TIL Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach built the Reitwagen in 1885, widely considered the first motorcycle powered by an internal-combustion gasoline engine, long before motorcycles became common on
TIL the Mediterranean Sea dried up 5 million years ago leaving behind a huge desert. Then an flood rushed through Gibraltar rapidly filling the sea again.
TIL calcium oxide, or quicklime, when heated produces an intense glow and was used in theaters before the advent of electricity, hence the word “limelight”.
TIL that the "Woolsack"—the seat of the Lord Speaker in the UK House of Lords created by King Edward III to symbolise the immense importance of the wool trade to medieval England—was discovered in 193
TIL Practcially unknown outside of Asia, Baijiu is the best-selling spirit on the planet - outconsuming whiskey, vodka, rum, and gin COMBINED , and due to a massive domestic popularity in a country th
TIL that Jordan Nagai, who played Russell in Up, wasn't originally intending to audition for the role. He only came to support his older brother, who was auditioning.
TIL That Coca-Cola still uses real coca leaves in its recipe. A single chemical plant in New Jersey is legally allowed by the DEA to import the leaves, extract the cocaine alkaloid, and send the decoc
TIL Subway (fast food chain) was called Pete's Super Submarine Sandwiches before 1968. It got the modern name due to the original name sounded too confusing.
TIL 9 years after the death of Dr. John Langdon Down, best known for his pioneering classifications of 'Mongoloid idiocy' (Down Syndrome) during his career at Royal Earlswood Asylum for Idiots, had a
TIL Charles Mason, who graduated first in the class of 1829 at West Point ahead of future Confederate Army commander Robert E. Lee, served as the First Supreme Court Justice for Iowa, also spent time
TIL that Titan's atmosphere is dense enough that a human wouldn't need a pressurized spacesuit to stand on its surface. The surface pressure is about 1.5x that of Earth, roughly equivalent to being 15
TIL a scientist submitted a research publication to a predatory journal consisting exclusively of the phrase "Get me off your fucking mailing list". It was rated as "excellent" and accepted for public
TIL that the Sesame Street Count counts because ancient vampire folklore says that vampires suffer from arithmomania and have to obsessively count things. Legend says that if you threw rice at a vampi
TIL that due to the title screen mistakenly neglecting to include a copyright notice, the film Night of the Living Dead has been in the public domain for decades. Hundreds of versions have been releas
TIL the "Resolute desk" in the Oval Office in the White House is called that because it's made of timber from HMS Resolute - a British Royal Navy Arctic exploration ship.
TIL humans evolved staggered sleep schedules so someone was always awake to guard the camp. Known as the "Sentinel Hypothesis," this explains why teens are natural night owls while seniors wake up ear
