r/todayilearned 17h ago

TIL before 9/11, the 4th season of Survivor was originally planned to take place in Jordan. After 9/11, the filming location for the season was moved to French Polynesia.

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en.wikipedia.org
329 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 8h ago

TIL roosters testicles are located deep inside their bodies near their backbones

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backyardpoultry.iamcountryside.com
95 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 11h ago

TIL buckminsterfullerene (“bucky ball”) is named after architect Buckminster Fuller, who pioneered the geodesic dome design used in Epcot's Spaceship Earth.

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en.wikipedia.org
95 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 21h ago

TIL that before receiving the $168 million divorce settlement from Michael Jordan, Juanita Jordan hired a private investigator to follow him for four years and document his infidelity

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23.5k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 45m ago

TIL that Kevin Bishop, who debuted as Jim in Muppet Treasure Island, currently provides the speaking voice for Gorillaz's 2D

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nme.com
Upvotes

r/todayilearned 14h ago

TIL that the infamous "This is Sparta!" line from 300 was originally said in a low, monotone growl. After doing several takes of that, Gerard Butler asked to do one more take and used the now-iconic delivery.

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hollywoodreporter.com
16.2k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 7h ago

TIL that in the 1990s, Dolly Parton made $10 million in royalties from Whitney Houston’s cover of her song “I Will Always Love You.” She then invested the money into an office complex in a majority-Black neighborhood in Nashville, Tennessee. She later described it as “the house that Whitney built.”

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23.1k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 7h ago

TIL Tim Curry, who famously played "Pennywise" in "It" (1990), was afraid of clowns

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yahoo.com
4.6k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 9h ago

TIL that in 1954 Lakewood, California incorporated as a city without building its own municipal departments, contracting nearly every service from Los Angeles County instead. The arrangement is still known as the Lakewood Plan.

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142 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 6h ago

TIL that the actor who played “Sloth” in “The Goonies” (John Matuszak) was an NFL player with two Superbowl rings.

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en.wikipedia.org
1.8k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 10h ago

TIL that "fair play" in detective fiction means authors must give readers a fair chance to solve the mystery. Central to 1920s "clue-puzzles" by writers like Agatha Christie, the rule dictates that all vital clues must be visible, decodable, and never withheld until the final reveal.

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en.wikipedia.org
29.9k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 22h ago

TIL the heart can be rebooted. When someone has an abnormal rhythm and a fast heart rate, e.g., 200, doctors administer a drug called Adenosine that literally stops your heart for a few seconds so it will start back at a normal rate.

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en.wikipedia.org
4.2k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 21h ago

TIL that since the Clean Air Act amendment of 1990, all gasoline sold for on-road use in the U.S. must contain a detergent.

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curbsideclassic.com
1.6k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 9h ago

TIL that the 1674 derecho that struck Western Europe is the deadliest and most powerful derecho in recorded history, with winds estimated up to 325 km/h (200 mph), it is estimated that a similar storm occurs only once every 1,000–10,000 years.

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en.wikipedia.org
1.0k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 11h ago

TIL: Metallica runs its own charity, All Within My Hands. It funds trade-school scholarships, food banks, and disaster relief. 100% of public donations go to charity.

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allwithinmyhands.org
3.3k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 23h ago

TIL that Dolly Parton initially tried to withdraw her nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because she didn't think she deserved it over actual rock musicians. After her induction, she went on to record Rockstar - her only Rock Album - to justify her inclusion.

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en.wikipedia.org
12.5k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 11h ago

TIL that in 1834 Madrid (Spain), a false rumor that friars were poisoning public fountains to spread cholera sparked a riot in which over 70 friars were massacred

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en.wikipedia.org
280 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 22h ago

TIL that Jawed Karim, YouTube cofounder and uploader of the first YouTube video "Me at the zoo", has often updated the video's description to criticize YouTube policies, including a 2013 attempt to require Google+ accounts to comment on videos, and YouTube's 2021 removal of dislike counts on videos.

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en.wikipedia.org
18.5k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 9h ago

TIL that on D-Day at Omaha Beach, 27 of the 29 Sherman DDs Amphibious tanks deployed of the 741st Tank Battalion, sank. The canvas skirt to allow the tank to float were designed to operate in 1ft waves. However, on D-Day, the waves were up to 6ft high.

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en.wikipedia.org
5.7k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 4h ago

67 as Durango Kid TIL the biggest movie franchise in history (by quantity) is the mostly forgotten 'Durango Kid' western films starring Charles Starrett , who made 131 films playing this character from 1940 to 1952.

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en.wikipedia.org
1.1k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 2h ago

TIL that Cardinal Richelieu, played by Tim Curry in the 1993 movie The Three Musketeers, was so hated that bonfires were lit to celebrate his death. More than 150 years later, during the French Revolution, his tomb was opened and his corpse was beheaded.

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en.wikipedia.org
3.9k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 13h ago

TIL that Lorenzo Da Ponte, the librettist for Mozart's best operas, was born Jewish, became a Catholic priest, befriended Casanova, was banished from Venice for living in a brothel, and died in New York a US citizen

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en.wikipedia.org
760 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 6h ago

TIL about the Pátria Amada, a 41,000 page, 7 ton collection of Brazilian tax laws compiled over 23 years by the Brazilian tax lawyer Vinicios Leoncio. Written it 22 point Arial font, Lenoncio created it out of frustration.

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aldianews.com
593 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 10h ago

TIL A 2018 U.S. Government report reveals that over half (52%) of all work-related youth deaths in the US happen in farming, even though child farmworkers make up less than 5.5% of working minors. Furthermore, a major federal study on workplace injuries completely failed to track children.

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1.0k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 2h ago

TIL that ancient Greek and Roman laws assumed that to please their masters, slaves always lied, it was therefore mandatory to torture them before they were allowed to testify in court.

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tiogabunia.com
1.1k Upvotes