Today I Learned (TIL)

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Tall_Ant9568 on 2025-03-25 08:37:21+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D not only destroyed Pompeii, but also the cities of Herculaneum, Oplontis, and Stabiae. The locals of these cities were aware of the earthquakes leading up to the eruption, but did not know it was a volcano as they had likely never seen one erupt.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Sfinx_the_Pirate on 2025-03-25 06:31:01+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that in 1978, a 30 people hostage situation in Melbourne was resolved when the perpetrators mother stormed the place, hit him over the head with her handbag and told him to "stop being so stupid".

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/77_mec on 2025-03-25 02:44:36+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that there was a robot hitchhiker that successfully hitchhiked across Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands. It then attempted to do so in the United States from Boston to San Francisco and was mercilessly beaten to death and decapitated in Philadelphia within two weeks of having started.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Geo_NL on 2025-03-25 06:53:21+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that German actor Curd Jürgens got into an argument with the brother of SS official Ernst Kaltenbrunner and was sent to a forced labor camp for being "politically unreliable". Later he escaped and went into hiding.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/ICanStopTheRain on 2025-03-25 02:36:14+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that the Guinness World Records no longer celebrates "The Loudest Band in the World" for fear of promoting hearing loss. Before they discontinued the record, they had at various points recognized Deep Purple, The Who and Manowar as the record holders.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/gonejahman on 2025-03-25 02:53:41+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Morganbanefort on 2025-03-24 21:33:04+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/AffectionatePace1410 on 2025-03-25 01:34:51+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that at the Battle of Agincourt, the French army lost three dukes, nine counts, one viscount, an archbishop, their constable, an admiral, their Master of Crossbowman, Master of the Royal Household and roughly 3,000 knights and squires.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/dcrockett1 on 2025-03-24 18:35:35+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/TriviaDuchess on 2025-03-24 22:34:29+00:00.

Original Title: TIL in 1856, after Charles Sumner gave a blistering anti-slavery speech in the U.S. Senate, Congressman Preston Brooks violently attacked him with a cane on the Senate floor nearly killing him. Congressman Laurence Keitt stood by with a pistol and threatened anyone who tried to intervene.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/mrinternetman24 on 2025-03-24 18:45:21+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that in 2024 a construction company built an entire family home on the wrong lot in Hawaii after miscounting the number of telephone poles on the land. They then sold the home without the landowner knowing.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/TriviaDuchess on 2025-03-25 01:13:55+00:00.

Original Title: TIL the Bear River is the longest U.S. river that never reaches the ocean. It stretches 350 miles, starting in Utah, looping through Wyoming and Idaho, and returning to Utah, where it ends in the Great Salt Lake.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/TriviaDuchess on 2025-03-25 00:44:34+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that Sweyn Forkbeard was the first Viking king to rule England. He massacred, plundered, and burned his way through the countryside, capturing London on Christmas Day 1013. He died just 40 days later. Upon his death the previous king Æthelred the Unready came back and retook his throne.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/iiUnknown_ on 2025-03-24 18:59:24+00:00.

Original Title: TIL when the PlayStation 2 was launched, the U.S. Department of Defense considered it to be so advanced that it might enable hostile militaries, typically restricted from accessing such technology, to benefit from its capabilities.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/wallyhartshorn on 2025-03-24 23:33:24+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/OneAndOnlyJackSchitt on 2025-03-24 19:03:21+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/ProjectIllustrious78 on 2025-03-24 05:00:00+00:00.

Original Title: TIL Commercial tea bags release millions of microplastics and nanoplastics when in use. For the first time, the study demonstrates how these particles can enter the bloodstream and travel throughout the body after being absorbed by human intestinal cells

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/zahrul3 on 2025-03-24 13:50:43+00:00.

Original Title: TIL the indigenous pre-Columbian Muisca society of the Bogota valley had an egalitarian society that were so prosperous to the point they would create large, intricate gold objects and throw it into a lake as an offering to the gods.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Obversa on 2025-03-24 19:28:48+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that the current heir to the House of Habsburg-Lorraine is Ferdinand Habsburg, an Austrian racing driver. A descendant of the House of Habsburg and a grandson of Otto von Habsburg, the last crown prince of Austria-Hungary, his titles and honorifics are unofficial due to Austria being a republic.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/tyrion2024 on 2025-03-24 19:02:02+00:00.

Original Title: TIL Elizabeth Greenhill (1615-1679) and her husband William Greenhill had 39 children together (32 daughters & 7 sons). All were single births save one set of twins, which is unusual as the most common cause of such a large number of children, hyperovulation, typically manifests as multiple births.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/TriviaDuchess on 2025-03-24 18:35:19+00:00.

Original Title: TIL one of the least populated counties in the U.S. is Hooker County, Nebraska. It’s named in honor of Union General Joseph Hooker. The county has just 711 people spread across 721 square miles—that’s almost exactly one person per square mile.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Prace_Ace on 2025-03-24 11:31:35+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/UndyingCorn on 2025-03-24 10:56:58+00:00.

Original Title: TIL During WWII Steinway & Sons built a piano model called the Victory Vertical. It used only 10% of the metal needed by traditional pianos, and it was so lightweight and compact that it was able to be carried by four people or dropped by parachute.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/CardboardGlasses on 2025-03-24 05:33:00+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that pop artist Andy Warhol, known for his avant-garde work, was a devout Byzantine Catholic who attended Mass every Sunday, volunteered at soup kitchens, and converted at least one person. His brother described him as "really religious," and he quietly supported his nephew’s priesthood studies.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/bolo on 2025-03-24 08:20:44+00:00.

Original Title: TIL Simón Bolívar, born into Venezuela’s wealthy elite, voluntarily gave up his fortune and freed his own slaves to lead independence wars against colonial powers, becoming an enduring icon revered by leftist militias across South America today