TIL (Timeline I Learned)

TIL that after Theodore Roosevelt left office an effort was made to replace the Teddy Bear with a stuffed toy "Billy Possum" for President Taft [Source, Comments]

TIL Mars' Olympus Mons is the solar system's largest known volcano, spreading more than 600 kilometers across with slopes so gentle that a summit view would feel like a tilted plain while its vast base disappears beyond the nearby Martian horizon [Source, Comments]

TIL that in 1978 an architecture student discovered a NYC skyscraper could topple in strong winds. The engineer credited with designing the building secretly made nightly repairs with help from the NYPD, without alerting the public to the danger. [Source, Comments]

TIL to work with the Xbox’s 64MB of RAM, “The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind” would periodically reset the console. When asked about it, Todd Howard said: “We actually crashed the game if we were running out of memory...It just looks like a load screen. It’s a trick you could do on the original Xbox.” [Source, Comments]

TIL that the assassin of William the Silent met a rather cruel fate: Balthasar Gerard was ordered to have his hand burned, flesh torn with pincers, then be disemboweled, quartered alive, his heart ripped out and thrown at him, and finally beheaded. [Source, Comments]

TIL zookeepers have tried giving pandas Viagra and showing them “panda porn” just to get them to have sex as they are bad at reproducing in captivity. [Source, Comments]

TIL that upon its release in 1997, Disney's “Hercules” was heavily criticized in Greece. Greek cultural officials and parents condemned the film for "dumbing down" and distorting ancient myths, leading to boycotts and record-low theater attendance in Athens. [Source, Comments]

TIL During the sack of Rome in 1527, Isabella D'este had sons fighting on both sides of the conflict. One of them was an officer of the imperial army, while the other was allied with the Pope, and a 3rd son was a cardinal. She turned her house into a shelter and saved about 2500 people [Source, Comments]

TIL in 1972, a 1950's nostalgic show called "New Family in Town" with Ron Howard was unsuccessfully pitched to Paramount. After George Lucas cast Howard in 1973's top-grossing film "American Graffiti," ABC became interested in the unsold pilot, and launched the show as "Happy Days." [Source, Comments]

TIL that Lincoln's assassination was part of a larger plot that also targeted Secretary of State William Seward and Vice President Andrew Johnson. As John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln, Lewis Powell broke into Seward's home and stabbed him 5 times. Seward survived. Johnson's would-be assassin backed out [Source, Comments]

TIL that the Smithsonian Institution was founded because a British scientist left his fortune to the United States, even though he had never visited America [Source, Comments]

TIL that stone crabs are one of the few entirely sustainable seafood sources. Fishermen only harvest their claws and return the crabs to the ocean alive, where they can completely regenerate their missing limbs over time. [Source, Comments]

TIL that famous Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme was grazed by a bullet while catering the Zurich Classic of New Orleans golf tournament in 2008. He thought it was a bee sting and resumed cooking within minutes. [Source, Comments]

TIL Belgium did not outlaw slavery until 1910 when it was officially and permanently abolished in the Belgian Congo. [Source, Comments]

TIL that calorie counters on gym equipment are wildly inaccurate. Studies show elliptical machines overestimate calories burned by up to 42%, making them the least accurate cardio machine in the gym. [Source, Comments]

TIL the 1886 Crescent Hotel in Arkansas was bought in 1937 by Norman Baker, a magician‑inventor who ran a fake cancer clinic there, injecting patients with watermelon seed, corn silk, and carbolic acid, and defrauded sufferers of nearly $4 million before being arrested for mail fraud in 1940. [Source, Comments]

TIL Japanese law does not recognize married couples who have different surnames as lawful husband and wife. [Source, Comments]

TIL thousands of British patients were infected with HIV and hepatitis C after receiving blood products made from imported US plasma in the 1970s and 1980s, beconing the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS, with successive UK authorities accused of concealing the truth for decades. [Source, Comments]

TIL that when Formula 1 introduced the "Halo" in 2018, everyone hated it for being "ugly." Turns out, this 9 kg titanium bar can withstand a 12 ton vertical load equivalent to a double-decker bus and has already saved multiple drivers from decapitation and severe crashes. [Source, Comments]

TIL the 13th amendment of the US constitution did not completely ban slavery, but allowed it as punishment for a crime. This lead to the legal enslavement of thousands of black Americans for such things as walking along train tracks or playing dice games. The charges were often made up. [Source, Comments]