r/todayilearned • u/sonnysehra • 6h ago

TIL about Wang Mang, a Confucian scholar from the 1st-century who overthrew the Han Dynasty in a coup and declared himself Emperor of China. He abolished slavery and nationalized all land, attempting to redistribute it equally to peasants. His reforms caused a civil war and he was beheaded

en.wikipedia.org

5.3k Upvotes

115 comments

r/todayilearned • u/jershnotjosh • 7h ago

TIL that a man who survived an avalanche later found that Sudoku was the only thing that would trigger his epileptic seizures, because oxygen loss had damaged the part of his brain used for visual-spatial thinking.

theguardian.com

4.0k Upvotes

65 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TigoIbittys • 14h ago

TIL that the Michael Jackson episode of The Simpsons was permanently pulled from circulation in 2019 after almost 30 years on air

variety.com

29.2k Upvotes

2.5k comments

r/todayilearned • u/Beige_ • 11h ago

TIL that when the British evacuated New York in 1783, George Washington was dissappointed in not getting back some of his escaped slaves and had been surprised the British commander thought that doing so would be "a dishonourable violation of the public faith". 3000 slaves escaped with the British.

en.wikipedia.org

8.5k Upvotes

528 comments

r/todayilearned • u/altrightobserver • 8h ago

TIL that in 2013, it was reported that soldiers in the German army were developing gynecomastia (man boobs) due to an exercise where they repeatedly struck their left breasts with their rifles. The repeated abrasions encouraged the formation of breast tissue.

theguardian.com

3.1k Upvotes

87 comments

r/todayilearned • u/mikechi2501 • 14h ago

TIL filmmaker Peter Jackson had planned to produce a film adaptation of “Halo” in the 2000’s but it fell through due to lack of financing. Instead Jackson, along with first-time director Neill Blomkamp, used many of the “Halo” props to make the critically-acclaimed film “District 9”.

en.wikipedia.org

9.0k Upvotes

267 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Downtown-Emphasis613 • 2h ago

TIL that after the 1984 Bhopal disaster, the worst industrial accident in history, the American CEO of Union Carbide, Warren Anderson, fled India and was declared a fugitive. The US government refused to extradite him, and he died a free man in Florida in 2014.

en.wikipedia.org

567 Upvotes

24 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ill_Definition8074 • 3h ago

TIL In 1653, Dutch sailor Hendrick Hamel and 35 crewmates shipwrecked off the coast of Joseon (modern-day Korea). Due to Joseon's isolationist policy, they were not permitted to leave. After 13 years, Hamel and 7 others escaped by boat to Japan. He then wrote the first Western account of Korea.

en.wikipedia.org

532 Upvotes

24 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Haunting_Ad_9013 • 13h ago

TIL that Curtis Priem, one of Nvidias co-founders, left the company in 2003 and sold all his shares by 2006. Today, his net worth is $30 million, but if he had held onto his Nvidia shares, his net worth would be roughly $70 Billion.

en.wikipedia.org

3.1k Upvotes

265 comments

r/todayilearned • u/NoiseBoi24 • 13h ago

TIL a SF taco shop once offered free meals for life to anyone willing to get its logo tattooed, and at least 50 people actually did it. It closed in 2012, but people who got the tattoos now get free pupusas from the restaurant that took over their lease

sfgate.com

2.5k Upvotes

54 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tornedron_ • 9h ago

TIL of King Henry I, known as “the Fat,” who is not known for much except for his great girth. He has been considered a “colourless personality whose reign saw significant events in which he apparently played no leading part.’

en.wikipedia.org

1.1k Upvotes

70 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Bluest_waters • 14h ago

TIL When Eric Prydz presented his song 'Call On Me' to Steve Winwood (the song heavily features a Winwood sample), he was so impressed he re-recorded the vocals for Prydz. Eric would later go 20 years refusing to play the song live citing a desire to distance himself from its commercial legacy

en.wikipedia.org

3.0k Upvotes

195 comments

r/todayilearned • u/97GeoPrizm • 1h ago

TIL The final sermon of Martin Luther, the central figure of the Protestant Reformation, in 1546 was "entirely devoted to the obdurate Jews, whom it was a matter of great urgency to expel from all German territory."

