TIL that competition from copper smelters is so competitive in 2026 that they are charging $0 to smelt copper. Treatment charges (TC's) have gone to $0 while spot charges have gone negative. Mines are
TIL that Thomas Lewis Lavy, an American farmer attempted to cross into Canada from Alaska with several firearms, ricin toxin, and $89,000 in cash in 1993. He was turned away at the border, and the tox
TIL the sovereign citizen movement appeared in the early 1970s, originating from tax-protester ideas, radical anti-government movements, and pseudolaw. Its followers use “legal” theories based on misi
TIL the 1904 Olympic marathon was partly a human experiment: the organizer allowed only two water stops in 90°F heat to study dehydration. One runner nearly bled to death, the winner was kept going wi
TIL that Giancarlo Esposito had never watched Breaking Bad when he was offered the role of Gus Fring, and initially didn't want to take it because it was just a guest spot. Vince Gilligan convinced hi
TIL The United States government has collected over $64 billion from the September 11 Security Fee (officially known as the Passenger Security Fee) since its implementation in 2002.
TIL Marvel secured permission to use Thomas the Tank Engine in "Ant-Man" after the rights holders approved the presentation, with conditions that Thomas could not run over anyone, be portrayed as evil
TIL In 1846, a dead snail was glued to an index card at the British Museum. 4 years later they discovered it was actually still alive. The museum gave the snail a bath and it lived the remaining 2 yea
TIL that about Dr. Katsu Takahashi of the Medical Research Institute Kitano Hospital in Osaka, Japan, who has been studying the genetic principles of tooth development for years & there are currently
TIL only four players in history have been drafted by teams in the NFL, MLB, and the NBA: Dave Winfield (who was also drafted by an ABA team), Mickey McCarty, Noel Jenke, and Dave Logan.
TIL about "The Doorman Fallacy:" When management focuses too much on one job's function. This is often the fallacy employed when replacing humans with AI.
TIL TWA Flight 800 exploded off Long Island 12 minutes after taking off, causing the front fueslage to rip away and the remainder of the plane to continue in crippled flight, pitching up and climb bef
TIL that studies show bilingual people often display different personality traits depending on the language they are speaking, scoring higher in traits like extraversion or agreeableness in one langua
TIL that the oldest sitting Senator and third in line for the Presidency Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) was born on September 17, 1933, making him older than the chocolate chip cookie, radar, the ballpoint p
TIL that New Zealand has a no-fault accident compensation system that covers visitors from overseas. If you're injured in an accident while visiting, ACC can cover you even if nobody else was at fault
TIL The Ashes is a cricket series played between England and Australia. The term emerged in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper after Australia's 1882 victory. The obituary stated th
TIL Mickey Thompson began working on a machine to quickly mold dough into bagel shapes in the 1920s, but repeatedly failed. His son Daniel began designing his own bagel-making machines in the 1950s an
TIL that pet food is unregulated in Canada. Unlike human food or animal feed, "Pet food is not a comprehensively regulated commodity", the Canadian government says.
TIL Mount Kailash has no successful record of ascent. Mountaineer Reinhold Messner was given the opportunity to climb it in 1980s , but he declined, saying "If we conquer this mountain, then we conque
TIL that Frank Shackleton, the brother of famous polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, was one of the men accused of stealing the Irish Crown Jewels in 1907, a theft which has never been solved.
TIL that Brighton City Airport in the UK, is the oldest airport that was designed for commercial use, to still be operating. It is often used by filmmakers who are wanting to depict small or pre-war a
TIL that in 1674, English physician Thomas Willis documented testing for diabetes by tasting patients’ urine, noting that diabetic urine could taste “wonderfully sweet” like honey or sugar
TIL the popsicle was invented by accident in 1905 when 11-year-old boy named Frank Epperson left a glass of powdered soda on his porch during a record-cold night and it froze around the stick he had u
TIL that Katharine Hepburn and Stanley Kramer put their salaries in escrow to make “Guess Who's Coming to Dinner” because Spencer Tracy was so ill they didn’t know if he would be able to finish the fi
TIL about the Gnadenhutten Massacre. It was the killing of 96 pacifist Moravian Christian Indians (Lenape and Mohican) by U.S. militiamen from Pennsylvania. Non-resisting men, women and children were
TIL that when construction of Florence Cathedral began in 1296, its designers planned a massive dome even though no one knew how to build it. More than a century later, Filippo Brunelleschi solved the
TIL of the Elaine Massacre of 1919 in Arkansas. Over three days black people were hunted and killed by whites until Federal troops arrived. Afterwards 12 black men were sentenced to the electric chair
TIL of Don Ritchie; a man who lived close to a notorious suicide spot who officially prevented 180 suicide attempts. He would approach an individual and simply ask, "Can I help you in some way?"
TIL the US dropped about 7.6 million tons of bombs across Indochina during the Vietnam War, which is more than 3x the amount U.S. Air Force dropped in the European and Pacific theaters of WW2 combined
TIL British Intelligence had a special, bugged luxury complex during WWII where they kept high profile Nazi POW’s, just left a bunch of alcohol out, and waited for them to start spilling secrets as th
TIL that MLB Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson was recruited for football by Alabama, Georgia, and Oklahoma, all of whom were willing to break the color barrier for him. He declined Alabama and Georgia as
TIL that in 393 CE Boxing (Pugilatus) was banned in Rome because of too much brutality. Using gloves (Cestus) with nails attached, with neither weight categories nor time limits, the bouts would last
TIL the plan for organising Winston Churchill’s funeral began 12 years before his death, such was the logistics involved. However, the plan had to keep being changed, as Churchill kept outliving his p
TIL that Charondas, a Greek lawmaker, issued a law that anyone who brought weapons into the Athenian Assembly would be executed. When 1 day after hunting, he arrived at the Assembly with his knife sti
TIL New Yorkers leave over $100 million a year in unclaimed 5 cent bottle deposits ($139 million in 2021). Until 2009 the beer and soda distributors kept every cent of it. The state now takes 80% and
TIL that since the inception of the NCAA women's tournament in 1982, current LSU coach Kim Mulkey has participated as a player or coach every year except 1985 and 2003.
