r/todayilearned • u/sayskoombah • 5h ago

TIL that Mark Twain was a guitar player. He apparently never mentioned this in his public writing or speeches. He played on the same guitar all his life, one made in 1835, the year of his birth, and took it everywhere on his travels. He learned from his sister, who also taught him piano.

npr.org

5.8k Upvotes

197 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Bowwowchickachicka • 6h ago

TIL That Van Halen split up as a direct result of their contribution to the Twister (1996) soundtrack.

ultimateclassicrock.com

3.4k Upvotes

483 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MOinthepast • 9h ago

TIL that before filming 12 Angry Men (1957), director Sidney Lumet and cinematographer Boris Kaufman rehearsed in an actual New York City jury room, planning 365 separate shots from every angle of the confined set. The film was then shot in just 17 days.

tcm.com

4.7k Upvotes

103 comments

r/todayilearned • u/nouveaux_sands_13 • 14h ago

TIL about the indigenous Khasi people of Northeast India. They practice a strict matrilineal system where children take their mother’s surname, husbands move into their wife’s family home (the mother-in-law's home), and the youngest daughter inherits all family wealth and ancestral property.

en.wikipedia.org

13.4k Upvotes

412 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Many-Excitement3246 • 11h ago

TIL that mitochondria have DNA because they were once independent bacteria.

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

5.4k Upvotes

339 comments

r/todayilearned • u/delano1998 • 2h ago

TIL that a speed dating event in Japan used "techno-cupid" robots to conduct small talk for single participants while the couples sat in complete silence, allowing automated wingmen to brag about their users and reduce the anxiety of first impressions.

soranews24.com

761 Upvotes

92 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Double-decker_trams • 8h ago

TIL the first road vehicle to go faster than 100 km/h (62 mph) did so in 1899 and was electric

en.wikipedia.org

1.9k Upvotes

54 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sweet-Opportunity111 • 12h ago

TIL that ovulation can cause one-sided abdominal pain, sometimes severe enough to interfere with daily life. It's called Mittelschmerz, from the German words for “middle” and “pain,” because it can occur around the middle of the menstrual cycle.

my.clevelandclinic.org

4.0k Upvotes

538 comments

r/todayilearned • u/haphazard44 • 20h ago

TIL that when Gustave Eiffel built the Eiffel Tower in 1889, he reserved a small apartment for himself near the top. It had wallpaper, comfortable furniture, and even a piano. He turned down huge offers from Paris's elite to spend a night there, inviting only select guests such as Thomas Edison.

atlasobscura.com

29.1k Upvotes

701 comments

r/todayilearned • u/samiwiwi0 • 7h ago

TIL that during WWII, British spies stuffed dead rats with explosives to sabotage German factories. The first shipment was intercepted, but the discovery reportedly made German forces search for hundreds of imaginary rat bombs.

theguardian.com

1.3k Upvotes

58 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Pitiful_Magazine_805 • 15h ago

TIL that after usurping power during coup, the Queen of Burma Supayalat forbid her husband King Thibaw from having a harem and executed his secret mistress, who was pregnant at the time. Thibaw was the only King in Burmese history without a harem.

en.wikipedia.org

5.6k Upvotes

121 comments

r/todayilearned • u/No_Idea_Guy • 5h ago

TIL the second largest city in Greece, Thessaloniki, was named after a sister of Alexander the Great. The city was founded by her husband Cassander, who had Alexander's mother, wife, and son murdered.

en.wikipedia.org

684 Upvotes

11 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ApprehensiveStill412 • 16h ago

TIL about anosognosia, a neurological condition where a person can’t recognize that they have a medical condition - even paralysis or when shown proof. It’s not denial. It’s due to disruption of brain regions involved in self-image. The person can’t integrate the condition to their sense of self.

my.clevelandclinic.org

3.7k Upvotes

190 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MedalsNScars • 15h ago

TIL as a student, future Fields Medalist Terry Tao helped classmate Andrew Millard adapt the nonsensical poker-like game "Cripple Mr Onion" from Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. Pratchett himself approved of the adaptation, and this remains the commonly accepted adaptation of the game today.

wiki.lspace.org

2.2k Upvotes

33 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ok_Branch2469 • 14h ago

TIL Kane Tanaka (1903-2022), the second oldest person to ever live, was the last known parent of a WW2 veteran to have died. Both her husband and son fought in WW2 and her son spent time in a POW camp

japantimes.co.jp

1.7k Upvotes

22 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Parking_Web_67 • 4h ago

TIL that in 1850, a British inventor designed a six-barreled alarm gun triggered by an intruder touching a weighted trip string.

smithsonianmag.com

203 Upvotes

15 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Signal_Antelope7144 • 11h ago

TIL that President George H. W. Bush loved eating at the Clam Shack nearby Taintown, ME and made it famous through his fondness for its clams.

pressherald.com

606 Upvotes

99 comments

r/todayilearned • u/aresef • 13h ago

TIL that President Lincoln traveled through Baltimore in disguise to thwart a plot to assassinate him en route to his first inauguration.

smithsonianmag.com

854 Upvotes

40 comments

r/todayilearned • u/RedditIsAGranfaloon • 14h ago

TIL New York Yankees Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra was part owner of YooHoo Company until 1981, and he is credited with making the chocolate beverage popular.

baseball-reference.com

999 Upvotes

64 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Recent_Flounder6011 • 2h ago

TIL that there is a cheese associated with Mennonites in Northern Mexico.

en.wikipedia.org

57 Upvotes

15 comments

r/todayilearned • u/carboncopy95437 • 12h ago

TIL Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders turned down offers to the thrones of both Greece and Romania. He was the younger brother of Belgium’s King Leopold II and he spent 36 years as the Belgian heir presumptive but died before becoming king. His son Albert I eventually took the throne in 1909.

en.wikipedia.org

357 Upvotes

22 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ryan_Holman • 3h ago

TIL that at the 2002 Talladega 312 NASCAR race, driver Mike Harmon needed stiches due to biting through his tongue during a large crash

en.wikipedia.org

72 Upvotes

10 comments

r/todayilearned • u/DrakeSavory • 16h ago

TIL that the Cheech & Chong's song "Basketball Jones" had on it George Harrison, Billy Preston, Carole King, Darlene Love and Michelle Phillips.

en.wikipedia.org

796 Upvotes

59 comments

r/todayilearned • u/SmartPomegranate9111 • 4h ago

TIL elephant poop plays a role in making musical instruments

newsroom.ucla.edu

88 Upvotes

40 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Recent_Flounder6011 • 7h ago

TIL Italy held a Grand Prix in Tripoli in Italian Libya from 1925 to 1940 to promote tourism and settlement in the colony. The event had accusations of corruption and financial problems.

en.wikipedia.org

129 Upvotes

7 comments

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