TIL: Today I Learned

TIL a 2013 survey, involving 1,081 doctors regarding advance end-of-life directives, found that 88.3% said they would choose do-not-resuscitate or "no code" orders for themselves. https://ift.tt/9oIBhLH

TIL in 1968 the Beach Boys recorded a song written by the Manson Family cult leader Charles Manson- “Never Learn Not to Love”. https://ift.tt/KkIrfTL

TIL that Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to travel to space on June 16, 1963, when she orbited Earth as part of the Vostok 6 mission. She remains the youngest woman to fly to space, the only female astronaut/ cosmonaut to make a solo space journey. https://ift.tt/t5xEWiS

TIL that in 2019, Boeing laid off several hundred Quality Assurance Engineers. https://ift.tt/Z0zArkF

TIL that in 2012, Children's Hospital Los Angeles had to issue a statement that they were not affiliated with the billboards for the Adult Swim show "Children's Hospital," which featured Rob Corddry in bloody scrubs and clown makeup https://ift.tt/S8R7NyP

TIL Harry Belafonte negotiated a pay-or-play contract in 1959. When network executives said "we can have black folks on TV, we can have white folks on TV. We can't have them together. You have to choose." Belafonte answered "No, but you still have to pay me." https://ift.tt/vwtNdIU

TIL that because the period (.) was already in use in France to make Roman numerals more readable, they adopted, along with many other countries, commas to separate numbers and decimals (9.99 vs 9,99) https://ift.tt/BDlAcUk

TIL that WHAM-O's Slip N' Slide is not supposed to be used by persons over the age of 12. There have been rare instances (and lawsuits) of adults breaking their necks while using it and in 1993, the U.S. CPSC warned that the slide might cause permanent spinal cord injury to teens and adults. https://ift.tt/tOnRYTF

TIL about the death of Poltergeist actress Dominique Dunne. She was strangled into a coma by her ex-boyfriend and passed away 5 days later. He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and served just three and a half years in prison. https://ift.tt/iTVno3L

TIL that there are over two dozen universities in the U.S. that have their own nuclear reactors. https://ift.tt/CDm60n9

TIL in the early 90s, when actor Anthony Hopkins's agent told him that a script was on his way titled The Silence of the Lambs, Hopkins responded, "Is it a children's story?" https://ift.tt/W7xijtU

TIL that the longest hiccuping spree lasted 68 years. His name was Charles Osborne and he began hiccuping in 1922 and didn't stop until 1990. He had 20 to 40 hiccups per minute https://ift.tt/JIa5Bs9

TIL that 55% of YA readers are actually adults. https://ift.tt/pDuwY1U

TIL sales of Sunny Delight declined in the UK after one of its commercials showing a snowman turning orange was released at about the same time as news reports of a four-year-old girl's skin color turning orange due to drinking 1.5 liters a day of the product, which contained beta-carotene. https://ift.tt/XVCrQME

TIL about Hilda Yolanda Mayol, a woman who survived the 9/11 attacks. 2 months later she boarded AA Flight 587 out of JFK, 5 minutes after take off the plane would crash and all 260 occupants perished - the 2nd deadliest aviation incident in US History. https://ift.tt/BVDLWa4

TIL employees at the General Motor’s Fremont Assembly plant were considered excessively unruly in the 1980s and often left empty glass bottles inside the doors of unfinished cars to annoy the future owners https://ift.tt/vuaOILz

TIL that Jimmy Carter is the longest-lived president, the longest-retired president, the first president to live forty years after their inauguration, and the first to reach the age of 95. https://ift.tt/z6oQX4A

TIL that Grover Cleveland is the only US President to be elected on non-consecutive terms. https://ift.tt/acx3RYV

TIL that a new record for the tallest and fastest rollercoaster is going to change hands in October 2024. Currently the Kingda Ka at Six Flags Jackson NJ is 456 feet tall. Falcons Flight will be 640 feet tall located in Saudi Arabia. https://ift.tt/8bC6PmV

TIL Andrew Jackson gave his 21-year-old niece the role of First Lady when his wife died. She was praised for the food and alcohol she served during her tenure. https://ift.tt/JBUdpkO