TIL 2000 years ago, in order to build a high-quality cavalry force, the Chinese took the initiative to invade Central Asia and destroyed a Hellenized kingdom. [Source]

TIL that after French soldier La Tour d'Auvergne died in 1800, his name was still called at every roll call and a sergeant would answer "Died on the field of honor." Napoleon had honored him as "First Grenadier of France." [Source]

TIL Mississippi law imposes a penalty of 6 months in county jail and $500 fine, "if any man and woman shall unlawfully cohabit, whether in adultery or fornication.” For conviction, the statue states it is sufficient to prove the cohabitating couple is having “habitual sexual intercourse.” [Source]

TIL there's evidence that the left nostril tends to be more dominant and open, especially with right-handed people. It's part of nasal cycling, where one nasal is always more open than the other. They typically switch every few hours. [Source]

TIL WWE wrestler Chris Benoit murdered his wife and 7 year old son, then committed sucide in 2007. Doctors later discovered that his brain was so severely damaged it resembled the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient. [Source]

TIL about wholphins (portmanteau of whale and dolphin) an extremely rare cetacean hybrid born from a mating of a female common bottlenose dolphin with a male false killer whale. [Source]

TIL that after WWI, while much of the Ottoman Empire was carved up by the Allies, Turkey fought back and resisted efforts to partition Anatolia, leading to the modern Turkish Republic [Source]

TIL that with a score of 0.230 Middle Juba in Somalia is the subnational region with the lowest Human Development Index in the world [Source]

TIL that ties are possible at the Academy Awards. It has happened 6 times in history, most recently in 2012. [Source]

TIL Chronic Radiation Syndrome/Sickness (CRS) is caused by exposure to elevated levels of radiation(but not enough to cause Acute Sickness) for a period of weeks or months, resulting in wasting and scurvy-like symptoms. It is heavily documented in Eastern literature, yet rarely in Western sources [Source]

TIL in a 1995 Barbara Walters interview, Jim Carrey revealed that he turned down a $10 million offer to star in 'The Mask II' because his experiences on Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls convinced him that reprising a character he had previously played offered him no challenges as an actor. [Source]

TIL Taylor Swift sends flowers to Kelly Clarkson after every "Taylor's Version" album re-release to thank her for suggesting that Taylor "go in & re-record all the songs that U don't own the masters on". At the time, Taylor was upset that the masters of her first 6 albums were sold to a third party. [Source]

TIL the sole cure for late stage African sleeping sickness, arsenic, was suggested first due to an anecdote of a man who survived a snake bite using arsenic. Although arsenic has no effect on snake bites or most diseases, by pure chance it happened to be the cure to African sleeping sickness. [Source]

TIL that economist and philosopher Adam Smith was kidnapped by vagrants when he was 4 years old. He was later found unharmed [Source]

TIL the federal courts publish the outcome of every bankruptcy case in a free public database. The government's own data shows 48% of Chapter 13 cases get dismissed, and in some districts it's over 90%. [Source]

TIL a fisherman was federally prosecuted for throwing undersized fish back into the sea under a law meant to stop Enron-style document destruction because prosecutors argued a fish counted as a "tangible object." [Source]

TIL Medieval peasants likely got more rest and more days off than we do today (despite being far less wealthier than us) [Source]

TIL Basque is considered a language isolate, meaning it has no relatives in the whole world. The only such language in Europe. [Source]

TIL The capital of the Mongol Empire was captured and destroyed twice by Chinese troops in the 14th century, and it wasn't until 2023 that preparations were made to formally rebuild the city. [Source]

TIL that in 1441, a mapmaking error created a tiny independent Republic in Italy that lasted for 385 years. [Source]

TIL that mandatory handwashing was not incorporated into common health practice until as late as the 1980s [Source]