Today I Learned (TIL)

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/tyrion2024 on 2025-03-11 13:56:52.

Original Title: TIL in 2008 a 20-year-old Belgium student died after reheating and eating leftover spaghetti that had been left out on the kitchen counter for five days. A bacteria called bacillus cereus was found to be the cause, which is an extreme type of food poisoning called “Fried Rice Syndrome”.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/TirelessGuardian on 2025-03-11 12:13:27.

Original Title: TIL the ViewMaster was introduced in 1939. Film and paper were scarce, and production nearly stopped due to WWII, but a contract to produce airplane and ship identification and range estimation reels saved the product. The military purchased 100,000 viewers and six million reels during the war.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/thesmartass1 on 2025-03-11 09:33:27.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/robrt382 on 2025-03-11 08:27:03.

Original Title: TIL that when Charles II of Spain died on 1 November 1700, at age 38, the autopsy recorded that his "heart was the size of a peppercorn; his lungs corroded; his intestines rotten and gangrenous; he had a single testicle, black as coal, and his head was full of water." Apart from that he was OK.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/nosrettap25 on 2025-03-11 07:28:17.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/ccm596 on 2025-03-11 06:38:52.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/RealityCheck18 on 2025-03-11 06:23:58.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/harrisz2 on 2025-03-11 05:57:29.

Original Title: TIL about the Dionne quintuplets, the first know quintuplets to survive their infancy. At age 5, the Canadian government made them wards of the Crown. During this time they became a profitable tourist attraction. As adults, they sued the Canadian govt for exploitation, eventually settling for $4m.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/TedTheodoreMcfly on 2025-03-11 03:52:20.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Fun_Measurement_4 on 2025-03-11 03:03:25.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/tyrion2024 on 2025-03-11 02:20:22.

Original Title: TIL a 2023 study examined the cognitive ability scores of nearly 400,000 Americans between 2006-2018 and found that over that 13-year period, Americans' IQ scores had dropped in three out of the four cognitive domains included in the analysis.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Zealousideal_Art2159 on 2025-03-11 02:19:42.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/tyrion2024 on 2025-03-11 01:58:33.

Original Title: TIL a 2012 study compared a nation's chocolate consumption to the number of Nobel prize laureates per capita that it had and found an incredibly close correlation between the two. Countries with the most Nobel prize laureates per capita consumed the most chocolate. Switzerland finished first in both

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/tyrion2024 on 2025-03-11 01:41:19.

Original Title: TIL research has found that swearing can reduce the perception of pain (providing a measurable analgesic effect) by as much as 33%. Because swearing is processed in so many different parts of the brain at once, it’s more effective than almost anything else at distracting from pain and discomfort.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/BoazCorey on 2025-03-11 01:09:59.

Original Title: TIL that you must be at least three nautical miles from the U.S. coast to legally scatter human remains in the ocean or to bury someone at sea, according to federal law. You must also notify the EPA within 30 days.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/BerpBorpBarp on 2025-03-10 23:35:58.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/TriviaDuchess on 2025-03-10 22:44:55.

Original Title: TIL the Cutty Sark was a famous ship during the Tea Trade. Launched in 1870, it was designed to win the Tea Races from the Far East. The first ship to bring tea from China could command the highest prices in England. It was named after a witch in a Robert Burns poem and inspired the whisky brand.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/xX609s-hartXx on 2025-03-10 21:22:06.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/awesomedan24 on 2025-03-10 21:08:47.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Ill_Definition8074 on 2025-03-10 21:05:55.

Original Title: TIL Before her marriage to Mao Zedong, Jiang Qing was an actress in 1930s Chinese cinema. Her co-star an actress named Li Lili frequently upstaged her. Decades later during the Cultural Revolution, Jiang ordered the arrest and torture of Li and her husband. Li survived but her husband did not.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/nohup_me on 2025-03-10 20:00:00.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/roguetowel on 2025-03-10 19:19:01.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Weird_Tax_5601 on 2025-03-10 18:52:18.

Original Title: TIL in 1966 a relatively unknown American musician joined legendary guitarist Eric Clapton onstage and performed "Killing Floor," a song Clapton himself deemed too difficult to perform live. This musician was Jimi Hendrix and this event became subsequently known as "The day Hendrix killed God."

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Omynt on 2025-03-10 18:00:19.

The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/MaroonPrince on 2025-03-10 16:44:56.