TIL that the pink color in Himalayan Pink Salt is mostly rust. [Source]

TIL of "Project 100,000." in 1966, Sec. Def. Robert McNamara lowered enlistment standards to accept people with an IQ of 80 (borderline intellectually disabled) to boost military ranks. Fictional characters Leonard Lawrence (Full Metal Jacket) and Forest Gump were based on these recruits [Source]

TIL an effective formula that predicts the probability of mortality due to burns. The Baux score includes body area affected + age of patient + 17. [Source]

TIL that Antarctica is technically the largest desert on Earth, receiving less annual precipitation than the Sahara Desert [Source]

TIL that until 2023 the US government had a program to find thousands of viruses currently in the wild, sequence their genomes, and release the genomes on the internet [Source]

TIL that humans don't age gradually according to a Stanford Medicine study, we age in two dramatic "bursts" around ages 44 and 60, where over 81% of our molecules and microbes suddenly shift in ways that affect heart health, immune function, metabolism, and even how we process alcohol and caffeine [Source]

TIL a significant number of arborists have died from asphyxiation by palm fronds [Source]

TIL about perfidy, the deceptive tactic of feigning surrender or death with the intent to kill an enemy. It is prohibited by the Geneva Convention and considered a war crime. [Source]

TIL Tipper Gore launched Parents Music Resource Center, the music ‘censorship’ group responsible for the ‘Parental Advisory Explicit Content’ label in response to the Prince song Darling Nikki, which doesn’t contain any swear words [Source]

TIL experiments by Benjamin Libet found that the brain begins preparing actions about 300 milliseconds before a person becomes consciously aware of deciding to act. [Source]

TIL of the telephone-pole beetle, which is the only living member of an otherwise extinct family. Normally they never mature to adulthood, as females are capable of asexual reproduction while in the larval form, which is part of why they have one of the most complex life cycles among all beetles. [Source]

TIL The Gospel of Wealth, an essay written by Andrew Carnegie, launched the modern philanthropic movement. He believed the best way of dealing with wealth inequality was for the rich to utilize their money in a thoughtful manner and not in a way that encourages "the slothful, drunken, & unworthy". [Source]

TIL the term "Millennials" was invented in 1991 by two historians writing a book about American generational cycles; over a decade before most Millennials had even finished high school. They predicted Millennials would become "the next Greatest Generation" [Source]

TIL that, after learning what museums do, a five-year-old girl named Bethan donated her favourite rock to her local museum. Rather than just throw it out, the museum put Bethan's rock on display, it went viral online and went on to become their most famous object. [Source]

TIL about the “GTA Flu”. This phenomenon happens when a new, popular game is released and many people call in sick to play the new game [Source]

TIL a high school football coach for Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, Arkansas named Kevin Kelley employed an unorthodox strategy that included almost never punting & always attempting onside kicks when the score is within 21 points. His team won 7 state championships in 15 years including 4 in a row [Source]

TIL that LEGO bricks withstand compression better than concrete. An ordinary plastic LEGO brick is able to support the weight of 375,000 other bricks before it fails. This, theoretically, would let you build a tower nearing 3.5km in height. [Source]

TIL in 1998 a man on Olympic Airways had an asthmatic reaction to cigarette smoke, so his wife asked 3 times that he be moved away from the smokers. At first, the flight attendant said there were no empty seats and later said she was too busy. The man eventually died & his widow was awarded $1.4m. [Source]

TIL online clothing orders have a return rate of 32%, which dwarfs the return rates of other e-commerce sectors (e.g. just 7% in consumer electronics). [Source]

TIL The only recorded collision between a car and a submarine happened in Sweden in 1961, when a driverless Volvo rolled downhill into a docked submarine. [Source]

TIL Kaiser Wilhelm II was on vacation when WW1 started. Upon his return Kaiser was furious at Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg over ultimatum saying "How did it all happen?" He offered resignation as apology but Wilhelm refused to accept it stating "You've made this stew, now you're going to eat it!" [Source]