com)
submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/til
10 comments fedilink
19
111
TIL that in order to avoid having to surrender to the Soviets, the German commander of Bornholm tried to get a single British soldier transferred to the island to surrender to (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/til
16 comments fedilink
20
75
TIL that the small Pacific island country Nauru once was among the richest countries in the world, thanks to its phosphate mines. But when the mines were depleted, the country descended into poverty (www.news.com.au)
submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/til
3 comments fedilink
21
208
TIL about extreme ironing, a sport centered around ironing clothes on challenging locations. It has its own international governing organization and a World Championship has been held. (facts.net)
submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/til
11 comments fedilink
22
53
TIL the applause in Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets" was taken from a Jimi Hendrix performance and "fake-lived" by the audio engineers. (newmusicunited.com)
submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/til
3 comments fedilink
23
62
TIL the common earthworm mates once a year and can live 4-8 years (www.vigienature-ecole.fr)
submitted 3 months ago by NataliePortland to c/til
4 comments fedilink
24
39
TIL of David Hunt, a British gangster who was described as "too big to bring down" by the Met Police and has largely escaped justice as a result. He once paid £1mill to assassinate 3 police officers (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/til
8 comments fedilink
25
323
TIL that African wild dogs have been observed "voting" to decide if the group should go on a hunt. To "vote" for a hunt, the dogs sneeze. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/til
9 comments fedilink
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Today I Learned (TIL)

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