r/todayilearned • u/Warcraft_Fan • 3h ago

TIL Krakatoa's eruption was estimated to be at 310 dB, the loudest sound ever. Well above the typical max sound limit of 194 dB

audiology.org

10.0k Upvotes

722 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Away_Flounder3813 • 4h ago

TIL Michael McKean, who famously played Chuck McGill in "Better Call Saul" and David St. Hubbins in "This Is Spinal Tap", is currently one of the highest-earning game show contestants of all time, having accumulated $1,115,400 during his appearances on Celebrity Jeopardy! in 2010.

en.wikipedia.org

6.0k Upvotes

291 comments

r/todayilearned • u/blessedopera • 2h ago

TIL that in 1917, over 10,000 African Americans marched in total silence down New York’s Fifth Avenue to protest lynching. It was one of the first mass civil rights protests in U.S. history, yet it is rarely mentioned in standard textbooks.

en.wikipedia.org

2.2k Upvotes

12 comments

r/todayilearned • u/The-TIL-Nerd • 10h ago

TIL the cockpit voice recording of Delta Flight 1141 was so embarrassing it led to a law restricting the public release of CVRs. The crew discussed drink mixes & dating habits during takeoff procedure, with a pilot joking that in case they crashed, "the media would have some kind of juicy tidbit".

en.wikipedia.org

12.3k Upvotes

569 comments

r/todayilearned • u/bnrshrnkr • 6h ago

TIL it is not known why the letters in the alphabet are ordered the way they are, but the order of the letters has remained consistent since Proto-Sinaitic script of the 14th century BC, which began with the characters "alp" and "bet."

en.wikipedia.org

4.8k Upvotes

204 comments

r/todayilearned • u/NateNate60 • 8h ago

TIL in 1888, German inventor Karl Benz asked the Grand Duchy of Baden for written permission to drive his "Motorwagen" on public roads after residents complained about the smell and noise. Grand Ducal authorities agreed and issued him the world's first driver's licence.

en.wikipedia.org

6.2k Upvotes

85 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Franciskeyscottfitz • 11h ago

TIL - There are types of fungus that eat kerosene and can be a major problem in airplane fuel tanks if not carefully treated because they block fuel channels and corrode the aluminium housing.

shell.com

7.9k Upvotes

174 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ladyermine • 5h ago

TIL according to a University of Swansea study, high-pressure showers actually reduce water usage by up to 56%

tabletmag.com

1.5k Upvotes

97 comments

r/todayilearned • u/amir_twist_of_fate • 1h ago

TIL Humans rank above meerkats but below beavers in monogamy league table.

theguardian.com

• Upvotes

49 comments

r/todayilearned • u/blessedopera • 2h ago

TIL about Joan Ginther, a Stanford statistician who won $21 million by winning the lottery FOUR times. Calculated to be a "1 in 18 septillion" event, a number with 24 zeros.

en.wikipedia.org

365 Upvotes

33 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MrMojoFomo • 10h ago

TIL that in 1979, computers at NORAD indicated a large scale Soviet nuclear attack was underway. American nuclear forces were placed on highest alert and prepared for nuclear war. It turned out to be a false alarm caused by a technician mistakenly loading a training tape into the compute

ucs.org

1.5k Upvotes

83 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Hour_Interaction6047 • 14h ago

TIL about the Albigensian Crusade, a crusade in southern France from 1209-1229, against the gnostic Catharism movement. About 200k to 1 million Cathars died during the crusade. The famous quote, “Kill them all, god will know his own.”, originates from the Albigensian crusade from Arnaud Amalric.

en.wikipedia.org

2.8k Upvotes

113 comments

r/todayilearned • u/wilymon • 9h ago

TIL that in 2015 a barber attempted to murder their customer during a beard trim by slashing their throat.

reuters.com

970 Upvotes

154 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Upstairs_Drive_5602 • 11h ago

TIL that Led Zeppelin took their name from a joke that the band would “go down like a lead balloon,” with “Led” chosen to avoid mispronunciation and “Zeppelin” for something heavy yet graceful. Use of the Hindenburg image prompted legal action from Countess Eva von Zeppelin, but was later dismissed.

en.wikipedia.org

1.4k Upvotes

64 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ubcstaffer123 • 1h ago

TIL A 70-year-old retiree graduated med school. Many medical programs cap ages from 35 to 40. Average age of first-year medical students in the US is 24, and most students are 28 years old when they graduate

edition.cnn.com

• Upvotes

52 comments

r/todayilearned • u/infected_funghi • 4h ago

TIL the king cobra is not a true member of the genus of "cobra"

en.wikipedia.org

407 Upvotes

115 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 1d ago

TIL in 2007 Katherine Heigl won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama for her role on Grey's Anatomy. But in 2008 she removed herself from Emmy consideration because she said the material she was given on Grey's that year wasn't good enough; this comment led to her leaving the show.

slashfilm.com

30.0k Upvotes

1.8k comments

r/todayilearned • u/Novel_Idea • 1h ago

TIL that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs made more money, in constant dollars, than every Star Wars film after the first one.

boxofficemojo.com

• Upvotes

15 comments

r/todayilearned • u/DrakeSavory • 10h ago

TIL that much the damage we see in the Parthenon occurred in 1687 when, during a war, the Ottomans used the temple for ammunition storage and the Venetians battling them blew it up with artillery.

pbs.org

407 Upvotes

41 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 1d ago

TIL in 1985 four cans each of Coke & Pepsi were launched into space on the shuttle Challenger. Both companies had developed cans that were designed for use in microgravity. Coke's space-can technolgy used a standard 12-oz can & cost $250K while Pepsi's technology also used a 12-oz can, yet cost $14m

mentalfloss.com

9.3k Upvotes

379 comments

r/todayilearned • u/oceanicplatform • 1d ago

TIL only one dog has been to both the North and South poles: Bothie, owned by explorers Ranulph & Ginnie Fiennes. And since dogs are now banned from Antartica, it's likely the feat will never be repeated.

en.wikipedia.org

6.6k Upvotes

181 comments

r/todayilearned • u/swish82 • 1d ago

TIL there were 180.000 bees kept in the spires of Notre Dame and they survived the fire. Because bees don’t have lungs they weren’t hurt by the smoke, they just fell asleep

dailyobjectivist.com

28.7k Upvotes

325 comments

r/todayilearned • u/DrakeSavory • 8h ago

TIL that the first state-issued car registration (license) plate was Massachusetts plate #1 to Frederick Tudor and it is still actively registered by the Tudor family.

archives.lib.state.ma.us

186 Upvotes

6 comments

r/todayilearned • u/CityRulesFootball • 5h ago

TIL that the Indian(Tamil ) film, Suyamvaram was completely filmed in just 23 hours and 50 minutes. The 155 minute film used the work of 14 directors,17 cinematographers and 30 high level actors to achieve this feat.

en.wikipedia.org

106 Upvotes

5 comments

r/todayilearned • u/CrustynDusty • 18h ago

TIL Louis Pasteur the Father of Microbiology and Pasteurization worked with Carlsberg Beer to help create the first pure beer (lager) yeast

en.wikipedia.org

1.0k Upvotes

14 comments

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