TIL of the ancient law of General Average. If a ship carrying cargo is required to jettison some of its load to save the rest, the loss of the cargo is to be shared proportionally among interest holders. First written in law in 800BC, it continues to be declared in present-day maritime emergencies.
https://ift.tt/2TMsW0h

Submitted March 08, 2020 at 09:37PM by Methisthopheles
via reddit https://ift.tt/3aANNdR

TIL that humans can have far more chromosomal variation than just XX or XY. Some possible combinations include XXXXY, XXYY, and XXXXX. Also, the XYY condition, in which males have an extra Y chromosome, is often undiagnosed because there are so few symptoms.
https://ift.tt/1JdRYY1

Submitted March 08, 2020 at 10:35PM by idcandidk
via reddit https://ift.tt/3aESrHW

TIL about Harry Wesley Coover Jr who discovered super glue (cyanoacrylate) in 1942. He ignored it as being too sticky for what he needed. He then rediscovered it in 1956 while at Eastman Kodak who put it into production. It gained notoriety in the Vietnam War as a way to close battlefield wounds.
https://ift.tt/2IvL21s

Submitted March 09, 2020 at 01:00AM by SuicidalGuidedog
via reddit https://ift.tt/38BliLy

TIL that Roger Moore, who played James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985, actually hated guns and the way society glorified the men who wielded them. Moore hated the publicity photos of himself posing with Bond's signature Walther PPK gun or any other firearm.
https://ift.tt/2TUKGH8

Submitted March 09, 2020 at 01:51AM by ralphbernardo
via reddit https://ift.tt/2vSuRIG

No, you didn't win a gift card and no we aren't running a contest/giveaway of any kind. It's a scam.
Users in r/todayilearned have received messages from spam accounts claiming they won a gift card in some contest. These accounts usually contain “mod” in the username, and start their messages by saying “Our Reddit team chose YOU for our monthly raffle for a $100 gift card (Yay!)” to trick people into thinking it is an official subreddit contest. If you received a message like this, please do not click on the link or reply to the account as it this offer is not genuine. Additionally, please report it to the admins here so they can remove these spam accounts from reddit. r/todayilearned does not run contests like this, and official messages from the subreddit will be sent from "/r/todayilearned", not individual user accounts.Edit: These morons are also hitting the users of r/askreddit hard because they have a sticky about this issue.Screenshot of what the scam message looks like https://i.imgur.com/w3fjysB.jpg

Submitted March 09, 2020 at 05:29AM by lanismycousin
via reddit https://ift.tt/2Q0ytPI

Til that Mr.Rogers basically saved all of pbs by speaking in front of congress about the importance of public access tv for kids learning
https://youtu.be/-C5PMPIdG_Y

Submitted March 09, 2020 at 06:24AM by Altonbrownismydad
via reddit https://ift.tt/39w1730

TIL everything we know about research shows that mega-doses of vitamin C are absolutely, positively useless at fighting colds. All that extra orange juice will do nothing to shorten your sniffles.
https://ift.tt/2qeVjni

Submitted March 09, 2020 at 08:44AM by lopezjessy
via reddit https://ift.tt/2Ty9dT6

TIL adult cats rarely meow to each other, so an adult cat meowing to human beings is probably a post-domestication extension of meowing by kittens, a call for attention.
https://ift.tt/3cNAVmL

Submitted March 09, 2020 at 10:04AM by wantstoknowyourstory
via reddit https://ift.tt/2IC5iON

TIL In 1971 Fleetwood Mac had to cancel a sold out show booked at the Whiskey A Go Go when their guitarist Jeremy Spencer simply vanished into thin air. He was eventually found having cut off all his hair, dressed in shabby clothes, and joined a cult called The Children of God.
https://ift.tt/39BVujN

Submitted March 09, 2020 at 02:26PM by Bluest_waters
via reddit https://ift.tt/337l4Lk

TIL that owls are associated with knowledge in Western tradition because they are the companion animal of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, in Greek mythology. However, the origins of this relationship are largely unknown.
https://ift.tt/1Pv3Ai1

