Today I Learned (TIL)

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/CatPooedInMyShoe on 2025-02-24 21:17:21.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Dashing_MacHandsome on 2025-02-24 20:45:32.

Original Title: TIL in the 1960s, Aussie athlete Reg Spiers mailed himself home from London to Australia in a wooden crate to make it back for his daughter’s birthday. He endured delays, extreme heat, and flipped upside down in Bombay. Once in Perth, he broke out of a storage shed, hitched a ride, and made it home.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/tyrion2024 on 2025-02-24 19:07:59.

Original Title: TIL in 2006 thieves in Buenos Aires tunneled underneath a bank & entered its vault. After a 7-hour standoff with 23 hostages, authorities entered to find $20m missing, a row of toy guns, & a note that said "In a neighborhood of rich people, without weapons or grudges, it's just money, not love."

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/tdomer80 on 2025-02-24 18:23:59.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/amir_twist_of_fate on 2025-02-24 17:51:06.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/gullydon on 2025-02-24 17:08:29.

Original Title: TIL evidence of a precursor to warfare has been found at Nataruk in Kenya. Remains of at least 27 individuals have been found and dated to 7550–8550 BC. The condition of the skeletons indicates that a massacre took place as hands were bound and skulls were smashed by blunt force.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/FullOGreenPeaness on 2025-02-24 16:22:42.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/FiredFox on 2025-02-24 15:26:50.

Original Title: TIL that in 2008 City officials in Swansea, Wales mistakenly printed an automated "I'm not at the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated" email reply on a road sign instead of the actual traffic safety message they wanted translated from English to Welsh.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/JoeFalchetto on 2025-02-24 14:43:29.

Original Title: TIL that in 2013 a referendum was held in the Falkland Islands asking citizens to decide whether they supported the continuation of their status as an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom; 3 people out of 1516 voted no

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Real_goes_wrong on 2025-02-24 14:06:44.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Flares117 on 2025-02-24 12:47:43.

Original Title: TIL: Flyting was a medieval contest of insults between two parties often conducted in verse. Insults would involve calling them cowardly or insulting their sexual prowess. Some Kings encourage "court flyting" between poets for entertainment. In some cultures, warriors would flyt before battle.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/TMWNN on 2025-02-24 11:52:58.

Original Title: TIL that a cartel prevented car commercials on British TV in the 1960s. Ford, Vauxhall (GM), Chrysler, and Land Rover secretly agreed to not broadcast automobile advertisements. Datsun arrived from Japan in the 1970s and began running ads on television, breaking the cartel.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/LocksmithPurple4321 on 2025-02-24 07:56:14.

Original Title: TIL that Norman Borlaug, an agricultural scientist, developed high-yield, disease-resistant wheat that helped prevent famine and is credited with saving over 1.2 billion lives. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/JungleSumTimes on 2025-02-24 05:29:08.

Original Title: TIL that Carl Weathers landed the part of Apollo Creed after reading scenes with Rocky writer Sylvester Stallone. He wrapped up his audition by saying (about Stallone) "I could do a lot better if you got me a real actor to work with."

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/ProudReaction2204 on 2025-02-24 04:26:33.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/zahrul3 on 2025-02-24 03:19:11.

Original Title: TIL of the Baliem Valley, where a stone age agricultural civilization managed to develop and remain uncontacted by the outside world until being accidentally rediscovered by an aerial reconnaissance flight in 1938.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/tyrion2024 on 2025-02-24 02:24:23.

Original Title: TIL in 1985 Michael Jackson bought the Lennon–McCartney song catalog for $47.5m then used it in many commercials which saddened McCartney. Jackson reportedly expressed exasperation at his attitude, stating "If he didn't want to invest $47.5m in his own songs, then he shouldn't come crying to me now"

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/WouldbeWanderer on 2025-02-24 01:08:21.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Feed_Your_Curiosity on 2025-02-23 23:55:52.

Original Title: TIL that those "raw" cashews you buy at the store aren't really raw! Truly raw cashews contain urushiol, the same stuff that makes poison ivy so irritating. To make them safe to eat, cashews are steamed, roasted, or boiled to remove the urushiol.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/ChupdiChachi on 2025-02-24 06:43:13.

Original Title: TIL Admiral Byrd is the only person to have three ticker-tape parades in New York City (in 1926, 1927, and 1930) given in his honor. He was the first person to fly over both the North and South Poles.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/FrenchFreedom888 on 2025-02-24 06:35:43.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/TriviaDuchess on 2025-02-24 05:49:33.

Original Title: TIL on May 16, 1957, Yankees stars Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, and Yogi Berra attended a birthday party for Billy Martin at NYC’s Copacabana. A fight broke out when intoxicated bowlers yelled racial slurs at Sammy Davis Jr. One bowler, a Bronx deli owner, suffered a concussion and a broken jaw.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/BadenBaden1981 on 2025-02-24 05:02:33.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/WouldbeWanderer on 2025-02-24 03:26:12.

Original Title: TIL that, when traveling overseas, Queen Elizabeth II did not need a passport. Since all passports were issued in her name, it was unnecessary for The Queen to possess one. All other members of the Royal Family, including The Duke of Edinburgh and The Prince of Wales, have passports.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/TriviaDuchess on 2025-02-24 02:39:42.

Original Title: TIL the Ring of the Fisherman, worn by the Pope, symbolizes his role as the head of the Catholic Church and Saint Peter’s successor. It is ceremonially broken upon the Pope’s death to mark the end of his papacy and prevent forgery.