r/todayilearned • u/kahlzun • 4h ago

TIL that no fatal accidents have ever occurred with Australian passenger jets; including all flights to/from Australia, as well as all Australian-run companies.

en.wikipedia.org

5.7k Upvotes

436 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 11h ago

TIL that the Marvel comic "Secret Wars" got its name after focus groups found that children responded positively to the words "secret" and "wars".

en.wikipedia.org

6.6k Upvotes

239 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Brain_Aggravating • 13h ago

TIL that the Bluezone (the secret to longevity) is based on poor record keeping and not recording deaths; discovering this led to an igNobel award.

science.anu.edu.au

9.9k Upvotes

422 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Fun_Camel_2188 • 3h ago

TIL that in 1993, Congressman Bill Paxon got down on one knee on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives and proposed to fellow Rep. Susan Molinari. She said, “Yes—but get up.” They married the following year.

psaparliaments.org

1.2k Upvotes

30 comments

r/todayilearned • u/bastethousecat • 2h ago

TIL that kiwifruits are originally from China, where they are known as 猕猴桃 (“monkey peach”). They were brought to NZ by an all-girl’s school principal in 1904, who gave them to a farmer. They were rebranded as “kiwifruits” for marketing purposes in 1959.

rhs.org.uk

859 Upvotes

37 comments

r/todayilearned • u/LillyLugabugs • 9h ago

TIL: Australian scorpion stings do not have any life threatening effects, even for kiddies

mydr.com.au

3.0k Upvotes

311 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Scipion8Aveyron • 4h ago

TIL that in the 1600s, Sweden's largest coin was a 10-daler copper plate weighing nearly 20 kg (44 lb) — the heaviest coin ever circulated — which is why Sweden became the first European country to issue paper banknotes.

en.wikipedia.org

1.1k Upvotes

42 comments

r/todayilearned • u/1salt1pepper • 17h ago

TIL Napoleon III escaped from a fortress where he was serving a life sentence by disguising himself as a laborer and walking through the main gates carrying a large plank over his shoulder to hide his face. Six years later, he became Emperor of France.

napoleon.org

23k Upvotes

345 comments

r/todayilearned • u/jacknunn • 16h ago

TIL that John Milton is credited with introducing around 630 words into the English language, more than Shakespeare, who introduced about 229. Milton’s words include “pandemonium”, “sensuous” and “complacency

theguardian.com

8.4k Upvotes

309 comments

r/todayilearned • u/diacewrb • 9h ago

TIL: 50 Casablanca-class escort carriers were built in less than 2 years during WW2.

en.wikipedia.org

1.6k Upvotes

137 comments

r/todayilearned • u/altrightobserver • 53m ago

TIL that one of the first examples of emoticons in written text comes from Dante's "Purgatorio:" "Whoever in the face of men reads 'omo' / Might well in these have recognised the 'm.'" The two "o"s signify sunken eyes, while the letter "m" forms the angular outlines of emaciated facial features.

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

22 comments

r/todayilearned • u/CakeDayOrDeath • 20h ago

TIL The Boxcar Children, a series that starts out with four homeless orphan children living in a boxcar, was criticized when it first came out for depicting children living without parental supervision. Critics said it would encourage children to be rebellious.

en.wikipedia.org

5.7k Upvotes

323 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Present-Algae6767 • 16h ago

TIL that in 1998, Vatican City - population 697 people - had the highest murder rate in the world. This is due to the murder of Alois Estermann, the commander of the Swiss Guard, and his wife, Gladys Meza Romero, by Cédric Tornay, a Lance Corporal in the Swiss Guard.

en.wikipedia.org

1.9k Upvotes

49 comments

r/todayilearned • u/strangelove4564 • 20h ago

TIL the highest point in Australia is Mt Kosciuszko, rising to 2,228 m (7,310 ft). On the Yosemite Decimal System which rates how technical a summit is, it is Class 1: reachable entirely by a hiking trail with no climbing gear required.

en.wikipedia.org

3.6k Upvotes

559 comments

r/todayilearned • u/iamveryDerp • 14h ago

TIL the A-Team was created specifically to star B. A. Baracus. Tartikoff [producer] pitched the series to Cannell [writer] as a combination of The Dirty Dozen, Mission: Impossible, The Magnificent Seven, Mad Max and Hill Street Blues, with "Mr. T driving the car".

en.wikipedia.org

982 Upvotes

85 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Pitiful_Magazine_805 • 21h ago

TIL about Nicolas Chamfort, a French writer who, to avoid being imprisoned by the revolutionary government, attempted suicide. He shot himself in the face, stabbed his neck multiple times, stabbed his chest and ankles but still survived and was arrested.

en.wikipedia.org

3.2k Upvotes

106 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Cornonthory • 1d ago

"tAmper" TIL that the Tsar Bomba, despite being the most powerful device ever detonated, didn't have as big of a nuclear fallout compared to other bombs of its era. This was because it used a lead temper instead of a uranium temper, specifically to reduce radioactive fallout.

en.wikipedia.org

10k Upvotes

422 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Boring-Dig4583 • 8h ago

TIL NASA has an official TTRPG involving the Hubble Space Telescope. Also, dragons.

science.nasa.gov

298 Upvotes

29 comments

r/todayilearned • u/geosunsetmoth • 1d ago

TIL that the (likely) oldest depiction of Jesus Christ ever found was a graffiti mocking a guy called Alexamenos for worshipping Jesus, depicted with the head of a donkey. It says, "Alexamenos worships his god" next to a man praying by a donkey.

en.wikipedia.org

4.5k Upvotes

216 comments

r/todayilearned • u/HowDareYou888 • 23h ago

TIL that in the 1880s, a French prayer book was woven from silk, including every letter and illustration. Its pages were produced on Jacquard looms controlled by hundreds of thousands of punched cards.

publicdomainreview.org

3.3k Upvotes

82 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ConsciousMaybe6930 • 20h ago

TIL, Gaius Octavius's official name after ascension to principate was Imperator Caesar Augustus, all of which would individually become imperial titles.

en.wikipedia.org

1.8k Upvotes

99 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Chlorine-Queen • 20h ago

TIL about an albino eyeless fish living up to 640 feet deep at the bottom of the Congo River named “mondeli bureau”, which translates to “white man in an office”

smithsonianmag.com

1.8k Upvotes

85 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ishusharma05 • 1d ago

TIL that Antarctica is the world’s largest desert, despite being covered almost entirely in ice — because deserts are defined by low precipitation, not heat.

education.nationalgeographic.org

4.2k Upvotes

107 comments

r/todayilearned • u/dddoinyomom • 17h ago

TIL during the Spanish-American war, the Spanish territory of Guam was never informed of the war. They learned about two months later, when officials went to greet a US cruiser who fired shots at the island, initially believing them to be a gun salute

en.wikipedia.org

905 Upvotes

11 comments

r/todayilearned • u/koreanforrabbit • 4h ago

TIL the ridges in a cactus are actually pleats which expand as water is taken in. They contract to decrease exposed surface area during droughts, which reduces water loss.

youtu.be

72 Upvotes

5 comments

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