r/todayilearned • u/steel_pineapple • 4h ago

TIL the CEO of a Swiss organization “The Last Resort”, Florian Willen, who illegally used a “sarco” suicide pod to kill an American woman and was a major advocate for human euthanasia, died by suicide.

wikipedia.org

6.3k Upvotes

400 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 10h ago

TIL on one occasion, Jeffrey Dahmer accidentally consumed the drink laced with sleeping pills that was intended for his guest. When he awoke the following day, he discovered that his potential victim had stolen several items of clothing, $300, & a watch. He never officially reported the incident.

en.wikipedia.org

35.6k Upvotes

701 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 11h ago

TIL Eminem once turned down a joint tour with Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg that would've been worth $100m (£80.2m) collectively. He said no because the lengthy tour wouldn't allow him to see his daughter Hailie for a long period of time. He said "I just don’t want to go on tour & come back & Hailie's grown"

nme.com

28.6k Upvotes

552 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ForgottenShark • 8h ago

TIL a Texas woman found she had a felony charge against her in Oklahoma by accident when she got married, after a VHS was rented with her name when she lived there 21 years earlier and wasn't returned. This explained her own mystery of having troubles with employment during these years.

okcfox.com

8.7k Upvotes

294 comments

r/todayilearned • u/rezikiel • 14h ago

TIL Disney has a code word for when guests attempt to scatter ashes at one of their theme parks: a "white powder alert"

rd.com

39.3k Upvotes

2.1k comments

r/todayilearned • u/Polyphagous_person • 8h ago

TIL Canadian residents can request 1 flag that was flown on Parliament Hill, but the waitlist is over 100 years long.

canada.ca

3.5k Upvotes

142 comments

r/todayilearned • u/zahrul3 • 2h ago

TIL that Mainland Chinese men would roll up their shirts during summer and expose their bellies to the world, resulting in what's called a "Beijing Bikini"

en.wikipedia.org

1.1k Upvotes

88 comments

r/todayilearned • u/arbortologist • 7h ago

TIL that the FCC allows ADs on internet streaming services to be louder than the show playing.

fcc.gov

2.0k Upvotes

93 comments

r/todayilearned • u/joltofwit • 5h ago

TIL until 2012 Swarovski contained up to 32% lead oxide

crystalparade.co.uk

1.3k Upvotes

68 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Plane-Prior129 • 3h ago

TIL the Robert Frost poem “The Road Not Taken” was originally written as a joke, and is a criticism/deeper analysis of the idea that taking the “less travelled path” can improve one’s life

poetryfoundation.org

413 Upvotes

73 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TreatNo4856 • 19h ago

TIL about the Empires of the Deep, an ambitious $130 million mermaid epic blockbuster funded by Jon Jiang, a real estate billionaire. It was intended to be a China–Hollywood co-production that would rival Avatar. While the film itself is finished, it remains unreleased.

magazine.atavist.com

8.4k Upvotes

220 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Illogical_Blox • 19h ago

TIL that, of the ninety-nine emperors of the Roman Empire (and later the Western Roman Empire), around 54-69 of them were murdered or committed suicide. That is a 55-70% mortality rate from murder or suicide.

en.wikipedia.org

5.4k Upvotes

118 comments

r/todayilearned • u/LookAtThatBacon • 9h ago

TIL about Bowie Bonds, securities backed by David Bowie's pre-1990 albums. They paid 7.9% interest with a 10-year average life, beating the 6.37% return on 10-year Treasuries at the time. But with the rise of music piracy, Moody's downgraded them from A3 to Baa3, just above junk status.

en.wikipedia.org

831 Upvotes

35 comments

r/todayilearned • u/New2NewJ • 8h ago

TIL in Lion King (1994), in the role of Scar, when Jeremy Irons couldn't complete the recording of 'Be Prepared', in that track he was replaced by Jim Cummings -- who voiced one of the three hyenas!

en.wikipedia.org

647 Upvotes

63 comments

r/todayilearned • u/hariseldon2 • 17h ago

TIL that there's an average of 22cm height disparity between rich and poor people in the Philippines. The highest in the world due to nutrition differences and other socio-economic factors.

cepr.org

3.3k Upvotes

62 comments

r/todayilearned • u/lostfourtime • 12h ago

TIL the JFK Memorial Museum at Dealy Plaza in Dallas, TX has a Live Cam showing Oswald's perspective

earthcam.com

1.1k Upvotes

175 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Flubadubadubadub • 5h ago

TIL The opening animated credits for the 1964 TV show Bewitched were actually created by the Hanna Barbera studios, the animated Samantha and Darrin were later used in a Season 6 Episode of the Flintstones called Samantha.

en.wikipedia.org

332 Upvotes

8 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Forward-Answer-4407 • 16h ago

TIL Wilbur Snapp, who was a stadium organist for the Clearwater Phillies and for the Philadelphia Phillies in spring training, was ejected from a game at Jack Russell Stadium in 1985 after playing "Three Blind Mice" in response to what he thought was a bad call from the umpire.

en.wikipedia.org

1.6k Upvotes

32 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Brendawg324 • 1d ago

TIL that photographer Robert Landsburg sacrificed his life in an attempt to save his photos during the Mount St. Helens eruption. He laid on top of his film, letting the volcanic ash cover him. Seventeen days later, his body and the preserved photos were recovered and used to document the eruption.

en.wikipedia.org

51.3k Upvotes

813 comments

r/todayilearned • u/apple_kicks • 22h ago

TIL Sampoong Department store collapse. The owner changed building design that removed support columns for floor space. Years later when warned about the risk of imminent collapse he refused to evacuate people out the building over fears of revenue loss. 502 victims died

en.wikipedia.org

3.5k Upvotes

118 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Chewbakistan • 16h ago

TIL of subconjunctival hemorrhage, red spots on the white of the eyeball, that may appear for no reason, go away by themselves, and look scarrier than they actually are.

my.clevelandclinic.org

1.2k Upvotes

93 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sailor_Rout • 1d ago

TIL that the American Indian Wars only ended a 101 years ago in August 1924 with the conclusion of the Apache War and the granting of citizenship to all Amerindians in June 1924.

thecirclenews.org

4.5k Upvotes

161 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Forward-Answer-4407 • 1d ago

TIL in 2021 in Austria, during a routine bandage change that occurred 2 days after a patient's leg amputation surgery, it was discovered that the wrong leg had been amputated. The surgeon was found guilty of gross negligence and fined €2,700 and the patient's widow was awarded €5,000 in damages.

bbc.com

20.1k Upvotes

652 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Aggressive-Bowl5196 • 57m ago

TIL the Fisk Jubilee Singers, an a cappella ensemble, organized in 1871 to tour & raise funds for Fisk University. They are credited with the early popularization of black music among northern & international audiences. After a rough start, they would become a popular touring act

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

6 comments

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