Submitted March 09, 2020 at 12:12PM by kingej98
via reddit https://ift.tt/38DwrLU

TIL of the "Giant Panda Kindergarten" in China where 18 cubs celebrated their 1st birthday in 2019. Researchers mistakenly thought pandas liked solitary life & kept each panda in a tiny den; the pandas got depressed & didn't want to mate; this changed when pandas were allowed to hang out together.
https://ift.tt/39zP3ha

Submitted March 09, 2020 at 03:35PM by Miskatonica
via reddit https://ift.tt/3aGy6lr

TIL Clair Cameron Petterson, the American geochemist who proposed the still-accepted age of the Earth of 4.5 billion years old, helped accelerated the phaseout of lead from all standard, consumer, automotive gas, decreasing lead level in blood of Americans by 80% by the late 1990s.
https://ift.tt/1TEwpqP

Submitted March 09, 2020 at 03:48PM by trungbrother1
via reddit https://ift.tt/2IvFl3o

TIL that Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, repeatedly warned Viennas hardline Chief of Staff that continued harsh oppression of the Serbians would eventually draw Austria into a war with Russia and spell the doom of both empires. Neither empire survived World War I.
https://ift.tt/1lzDCJP

Submitted March 09, 2020 at 05:01PM by Try_Another_NO
via reddit https://ift.tt/2Iw79VF

TIL that during the 1956 Olympic torch relay, veterinary student Barry Larkin tricked onlookers by carrying a fake torch made of a chair leg, a pudding can, and flaming underpants. He managed to hand it over to the mayor of Sydney who gave a speech without realizing it was a hoax.
https://ift.tt/2a3gaq2

Submitted March 09, 2020 at 05:56PM by timmytucker
via reddit https://ift.tt/2W981aP

TIL forest fires can "hibernate". When a forest fire burns hot enough, what’s left of the fire can sit over winter and smoulder, even under a layer of snow.
https://ift.tt/2vQqHkB

Submitted March 09, 2020 at 05:13PM by justlookinghfy
via reddit https://ift.tt/2xgyhp0

TIL that Elvis, two months after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, recorded a live tribute song featuring direct quotes of MLK called "If I Can Dream" and overruled his manager to perform it as the finale to his comeback special over "I'll Be Home for Christmas"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-pP_dCenJA

Submitted March 09, 2020 at 04:01PM by gabesaves
via reddit https://ift.tt/2PZgHMG

TIL that turkeys will attack or attempt to dominate humans they view as subordinate
https://ift.tt/2TU0mdB

Submitted March 09, 2020 at 06:36PM by Margarine_Mongrel
via reddit https://ift.tt/3cMuno7

TIL the Nazis used meth to stay up 4 days to surprise ambush the French at the start of WWII
https://ift.tt/2JEdhJS

Submitted March 09, 2020 at 04:12PM by The_Richard_Cranium
via reddit https://ift.tt/2wK3bWQ

TIL The Democratic Republic of Congo is widely considered one of the world's richest countries in natural resources; its untapped deposits of raw minerals are estimated to be worth in excess of US$24 trillion. Yet, owing to political instability, it remains one of the poorest countries (per capita).
https://ift.tt/1KPGnoh

Submitted March 09, 2020 at 09:00PM by Hawkey89
via reddit https://ift.tt/2TALX6V

TIL that Somniosus microcephalus aka Greenland Sharks can live for more than 400 Earth years and sometimes don't even reach puberty until they're well in their 150s.
https://ift.tt/2Vc8Dvt

Submitted March 09, 2020 at 08:43PM by AnakinWayneII
via reddit https://ift.tt/2wLvYKg

TIL the EU abolished Daylight Saving Time, leaving the decisions up to national governments starting in 2021.
https://ift.tt/2Fu89HK

Submitted March 09, 2020 at 11:43PM by SoupcakeSurroundsMe
via reddit https://ift.tt/2xq1AWn