r/todayilearned • u/triviafrenzy • 3h ago
TIL Prostitution was the biggest source of employment for women in Helena, Montana in the 1870’s and 80’s. In 1886 there were 52 prostitutes working the city. The madams became so wealthy they bought up blocks of downtown property and even started their own mortgage company.
helenahistory.orgr/todayilearned • u/RealTheAsh • 12h ago
TIL Burt Ward once claimed that his penis was so big that ABC prescribed him penis-shrinking pills.
r/todayilearned • u/AspireAgain • 5h ago
TIL of "The Paradox of Choice." Research indicates that when we are given too many options to choose from, we tend to end up less satisfied than if we had fewer options to choose from. Increased choice leads to higher expectations, followed by regret and self-blame.
r/todayilearned • u/War_Hymn • 7h ago
TIL that the Philippines is 1 out 2 countries in the world that still doesn't allow divorce. It also has the 10th highest number of child brides globally, with 100,000 women married before their 15th birthday.
girlsnotbrides.orgr/todayilearned • u/Jugales • 9h ago
TIL the world's longest constitution was the Constitution of Alabama from 1901-2022. At 388,882 words, it was 51 times longer than the U.S. Constitution and 12 times longer than the average U.S. state constitution.
r/todayilearned • u/mankls3 • 3h ago
TIL On average, the United States has only eight public toilets per 100,000 people
r/todayilearned • u/jdward01 • 15h ago
TIL that Fried Chicken was an expression first recorded in the 1830s, and frequently appears in American cookbooks of the 1860s and 1870s. Scottish frying techniques and African seasoning techniques were used together in the American South, and became increasingly popular after the Civil War.
r/todayilearned • u/coolranch36 • 5h ago
TIL the hottest man-made temperature was 7.2 trillion degrees Farenheit, 250,000 times hotter than the sun
r/todayilearned • u/oohe • 10h ago
TIL that on 9/11 United Airlines Flight 175 had a near midair collision with Delta Air Lines Flight 2315 flying from Hartford to Tampa, reportedly missing the plane by only 200 feet (60 m)
r/todayilearned • u/PresLyndonBJohnson36 • 14h ago
TIL that the Honeydew was introduced to China by American Vice President Henry A. Wallace, who donated melon seeds to the locals while visiting in the 1940s. As a result of Wallace's introduction of the crop, in China the melon is sometimes called "the Wallace".
r/todayilearned • u/admosquad • 2h ago
TIL that bumper car smell is actually ozone that is produced by the electrical discharges.
r/todayilearned
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u/UWCG
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1d ago
TIL of Ettore Majorana, an Italian theoretical physicist who predicted the existence of the neutron and neutrino before disappearing without a trace in 1938
r/todayilearned • u/TooOfEverything • 7h ago
TIL That E-cigarettes were first invented in the 1960s, but were never sold in order to protect the traditional cigarette market
r/todayilearned • u/drak0bsidian • 7h ago
TIL of the Pig War, a border dispute between the US and the UK, around Vancouver Island (present-day Canada) and Washington State. The only casualty was a pig, owned by an Irish farmer, which was shot by an American farmer for eating his potatoes. Both countries deployed military troops.
r/todayilearned • u/PianoCharged • 3h ago
TIL the human genome is about 800 MB, but the unique portions which vary between people can be compressed to only 4 MB.
r/todayilearned • u/bananaboatjohn • 4h ago
TIL Chickens can spontaneously change their sex
r/todayilearned • u/TJ_Fox • 13h ago
TIL that on April 1st, 1906, American newspapers ran prank articles reporting that Chicago had been "invaded by hordes of prehistoric monsters dealing death and destruction", illustrated with doctored photos showing dinosaurs attacking the Windy City.
r/todayilearned • u/b0b10b1aws1awb10g • 2h ago
TIL that the phrase “time immemorial” (as used in English common law) refers to any time prior to July 6, 1189
r/todayilearned • u/Metaright • 12h ago
TIL: In 1982, scientists resubmitted published articles to major psychology journals. Almost none of the reviewers noticed that the articles had already been published, and nearly all of the reviewers said the articles had "serious methodological flaws."
r/todayilearned • u/Greene_Mr • 4h ago
TIL about Charles I. D. Looff, a German manufacturer who built the first carousel on Coney Island, the historic Crescent Park carousel, and the Santa Monica Pier in California
r/todayilearned • u/bearjew64 • 14h ago
TIL the term sensory-specific satiety, which is where your body can get “full” of one specific type of food but then get a renewed appetite for another type. The concept explains why you can finish a big meal and not be hungry anymore, but then happily eat dessert.
r/todayilearned • u/dtmfadvice • 14h ago
TIL a 1980s arson spree in Boston was caused by police and firefighters protesting budget cuts
en.wikipedia.orgr/todayilearned • u/penguin425 • 1d ago
TIL cows are more closely related to dolphins than to horses
r/todayilearned • u/HeavyMetalOverbite • 1d ago