TIL: In 1876, Mary Lincoln thanked friends who helped free her from an asylum by giving them Abraham Lincoln’s handwritten note: “As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy." [Source]
Harper's Magazine
Notes to Self
Lincoln’s private thoughts on fate, failure, slavery, and belief
TIL that New Nissan Stadium, future home of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans, costs $2.1 billion dollars & is being constructed using $1.26 billion dollars of public funds. This makes it the largest allocation of Stadium Subsidy funds to a sports venue in U.S. history. [Source]
TIL the first commercial film to feature a woman, the 21-second Carmencita (1894), also became the first film ever banned in the United States. [Source]
Moviegoings
Film History Essentials: Carmencita (1894)
Summary: A woman wearing an elaborate costume, including a wide, billowing hoop skirt and white dance shoes with high heels, performs an intricate, balletic dance for the camera. She gestures exagg…
TIL Single mothers spend less time on housework and get more sleep than married mothers [Source]
SpringerLink
Marital Status and Mothers’ Time Use: Childcare, Housework, Leisure, and Sleep
Demography - Assumptions that single mothers are “time poor” compared with married mothers are ubiquitous. We tested theorized associations derived from the time poverty thesis and the...
TIL that 45 years ago, Saudi Arabia built a 1,200-kilometer oil pipeline from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea, just in case the Strait of Hormuz ever got blocked [Source]
TIL that in 2025 a mini dachshund named Valerie was found alive after 529 days in the Australian wilderness. [Source]
NPR
After 529 days alone in the Australian bush, Valerie the mini dachshund is home
Valerie ran off while she was on a camping trip with her owners back in 2023 on a remote island in Australia. They had lost hope until locals spotted her more than a year later, surviving in the wild.
TIL the plane crash that killed John F Kennedy Jr, his wife, and her sister was caused by “spatial disorientation”. Weather conditions were poor that night & Kennedy was not qualified to fly at night under instrument conditions. He did not request a weather briefing nor did he file a flight plan. [Source]
TIL that General Omar Bradley commanded the Twelfth United States Army Group after the Allied Invasion of Europe. The group was the largest body of American soldiers to ever serve under a single commander with 1.3 million military personnel. [Source]
TIL An African American Musician, Wary of Racism, Pretended to Be Indian, And Received Nationwide Fame. He Maintained This False Identity For The Rest Of His Life. [Source]
TIL about Jan Baalsrud. A Norwegian Commando who evaded German capture by swimming in arctic waters, was buried by an avalanche, hid in a cave, and amputated several of his own frostbitten toes with a knife, and was dragged on a stretcher to safety by villagers. [Source]
TIL that economists have a worse track record of having a correct prediction than random chance [Source]
Haas News | UC Berkeley Haas
Why economic forecasts are so often wrong - Haas News | UC Berkeley Haas
Forecasts about inflation, growth, and unemployment by senior economists at big banks drive critical decisions by businesses, investors, and the Federal Reserve. The stakes are high, and sometimes those forecasts turn out to be overly rosy—or too pessimistic.…
TIL that when bilingual people switch languages mid-sentence, their brain doesn't even notice the switch. NYU researchers found that the brain uses the same mechanism to combine words regardless of whether they come from one language or two, meaning code-switching is neurologically seamless. [Source]
TIL after barely surviving the splashdown of the Liberty Bell 7, NASA astronaut Gus Grissom jokingly named the spacecraft for his next mission "Molly Brown" after the Broadway show "The Unsinkable Molly Brown". When NASA asked him to come up with a different name, he offered "Titanic". [Source]
TIL the modern flush toilet was popularized by English businessman and plumber named Thomas Crapper. [Source]
TIL Americans streamed 57 billion minutes of The Office in 2020, 45% more than the second-place show Grey's Anatomy [Source]
Variety
‘The Office’ Was by Far the Most-Streamed TV Show in 2020, Nielsen Says
U.S. viewers streaming more than 57 billion minutes of "The Office" on Netflix in 2020, according to Nielsen estimates.
TIL that During the French Revolution, Louis XVI ordered the arrest of a judge named D'Epremesnil. When the arresting officers came to the Palais de Justice, they did not know D'Epremesnil by sight, so all the judges stood up and cried "We are all D'Epremesnil!". No arrests were made that day. [Source]
TIL the botched restoration nicknamed "Monkey Christ" was deemed more culturally relevant than the original painting and preserved as-is. Tens of thousands of tourists visit the Spanish town of Borja every year to see it, and the restorer became a local celebrity until her passing in late 2025. [Source]
Bbc
Spanish woman who found fame for botching fresco restoration dies
Cecilia Giménez's effort to restore the painting Ecce Homo earned the artwork the nickname "Monkey Christ".
TIL that during the filming of Apocalypse Now (1979), lead actor Martin Sheen had a near fatal heart attack. This led to his brother, Joe Estevez, being a stand in for several scenes, as well as doing the voiceover narration for the film as he sounded nearly identical to his brother Martin [Source]
TIL in 2013, "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis was able, as an independent song, to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart without a major record label. It was only the second independent song to reach #1 in history at the time. [Source]
TIL that Sheb Wooley, famous for singing The Purple People Eater and voicing the Wilhelm Scream, also taught Roger Miller how to play guitar. [Source]
TIL that the person in charge of the Kamikaze defence of Okinawa, Admiral Matome Ugaki, flew the last Kamikaze flight himself. [Source]