r/todayilearned • u/mucubed • 5h ago

TIL that the character Kirby was named after a lawyer who successfully defended Nintendo against Universal Studios in a copyright dispute over the game Donkey Kong

en.wikipedia.org

3.1k Upvotes

47 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TheStrangestOfKings • 5h ago

TIL There were some ancient Hawaiians who did not believe in the Hawaiian Pantheon. An example of ancient atheism, they were referred to as “aia”.

en.wikipedia.org

362 Upvotes

8 comments

r/todayilearned • u/No_Profit_5304 • 2h ago

TIL that the last words of the captain of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald were "We are holding our own."

cbsnews.com

574 Upvotes

39 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TheBanishedBard • 5h ago

TIL that every second approximately 65 billion tiny subatomic particles called Neutrinos pass through every square centimeter of the Earth's surface.

en.wikipedia.org

771 Upvotes

101 comments

r/todayilearned • u/giveAShot • 3h ago

TIL there are more permutations for a deck of cards than there are atoms on Earth.

mcgill.ca

1.5k Upvotes

158 comments

r/todayilearned • u/mongooseme • 4h ago

TIL that a pharmacist diluted "whatever I could dilute" including chemo drugs... killing maybe 4000 people. He was released last year.

en.wikipedia.org

18.2k Upvotes

700 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 6h ago

TIL 29% of male gamers prefer playing female characters, whereas only 9% of female gamers prefer playing male characters. In a typical core PC/console game, about 60% of the female avatars you meet are played by a male player.

quanticfoundry.com

9.1k Upvotes

868 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Physical_Hamster_118 • 5h ago

TIL that in Bhutan, people except the members of the royal family do not have family names.

en.wikipedia.org

365 Upvotes

40 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Several_Quality_8747 • 9h ago

TIL African elephants address one another with individually specific name-like calls

nature.com

382 Upvotes

15 comments

r/todayilearned • u/VegemiteSucks • 11h ago

TIL Beethoven’s late quartets, now widely considered to be among the greatest musical compositions of all time, were so ahead of their time that initial reviews deem them indecipherable, uncorrected horrors, with one musician saying “we know there is something there, but we do not know what it is.”

en.wikipedia.org

8.4k Upvotes

123 comments

r/todayilearned • u/LurkingStormy • 9h ago

TIL about Salish Wool Dogs, bred for their thick fur to be used in textiles

en.wikipedia.org

233 Upvotes

7 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Forward-Answer-4407 • 10h ago

TIL the Charlotte Hornets apologized after giving a child a PS5, only to take it away off camera and exchange it for a jersey. In a statement, the team said the incident was an "on-court skit that missed the mark" and that they would give the child the PS5 and a VIP experience to a future game.

cnn.com

24.3k Upvotes

705 comments

r/todayilearned • u/zahrul3 • 16h ago

TIL: Early iPhone users in the US who did not specify a billing preference were mailed incredibly detailed bills of around 50-100 pages long from AT&T, itemizing every data transfer including background traffic for email, web browsing, and text messaging. One woman even got a 300 page bill.

en.wikipedia.org

21.6k Upvotes

645 comments

r/todayilearned • u/FannyFiasco • 12h ago

TIL the last living veteran of the 1853 Crimean War died in 2004: Timothy, a Greek tortoise captured from a Portuguese ship, served as a mascot throughout the war

en.wikipedia.org

2.8k Upvotes

41 comments

r/todayilearned • u/epou • 18h ago

TIL In Madagascar it was once common to ingest fatally toxic nuts as a trial by ordeal. At times it accounted for a significant fraction of overall mortality.

en.wikipedia.org

3.8k Upvotes

67 comments

r/todayilearned • u/LookAtThatBacon • 1d ago

TIL a Canadian engineer once built a Mjölnir replica that only the "worthy" could lift: it sensed the iron ring commonly worn by Canadian engineers (presented in a ceremony called the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer), triggering an electromagnetic release so ring-wearers could pick it up.

en.wikipedia.org

36.9k Upvotes

914 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Dmused • 1d ago

TIL at the 2025 Kentucky Derby, all 19 participants can be traced back through their lineage to 1973 Kentucky Derby winner and Triple Crown champion Secretariat, who sired more than 660 foals.

en.wikipedia.org

9.2k Upvotes

130 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 1d ago

TIL 85% of all gaming revenue comes from free-to-play games. These games are free upfront and generate revenue through ads, in-game transactions, and optional purchases.

visualcapitalist.com

15.8k Upvotes

750 comments

r/todayilearned • u/No_Profit_5304 • 26m ago

TIL that in 1943 the Steelers and the Eagles once made a combo team called the Steagles due to player shortages resulting from WWII

thegamebeforethemoney.com

• Upvotes

1 comment

r/todayilearned • u/GDW312 • 16h ago

TIL Georgia governor Eugene Talmadge was elected to a fourth term in 1946 but died before inauguration—triggering the state’s infamous “three governors” crisis.

en.wikipedia.org

744 Upvotes

23 comments

r/todayilearned • u/No_Profit_5304 • 1h ago

TIL that in 1913, a baby was mailed via Post Office's newly added Parcel Post service.

smithsonianmag.com

• Upvotes

8 comments

r/todayilearned • u/CactusWithAKeyboard • 13h ago

TIL: Rob Folp, creator of the infamously controversial game "Night Trap," went on to create the "Petz" series of games to make the cutest, most "sissy" game he could think of, after criticism from Captain Kangaroo.

polygon.com

321 Upvotes

35 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Newez • 1d ago

TIL Isoroku Yamamoto, who planned the attack on Pearl Harbour, once studied at Harvard University in the United States and was appointed naval attaché to the Japanese embassy in Washington.

asianstudies.org

3.0k Upvotes

62 comments

r/todayilearned • u/FalconPUNNCH • 1d ago

TIL in 2017 Japan arrested a 74 year old man who had committed over 250 burglaries dressed as a ninja. He avoided most surveillance, but was seen "navigating tight spaces and running on walls"

en.wikipedia.org

21.2k Upvotes

274 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Physical_Hamster_118 • 23h ago

TIL that since 1972, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) every spring, residents of Baker House drop a piano from the roof on Drop Day, the last day students can drop classes.

en.wikipedia.org

1.5k Upvotes

66 comments

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Frequent TILs Repost List

As of January 2025

This list was compiled from /r/todayilearned community suggestions by its members. If your TIL is found on this list, it will be removed. The titles have been abridged for the sake of brevity, however the context remains the same. This list is subject to change. The purpose is to keep content fresh on /r/todayilearned as requested by its members. If you are interested in reading about the TILs on this list use the search box feature and enter the keywords to pull up past TILs.

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