TIL under Dutch law, when a car hits a cyclist or pedestrian the driver is liable for at least 50% of the damages regardless of who was at fault, and 100% if the person hit is under 14, because driver
Study finds alpine peaks are greening in Northeast U.S., Canada. 69% of the alpine zones studied have experienced significant increases in vegetation, representing 88% of the alpine area in the region
TIL that Valve co-founder Gabe Newell got so obsessed with Mongolian throat singing that Counter-Strike developers had to shut their doors to block out the speakers
TIL in 1984 a gunman named Denis Lortie attacked the Quebec parliament and was talked into surrendering by the unarmed Sergeant-at-arms, René Jalbert, who spoke directly with Lortie until he was convi
TIL that a epistle attributed to an early Christian Teacher named James repeatedly stresses the sin of being rich and goes so far as to say the rich abuse the common man and are your enemy. He goes on
TIL that US TV and radio stations are legally named using 4-letter call signs starting with 'W' or 'K'. Stations east of the Mississippi River must start with W (like WABC), while stations to the west
TIL The Corwin Amendment was passed after Lincoln was elected to keep the nation together by protecting slavery from Constitutional intervention. It passed Congress but was never ratified since Southe
TIL In losing chess, a chess variant where the goal is to lose by getting your pieces captured or getting stalemated, it is known that 13 of white's 20 opening moves lead to a forced win for black.
TIL that CERN physicists wrote parody lyrics for Howie Day’s 2004 hit “Collide” from the perspective of a proton in the Large Hadron Collider. Day saw their parody on Twitter and contacted CERN himsel
TIL that the identity of the youngest Olympic medalist in history is unknown. The Dutch coxed pair rowing team grabbed a random kid from crowd as their coxswain to cut weight. They won gold.
TIL that ancient Assyrians used a “substitute king” ritual when an omen threatened the king. The real king went into hiding while a substitute took his place, and the substitute was later killed.
TIL that the Babylonians calculated the value of the square root of two to six decimal places more than 1500 years BC; this estimate was not bettered for nearly three thousand years, despite algorithm
TIL there was a historical Daoist practice called "Huanjing bunao" (lit. returning the semen to replenish the brain), involving maintaining arousal for an extended plateau phase while avoiding orgasm.
TIL that after a plane crash in 2023, four children between the ages of 11 months old and 13 years old were left to fend for themselves in the Amazon rainforest. They were able to survive for 40 days
TIL Nazi salute was made mandatory for the entirety of Wehrmacht as an oft overlooked consequence of July 20, 1944 assassination attempt - Hitler and Göring felt it was necessary to reinforce soldiers
TIL that after Lord Howe Island eradicated invasive rats, native insect populations boomed including a giant, wingless wood-eating cockroach found nowhere else on Earth.
TIL there are two separate stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame with the name Harrison Ford, one for the famous Harrison we all know, and one for the silent film star.
TIL that Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos used a "null protocol" during demonstrations for investors, making their blood-testing machine appear to be running a test when it wasn't.
TIL that from 1988 to 1991, Nintendo offered, among other things, weather forecasts, live stock trading, game cheat codes, and the ability to bet on horse races through the Family Computer Network Sys
TIL a researcher found a 1,700-year-old fragment of Homer’s Odyssey hidden in a Dutch university library, where it had been mistaken for an unremarkable 7th-century manuscript for decades.
TIL Bermuda shorts are considered appropriate business attire for men in Bermuda, when made of suit-like material and worn with knee-length socks, a dress shirt, tie, and blazer
TIL Germany charges a 25 cent deposit on every single-use drink bottle and can, and gets 98% of them back, the highest return rate of any deposit scheme in the world
TIL Elizabeth Holmes’ boyfriend founded a blood-testing startup in 2024 with eerily similar claims to Theranos. Holmes reportedly advises him from prison
TIL the dog Cheeseface from the famous National Lampoon cover “If you don’t buy this magazine we’ll shoot this dog” was shot and killed by a hunter. Whether it was intentional is unknown.
