TIL about Rahma Haruna, a girl whose body stopped growing at 6 months old. Her family carried her in a plastic bucket. The specific illness that caused her condition was never diagnosed. She died at age 19. [Source]
Today I learned that basketballs used to always be brown, but in the 1950s an orange basketball was invented so it would be easier to see against the floor of the court. This is now the standard colour for basketballs. [Source]
Basketball Innovatio
The Orange Basketball ball
The initial basketball games used soccer balls, but they were not suitable for handling. In 1894, Naismith, who created the basketball game, contacted A.G. Spalding and Bros. to make a ball for basketball. The company produced a leather ball held together…
TIL about Georg Gaertner, a POW who escaped a camp in New Mexico in 1945, lived as a fugitive for 40 years and eventually got citizenship. Because he had been brought to the US involuntarily and escaped the camp after the war, he was not charged with a crime and lived in the US until he died. [Source]
TIL "The Ashes",an England–Australia cricket series since 1883,got its name from a satirical obituary written after England lost to Australia in 1882: "English cricket is dead.The body will be cremated & the ashes taken to Australia".The name stuck when England’s captain vowed to“regain those Ashes" [Source]
TIL the first case of nonischemic priapism (an unwanted persistent erection) following penile tattooing was reported in 2012. A man got a tattoo on his penis which caused a permanent semi-erection. After an unsuccessful surgery to fix it, he decided to live with it since it was painless & functional [Source]
TIL that a Los Angeles woman was once involuntarily committed after she insisted that the boy that she was reunited with was not her missing child. The story later inspired the 2008 movie “Changeling”. [Source]
NPR
Behind 'Changeling,' A Tale Too Strange For Fiction
In 1928, a 9-year-old boy disappeared — and when the police "discovered" him, his mother said they had the wrong boy. Screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski fills in NPR's Elizabeth Blair on the sad and sordid story that inspired his new film.
TIL that in the late 1800s clam chowder was introduced in New Zealand as an "American" dish and has become integral to New Zealand cuisine [Source]
TIL that John Lennon came back from a 5 year recording hiatus in 1980 after hearing the B-52’s Rock Lobster. In his words, "[Rock Lobster] sounds just like Ono's music, so I said to meself, 'it's time to get out the old axe and wake the wife up!'" [Source]
TIL In medieval times the Byzantines used a giant chain to prevent enemy ships from crossing the Golden Horn, the natural estuary leading into Constantinople's harbor. Failing to break it, some invaders, including the ottomans in 1453, decided to carry their ships on land and circumvent it [Source]
TIL about Michel Siffre, who spend over two months in a cave (on more than one occasion) with no timekeeping devices of any kind in order to study how the human brain perceives time. [Source]
TIL that about 30% of people with depression have treatment resistant depression (TRD), which means they have failed at least 2 different types of treatment modalities. [Source]
PubMed Central (PMC)
Treatment‐resistant depression: definition, prevalence, detection, management, and investigational interventions
Treatment‐resistant depression (TRD) is common and associated with multiple serious public health implications. A consensus definition of TRD with demonstrated predictive utility in terms of clinical decision‐making and health outcomes does not ...
TIL that philosopher Peter Wessel Zapffe believed that human consciousness is an evolutionary overextension, unnecessary for survival. He believed that humans developed four common coping mechanisms to dull our self-reflection and soothe our anxiety regarding our mortality. [Source]
TIL there is an old handwriting system that is faster than typing. Masters have reached up to 280 Words per minute! [Source]
TIL Thomas Jefferson's tombstone lists what he considers his three greatest accomplishments ... none of which are being President of the United States. [Source]
Monticello
Jefferson's Grave and Tombstone
Jefferson left instructions for the building of his tombstone, which included listing what he considered his three greatest achievements and an obelisk…
TIL puppeteer Frank Oz hasn’t worked with the Muppets since 2007 not because he wanna retire. In 2021, he stated: “I’d love to do the Muppets again but Disney doesn’t want me. They don’t want me because I won’t follow orders and I won’t do the kind of Muppets they believe in, The soul’s not there". [Source]
the Guardian
Frank Oz on life as Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy and Yoda: ‘I’d love to do the Muppets again but Disney doesn’t want me’
He played some of the most memorable characters of all time on The Muppet Show and Sesame Street - then became a brilliant comedy director. What is he most proud of?
TIL that Ioannis Ikonomou is the Chief Translator of the European Commision, speaking 21 of the 24 Official Languages. He is also the only Translator trusted with classified Chinese documents, which he considers his favorite Language, but also the most Complicated. [Source]
TIL The tea ruined at the Boston Tea Party had a value in 1773 equivalent to $2.3 Million USD in today's money. [Source]
TIL that to prove the idea that Clark Kent wearing glasses was enough to hide the fact that he is Superman, Henry Cavill, who played Superman in the 2016 film "Batman v Superman", walked around Times Square wearing a Superman shirt in 2016, and no one seemed to notice him. [Source]
TODAY.com
Super surprise! Henry Cavill goes unrecognized next to billboard of Henry Cavill
Henry Cavill put on his Superman shirt and went to one of the busiest places in the world — and no one noticed!
TIL about "headspin hole", a common scalp injury in breakdancers, caused by years of performing headspins. The repeated friction causes a cone-shaped "breakdance bulge" to form. [Source]
Irish Examiner
Repeated breakdance headspins gave dancer a 'conehead' bulge
A man was diagnosed with a 'headspin hole' after extensive breakdancing