TIL In modern music sales, the "Album-Equivalent Unit" is used to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of 1 album copy. In the United States, 1,250 premium audio streams, 3,750 ad-supported streams, or 3,750 video streams are equal to 1 album unit.
TIL The last US Civil War Widow died in 2020. The practice of a young woman marrying an older man for his Civil War pension as a dependent was common practice in the early 20th century
TIL In 2013 Lucasarts games had a game in development following Boba Fett going through the criminal underworld of Coruscant's level 1313. According to interviews the staff was inspired by the GTA series. The Game was cancelled when Lucasarts was acquired by Disney and laid off most of their staff.
TIL that in 1995, a Nick Leeson single handedly bankrupted Britain's oldest merchant bank by losing $1.4 B dollars in bad trades.
TIL that Laika (The first dog in space), did not die peacefully to lack of oxygen like the Russians said. Decades later, it was revealed that instead she died in panic thanks to a heat shield malfunction a couple of hours after launch.
TIL that in Ukraine if a marriage proposal isn't accepted by the bride or her family, the would-be groom is given a pumpkin, so he doesn't leave empty-handed.
TIL that legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick thought the 1988 film The Vanishing (or Spoorloos in its original Dutch titling) was the most terrifying film he had seen – even more frightening than his own The Shining. After seeing it, he called the film's director to discuss editing techniques.
TIL about Leonid Rogozov, a Soviet surgeon on a 1961 Antarctic research expedition. His appendix went bad during their winter. Since they had no access to the outside world, he had to remove his own appendix almost entirely by touch, with only a novocaine shot. He was back on the job in 2 weeks.