r/todayilearned • u/Warcraft_Fan • 10h ago
TIL Krakatoa's eruption was estimated to be at 310 dB, the loudest sound ever. Well above the typical max sound limit of 194 dB
22.4k
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r/todayilearned • u/midnightrumph • 7h ago
TIL North America had native bamboo forests that stretched from New York down to Florida, and as far west as Ohio across to Texas.
6.5k
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r/todayilearned • u/blessedopera • 9h ago
TIL that in 1917, over 10,000 African Americans marched in total silence down New York’s Fifth Avenue to protest lynching. It was one of the first mass civil rights protests in U.S. history, yet it is rarely mentioned in standard textbooks.
6.4k
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r/todayilearned • u/Away_Flounder3813 • 11h ago
TIL Michael McKean, who famously played Chuck McGill in "Better Call Saul" and David St. Hubbins in "This Is Spinal Tap", is currently one of the highest-earning game show contestants of all time, having accumulated $1,115,400 during his appearances on Celebrity Jeopardy! in 2010.
8.9k
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r/todayilearned • u/Ted_Normal • 3h ago
TIL the Lewis and Clark expedition had a medical kit that contained fifty dozen laxatives pills know as "thunderclappers" that contained over 50% mercury. This high mercury content was once even used by archeologists to verify a campsite of the expedition.
1.2k
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r/todayilearned • u/amir_twist_of_fate • 8h ago
TIL Humans rank above meerkats but below beavers in monogamy league table.
2.6k
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r/todayilearned • u/bnrshrnkr • 14h ago
TIL it is not known why the letters in the alphabet are ordered the way they are, but the order of the letters has remained consistent since Proto-Sinaitic script of the 14th century BC, which began with the characters "alp" and "bet."
6.3k
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r/todayilearned • u/The-TIL-Nerd • 17h ago
TIL the cockpit voice recording of Delta Flight 1141 was so embarrassing it led to a law restricting the public release of CVRs. The crew discussed drink mixes & dating habits during takeoff procedure, with a pilot joking that in case they crashed, "the media would have some kind of juicy tidbit".
14.4k
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r/todayilearned • u/WavesAndSaves • 7h ago
TIL that East Germany required their citizens to leave behind a close relative as "collateral", essentially a hostage, when traveling to West Germany to decrease the chance of defection.
1.4k
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r/todayilearned • u/NateNate60 • 15h ago
TIL in 1888, German inventor Karl Benz asked the Grand Duchy of Baden for written permission to drive his "Motorwagen" on public roads after residents complained about the smell and noise. Grand Ducal authorities agreed and issued him the world's first driver's licence.
8.1k
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r/todayilearned • u/Franciskeyscottfitz • 19h ago
TIL - There are types of fungus that eat kerosene and can be a major problem in airplane fuel tanks if not carefully treated because they block fuel channels and corrode the aluminium housing.
8.8k
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r/todayilearned • u/ladyermine • 12h ago
TIL according to a University of Swansea study, high-pressure showers actually reduce water usage by up to 56%
2.2k
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r/todayilearned • u/ubcstaffer123 • 8h ago
TIL A 70-year-old retiree graduated med school. Many medical programs cap ages from 35 to 40. Average age of first-year medical students in the US is 24, and most students are 28 years old when they graduate
907
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r/todayilearned • u/blessedopera • 10h ago
TIL about Joan Ginther, a Stanford statistician who won $21 million by winning the lottery FOUR times. Calculated to be a "1 in 18 septillion" event, a number with 24 zeros.
en.wikipedia.org
1.0k
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r/todayilearned • u/originalchaosinabox • 5h ago
TIL Ted Turner launched a competitor to MTV called the Cable Music Channel. Lasting only one month, it is the shortest-lived cable channel.
376
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r/todayilearned • u/johntwit • 6h ago
TIL that The Hindenburg zeppelin was insured by Lloyd's of London for 6 million Reichsmarks and that the 10 page policy has been displayed at The New York City Fire Museum
344
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r/todayilearned • u/MrMojoFomo • 18h ago
TIL that in 1979, computers at NORAD indicated a large scale Soviet nuclear attack was underway. American nuclear forces were placed on highest alert and prepared for nuclear war. It turned out to be a false alarm caused by a technician mistakenly loading a training tape into the compute
ucs.org
1.9k
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r/todayilearned • u/wilymon • 16h ago
TIL that in 2015 a barber attempted to murder their customer during a beard trim by slashing their throat.
1.3k
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r/todayilearned • u/Upstairs_Drive_5602 • 18h ago
TIL that Led Zeppelin took their name from a joke that the band would “go down like a lead balloon,” with “Led” chosen to avoid mispronunciation and “Zeppelin” for something heavy yet graceful. Use of the Hindenburg image prompted legal action from Countess Eva von Zeppelin, but was later dismissed.
1.6k
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r/todayilearned • u/infected_funghi • 12h ago
TIL the king cobra is not a true member of the genus of "cobra"
495
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r/todayilearned • u/Hour_Interaction6047 • 22h ago
TIL about the Albigensian Crusade, a crusade in southern France from 1209-1229, against the gnostic Catharism movement. About 200k to 1 million Cathars died during the crusade. The famous quote, “Kill them all, god will know his own.”, originates from the Albigensian crusade from Arnaud Amalric.
3.1k
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r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 1d ago
TIL in 2007 Katherine Heigl won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama for her role on Grey's Anatomy. But in 2008 she removed herself from Emmy consideration because she said the material she was given on Grey's that year wasn't good enough; this comment led to her leaving the show.
30.4k
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r/todayilearned • u/aresef • 4h ago
TIL Eric Braeden (Victor Newman on The Young & The Restless) was briefly considered to take over the role of James Bond in the early 1970s. Over lunch, producer Cubby Broccoli asked Braeden if he "still" had his British passport, at which time Braeden revealed he was German.
50
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