AN1Bo TIL Joe Rogan credits the Canadian comedian Tom Green for giving him the idea to start a podcast in 2007, when the former was a guest on Tom Green Live!
yVg9l TIL In the oldest surviving law code, some of the laws include: "If a man knocks out the eye of another man, he shall weigh out half a mina of silver." and "If a man has cut off another man's foot, he is to pay ten shekels."
m1gbE TIL that the moon seems huge on the horizon because your brain quietly edits the scene. It is called the Moon Illusion.
DQJkP TIL the US government tried to control the relentless Oregon dunes by planting European beachgrass starting in the 1920s — a geo-engineering project that inspired Frank Herbert’s creation of the Dune universe. However, the Oregon Dunes Restoration Collective sees the sand as a threatened resource.
vPgxB TIL that Pheasant Island is a condominium, a political territory in which multiple sovereign powers formally agree to share administrative responsibilities. From 1 February until 31 July, Spain holds stewardship, the other six months onward, the small island becomes an official part of France.
J1Wo8 TIL that 7 in 10 Canadian drivers admit to speeding at least occasionally, with the average speeder going 12km/h over the limit on highways, 10km/h over on larger roads, and 7km/h over on residential streets. Many view this as not "technically speeding" due to lack of enforcement.
pYMje TIL that it was popularly believed in ancient Rome that Emperor Nero would return from the dead to rule the Empire again as "Nero Redivivus", and this belief influenced early Christian depictions of the Antichrist
GA4aQ TIL that the Apollo spacesuits were designed and hand-stitched by seamstresses from Playtex, better known for making bras and girdles. Their 21-layer A7L suit design, built for NASA, beat competing military prototypes and provided astronauts with mobility and thermal insulation.
16e4V TIL in Nov 2014, a stray Ecuadorian dog named Arthur tagged along with a Swedish adventure racing team during a grueling 435 mi jungle race. He swam rivers and trudged through mud beside them. After the finish, Mikael Lindnord adopted him and brought him home to Sweden.
oRg0r TIL actor Carlos Diehz was an architect for thirty years before taking up acting classes as a hobby during Covid. Encouragement from his instructors led him to take it seriously, leading to his breakout role in Conclave (2024).
dDJgZ TIL that when a formerly Christian person converts to some varieties of Slavic neopaganism, they undergo a formal ceremony called raskrestitsia (de-Christianization) which involves kneeling on twigs, as priests carrying fire walk around them in a circle. At the end, they receive a scoopful of mead.
KYR1E TIL Gotye's 'Somebody That I Used to Know' samples the children's nursery rhyme Baa Baa Black Sheep