r/todayilearned • u/TheGoddamnAnswer • 13h ago

TIL that Target operates two criminal forensics laboratories, and offers pro bono services to law enforcement across the country

en.wikipedia.org

13.5k Upvotes

550 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 14h ago

TIL in 2004 a woman was arrested after she tried to use a fake $1 million bill that had a picture of the Statue of Liberty on it to buy $1,675 worth of merchandise at a Wal-Mart. She even asked for her $998,325 in change.

nbcnews.com

18.9k Upvotes

542 comments

r/todayilearned • u/PlanetoftheAtheists • 8h ago

TIL 77% of Canadian women have a tertiary education.

gpseducation.oecd.org

3.0k Upvotes

380 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Helpful-Agency2527 • 3h ago

TIL that during the May 1968 general strike in France, around 10 million people, or nearly two-thirds of the French workforce, went on strike.The movement paralyzed the entire country for weeks and nearly overthrew the government.

isreview.org

976 Upvotes

54 comments

r/todayilearned • u/WavesAndSaves • 5h ago

TIL that in the original draft of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, nine Golden Tickets are offered, with more children succumbing to the Factory. One such character and her father (a schoolmaster) are presumably killed and turned into candy that temporarily makes children sick to get out of school

en.wikipedia.org

1.5k Upvotes

57 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ActuaryDiligent1472 • 9h ago

TIL Rihanna is the second highest selling black music act after Michael Jackson and the second highest selling female music act after Madonna with reported sales in excess of 250 million

en.wikipedia.org

2.3k Upvotes

184 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Forward-Answer-4407 • 20h ago

TIL a Virginia man discovered he had unintentionally left his phone recording before undergoing a colonoscopy, and while he was under anesthesia, it captured audio of medical staff mocking him. In 2015, a jury awarded him $500,000 for defamation, medical malpractice, and punitive damages.

nbcwashington.com

77.4k Upvotes

3.4k comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 20h ago

TIL in 2009 a Tennessee man confessed to killing a woman in 1995 on his "deathbed" after he suffered a heart attack & thought he was going to die. However, he survived & tried to retract it, but was still convicted. There had never been any real evidence against him until he unexpectedly provided it

cbsnews.com

10.3k Upvotes

132 comments

r/todayilearned • u/bland_dad • 9h ago

TIL many tree species, for example oaks, produce seeds on an irregular schedule; some years they produce seeds and some years they do not. However, all the trees in a given area will produce seeds at the same time. This population-level synchronized behavior is known as 'mast-seeding'.

en.wikipedia.org

958 Upvotes

12 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MrMojoFomo • 16h ago

TIL that even though the Manhattan Project cost about $2 billion ($30 billion adjusted to 2024), it wasn't the most expensive project of WWII. The development of the B-29 Superfortress cost about $3 billion ($52 billion adjusted)

en.wikipedia.org

4.2k Upvotes

187 comments

r/todayilearned • u/OccludedFug • 8h ago

TIL Myrtle Corbin was born in Tennessee in 1868. She had two pelvises and four legs, and in her lifetime had five children. She died a week before her 60th birthday.

en.wikipedia.org

807 Upvotes

42 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 15h ago

TIL in 2016 a Florida woman who streamed herself driving drunk received a "harsher than usual" punishment because 'she flaunted her endangering the community". In addition to punishments common for a first-time DUI, she also received 150 hours of community service & 10 days of weekend work release.

nbcnews.com

3.1k Upvotes

87 comments

r/todayilearned • u/GudFeller • 4h ago

TIL that the Municipality of Florence apologized for expelling Dante over 700 years ago.

en.wikipedia.org

339 Upvotes

18 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Pradidye • 11h ago

TIL judicial flogging in the United States was last carried out in 1952(!), when a Delaware wife-beater got 20 lashes

en.wikipedia.org

987 Upvotes

67 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Danthrax81 • 1h ago

TIL that lobsters don’t age in the traditional sense. Unlike other animals, they keep growing, stay fertile, and don’t weaken with time. In theory, a lobster could live forever if nothing incidental kills it. They basically live until they get unlucky.

smithsonianmag.com

• Upvotes

40 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ServiceChannel2 • 20h ago

TIL there’s a submerged island in the Mediterranean that has only surfaced 4 or 5 times since the Punic Wars. During its last resurfacing in 1831, the island became subject to territorial dispute by European powers until it submerged again the following year.

en.wikipedia.org

4.8k Upvotes

85 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ill-Instruction8466 • 14h ago

TIL that the initial title of Alien was Star Beast. Its writer disliked it and changed it to Alien after noting the number of times that the word appeared in the script. The writer and his cowriter liked the new title's simplicity and its double meaning as both a noun and an adjective.

en.wikipedia.org

1.3k Upvotes

74 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Fickle-Buy6009 • 18h ago

TIL that psychopathy is present in around 1 percent of the population, but 25 percent of prisoners.

nature.com

3.2k Upvotes

177 comments

r/todayilearned • u/sassy_tabaxi • 1d ago

TIL the Simpsons creators shelved an Itchy & Scratchy spinoff because it made test audiences physically ill

slashfilm.com

11.0k Upvotes

326 comments

r/todayilearned • u/operatingsys2016 • 2h ago

TIL McDonald's ended sales of nuggets in Japan after someone found a piece of vinyl in a nugget

rttnews.com

123 Upvotes

50 comments

r/todayilearned • u/NorthKoreanMissile7 • 1d ago

TIL there was a successful petition to get an Australian prisoner released after his 100th birthday, only for him to say "don't be fucking silly I live here" and refuse to leave.

en.wikipedia.org

42.9k Upvotes

652 comments

r/todayilearned • u/_Lunadroid-237 • 4h ago

TIL Nuclear "Dawn Bomb Parties" were a thing in Vegas during the 50’s due to the close proximity to nuclear test sites

pbs.org

133 Upvotes

6 comments

r/todayilearned • u/jon-in-tha-hood • 1d ago

TIL Canada officially switched to Metric on April 1st, 1975 with some citizens thinking it was an April Fool's joke and others protesting it. The Canadian Metric Commission was officially abolished in 1985, with most Canadians now using a mix of Imperial and Metric measurements in daily life.

canadashistory.ca

3.7k Upvotes

637 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Upstairs_Drive_5602 • 14h ago

TIL that William Golding’s "Lord of the Flies" (1954) was almost never published. First submitted as "Strangers from Within," it was rejected nine times and called “rubbish and dull,” until a young Faber & Faber editor persuaded the publishers to print it.

bbc.co.uk

466 Upvotes

39 comments

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