TIL (Timeline I Learned)

Today I learned The Great Gazoo only appeared midway through the final season of the Flintstones, with only 11 episodes [Source, Comments]

TIL a Border Patrol checkpoint caused a six-hour traffic jam, prompting Key West to secede from the United States, declare war, surrender one minute later, and ask for $1 billion in foreign aid. [Source, Comments]

TIL that the spiciest peppers in the world all belong to the exact same species called Capsicum chinense, named because it was mistakenly thought to come from China. It includes the habanero, Scotch bonnet, ghost pepper, Trinidad scorpion, Carolina reaper, Pepper X, and others [Source, Comments]

TIL the famous airplane the Spruce Goose is actually made of birch. A longstanding rumour is that mechanics working on the plane called it the "Birch Bitch." [Source, Comments]

TIL an English bricklayer named Alex Mitchell died of a heart attack from laughing continuously for 25 minutes at a show called The Goodies [Source, Comments]

TIL only two U.S. presidents, William Howard Taft and John F. Kennedy, are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. [Source, Comments]

TIL the head of Germany’s armed forces in WWII was Wilhelm Keitel: nicknamed “Lakitel” or Lackey because of his willingness to be nothing but Hitlers mouthpiece. He was known as a blindingly loyal toady. Hitler described him as having the brains of a movie usher and loyalty of a dog. [Source, Comments]

TIL that 76 beavers were parachuted out of a plane in 1950 to repopulate an area of Idaho, 75 survived the drop, and a population established. [Source, Comments]

TIL that the iconic parade scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off was filmed partly during a real Chicago parade, with as many as 12 cameras and only one chance to get the live footage right! [Source, Comments]

TIL David Goggins went from a 297-lb exterminator to losing 106 lb in under 3 months, enduring Navy SEAL Hell Week 3 times, graduating Ranger School as Honor Man, and becoming the only U.S. servicemember reported to complete SEAL, Ranger and Air Force Tactical Air Controller training. [Source, Comments]

TIL Fred Dibnah was a UK steeplejack who became a TV celebrity after being filmed repairing Bolton Town Hall nearly 250 feet up. He demolished industrial chimneys without explosives by propping them with timber, then setting the supports on fire. Here is an example. [Source, Comments]

TIL energy content of food are measured by burning a dehydrated food in an oxygen filled canister surrounded by water. The burning of the food item gives off energy that heats the surrounding water. The increase in temperature of the water is how we calculate calories. [Source, Comments]

TIL Kiribati is the only country located in all four geographical hemispheres. [Source, Comments]

TIL that, according to a nationwide cross-sectional study in the Netherlands, stool withholding was reported by 71.4% of high school students, mainly due to privacy, hygiene, and taboo. There were no significant differences by gender or school location. [Source, Comments]

TIL, a man who drank 8 liters of Ruby Red Squirt every day for a few months developed skin lesions from bromine toxicity stemming from brominated vegetable oil used as an additive back then [Source, Comments]

TIL that before they had even settled on the name Nirvana, Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic recorded 10 songs in about 6 hours for just $152.44, then played a show that night. [Source, Comments]

TIL that in some places trains must possess a metal token to travel on the line. The conductor will grab a loop with the new token and drop off the old token while the train is moving. A token can be in the form of a ball, key, or staff (metal pole). Many parts of the world still use this system. [Source, Comments]

TIL Pink noise is a constant sound in the background but has a lower pitch than white noise. Examples include wind rustling through trees or waves on a beach. Brown noise makes a rumbling sound that’s deeper than pink noise. It’s similar to a steady heavy rainfall or a shower with good pressure. [Source, Comments]

TIL that in 1936, a 10-year-old boy was one of the first people to review "The Hobbit". His father was Tolkien's publisher, and his favourable verdict was instrumental in getting the book published. [Source, Comments]

TIL that diatoms generate about 20 to 50 percent of the oxygen produced on the planet each year, and take in over 6.7 billion tonnes of silicon each year from the waters in which they live. [Source, Comments]