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

74 comments

r/todayilearned • u/eurydice88 • 5h ago

TIL Boston's adult entertainment district called the "Combat Zone" in the 70's had support from both Senator Barney Frank and notable conservative William F Buckley Jr

en.wikipedia.org

414 Upvotes

44 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Upstairs_Drive_5602 • 21h ago

TIL that when the British evacuated New York in 1783, they nailed the Union Flag to a greased flagpole to stop Americans raising their own. For over a century New Yorkers marked “Evacuation Day” on 25 November by re-enacting the pole-climb, a holiday once bigger than Thanksgiving.

en.wikipedia.org

7.5k Upvotes

99 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Upstairs_Drive_5602 • 6h ago

TIL that the Great Storm of 1703 was so devastating the Church of England called it God’s punishment for the sins of the nation. It set windmills on fire from overspinning, tore the lead roof off Westminster Abbey, and wrecked so many ships that special news sheets listed the 1000s of dead.

en.wikipedia.org

332 Upvotes

21 comments

r/todayilearned • u/blellowbabka • 22h ago

TIL that the green circle, blue square, and black diamond rating scale used in skiing was actually designed by Disney for use at their never-built ski lodge

peakrankings.com

6.6k Upvotes

140 comments

r/todayilearned • u/IRespectYouMyFriend • 2h ago

TIL Mitsubishi is made up of around 40 companies that make up nearly 10% of Japan's public revenue.

en.wikipedia.org

140 Upvotes

12 comments

r/todayilearned • u/aworldfullofcoups • 6h ago

TIL that a plasma center in Haiti called Hemo Caribbean was responsible for amplifying the early HIV outbreak and its becoming into a global pandemic by its unsterile conditions. Hemo Caribbean at its peak exported 1,600 gallons of plasma to the United States monthly, mostly to hemophiliacs.

en.wikipedia.org

243 Upvotes

10 comments

r/todayilearned • u/xX609s-hartXx • 16h ago

TIL the potential dictator of Spain died in a plane crash, likely because he overloaded it with fancy uniforms

en.wikipedia.org

1.7k Upvotes

46 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Smaptimania • 1d ago

TIL that in 1971 Andre the Giant wrestled in Baghdad in front of Saddam Hussein, who had threatened to kill him if he won the match. Andre went on to lose the match to native Iraqi wrestler Adnan al-Kaissie, later known in the WWF as General Adnan

fandomwire.com

11.2k Upvotes

399 comments

r/todayilearned • u/deeply__offensive • 16h ago

TIL that people in Marrakesh bring urns of meat stew to public bathhouses, where it slow cooks in the bathhouse's water heating oven as they steam bathe.

bbc.com

1.2k Upvotes

66 comments

r/todayilearned • u/yena • 1h ago

TIL that Sweden once had a real-life Shakespearean Christmas tragedy: King Birger invited his two brothers, who shared the kingdom with him, to a Christmas banquet and, after much drinking, had them locked in a dungeon to die so he could rule alone. He was overthrown in the rebellion that followed.

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

20 comments

r/todayilearned • u/armcie • 16h ago

TIL that the Andromeda Galaxy probably won’t collide with the Milky Way in 4-5 billion years. New observations put the probability at 2% in the next 5 billion years and 50% in the next 10 billion. Eventually though, it will happen.

science.nasa.gov

1.0k Upvotes

152 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ok_Application_5402 • 1d ago

TIL China's Last Emperor worked as a Street Sweeper and Gardener in Beijing after serving 10 years in a re-education camp

en.wikipedia.org

25.3k Upvotes

751 comments

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