TIL that Harry S. Truman was the only combat veteran of the First World War to serve as President. [Source]
TIL Amy Hennig is a famous game developer celebrated for creating the narrative and cinematic foundations for the Legacy of Kain & Uncharted series. She directed and wrote Soul Reaver at Crystal Dynamics before joining Naughty Dog to lead the creator, director and writer of the Uncharted games [Source]
TIL that If you travel at 1g acceleration, you will be outside of the Milky Way in about 12 years. You will be outside the observable universe in about 54 years. And if you travel at 1.19g for 100 years, you could witness the heat death of the universe. [Source]
TIL China accelerated a magnetic levitation (maglev) train tech vehicle from 0-700 km/h (435 mph) in 2 seconds in 2025 [Source]
CGTN
China sets world record in maglev tech with 0-700 km/h in 2 seconds
China has set a world record in maglev technology by accelerating a ton-level test vehicle to 700 kilometers per hour (km/h) in just two seconds, China Media Group reported.A research team from the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT) achieved
TIL the English word “set” has 430 different meanings listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, giving it the longest dictionary entry at around 60,000 words. [Source]
Guinness World Records
English word with the most meanings
Who Set Where Oxford English Dictionary When 01 January 0001 The word with the most meanings in English is the verb 'set', with 430 senses listed in the Second Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, published in 1989. The word commands the longest entry…
TIL At the height of the counter-reformation Pope Julius III made Innocenzo Del Monte, his illiterate boyfriend, a cardinal and kept trying to appoint him to advisory roles, ignoring all pushback. Even after his convictions for serious crimes, Del Monte managed to retain his position [Source]
TIL in 2008, Universal Music Group invested in a startup called Uber, a media-sharing platform that fizzled out quickly. UMG was left with the domain name and in 2010, Uber offered UMG 2% equity in the company for the domain. UMG sold its 2% stake back for $863,000 and its worth roughly $3.46B today [Source]
Snagged
Snagged Blog | Uber.com: The $3.46B Domain That Universal Music Let Go
Uber.com: The $3.46B Domain That Universal Music Let Go - Read insights on domain acquisition, branding strategies, and the evolving landscape of AI search from Snagged.
TIL William Shatner starred in the 2010 sitcom "Sh*t My Dad Says" based on a popular Twitter account featuring colorful, often profane comments made by the 73-year-old father of writer Justin Halpern. The show lasted one season. [Source]
The Hollywood Reporter
William Shatner in Shit My Dad Says
Twitter sensation Shit My Dad Says is becoming a TV pilot with William Shatner set to play the larger-than-life dad at the center of it.
Til 1in 5 measles cases will require hospitalization at an average cost of $43,000 per patient [Source]
Pragmatic Papers
The Cost of Ignorance: Why Anti-Vaxxers Belong in the High-Risk Pool
Smokers and drunk drivers pay more. Why are anti-vaxxers getting a free ride on your insurance premiums?
TIL 99% of commercially produced citric acid is made through fermentation using black mold [Source]
PubMed Central (PMC)
Potential role of the common food additive manufactured citric acid in eliciting significant inflammatory reactions contributing…
Citric acid as a food additive is not natural citric acid; it is manufactured through fermentation using Aspergillus niger. Aspergillus niger is a potent allergen. Food additive manufactured citric acid may be causing allergic inflammatory cascades. ...
TIL Lee Bryant, the actor that famously delivered the line "Jim never has a second cup of coffee at home!" in Airplane (1980), was cast without any knowledge of her being in the Yuban commercial that actually originated the quote. [Source]
TIL Shadow of the Colossus, one of the most hauntingly lonely video games of all time, was conceived as a multiplayer game [Source]
Rock Paper Shotgun
The earliest major inspiration for Shadow Of The Colossus was... Battlefield 1942: "I felt immense potential in the experience"
Sony and PlayStation's legendary sorrowful artgame was once envisaged as a group hunting experience, influenced by a notable PC WW2 shooter.
TIL that 911 Medals of Honor were revoked after the 1917 Medal of Honor Review Board raised the standards necessary for its awarding. Most of those revoked were awarded during the American Civil War simply for reenlisting. [Source]
Congressional Medal of Honor Society
The 1916 Medal of Honor Review Board - Congressional Medal of Honor Society
By Laura Jowdy, Archivist & Historical Collections Manager, CMOHS The Medal of Honor was created during the U.S. Civil War to recognize the service of military members who went above […]
TIL The United States stores 94% of all electricity in the form of water reservoirs, not in a battery. [Source]
EPA
Electricity Storage
Details technologies that can be used to store electricity so it can be used at times when demand exceeds generation, which helps utilities operate more effectively, reduce brownouts, and allow for more renewable energy resources to be built and used.
TIL that the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO is considered a national park. At 192.83 acres, it is the smallest national park in the U.S., being less than 2% the size of the next smallest park, Hot Springs National Park in Hot Springs, AR. [Source]
TIL That Caffeine Has An Average Half Life of 5 Hours [Source]
News-Medical
Caffeine Pharmacology
Caffeine is a stimulant of the central nervous system that occurs naturally in over 60 species of plants and is used in several foods, drinks and medications. The United States Food and Drugs Administration classes caffeine as both a food additive and a drug.
TIL Mexican general Manuel Mier y Terán warned that Texas was slipping from Mexico’s control, and after watching his country descend into chaos and ignore his warnings, he fell on his sword in 1832 [Source]
Texas State Historical Association
José Manuel Mier y Terán: A Key Figure in Mexican History
Explore the life and contributions of José Manuel Mier y Terán, a Mexican general who played a significant role in the early 19th century, including his expeditions to Texas and his efforts in the Mexican War of Independence.
TIL that of the 574 federally recognized tribes in the United States, 229 of them are in Alaska (40%) [Source]
TIL Aldyn-ool Sevek was a master of Mongolian throat singing whose sound was said to be impossible to reproduce; he died of throat cancer in 2011. [Source]
TIL about Cpt. Henry Elrod, a Marine aviator who shot down two Japanese aircraft, sank a warship, landed his disabled plane, and organized a ground defense which repulsed enemy attacks on Wake island where he was mortally wounded. [Source]
TIL before Pope Francis, the last pope to have a unique papal name was Pope Lando (913-914) [Source]