OGv87 TIL George Washington was the only president in American history to be unanimously elected by the Electoral College
69wPm TIL that the average human body carries about 30 trillion human cells—but also around 38 trillion microbial cells, meaning we are technically more bacteria than human.
wo4O6 TIL about the Chess Turk, a "mechanical chess machine" that traveled around the world from 1770. It was seen by Napoleon, played a game against Benjamin Franklin, and was writte about by Edgar Allan Poe. 57 years later it was seen to have a human operator, but this was ignored at the time.
R5y89 TIL that marble is simply metamorphic limestone
W7bVd TIL that your brain can generate false memories that feel just as real as true ones—and scientists can intentionally implant them.
9wXx7 TIL of Silverwood, CA, a place that requires homeowners to sign a kindness pledge when buying their home
nWMvB TIL over a million Indian soldiers fought for the British during WWI against the Germans and Ottomans
4kWNo TIL that the German luxury ship SMS Cap Trafalgar was converted into a warship during WWI and disguised as the British passenger ship RMS Carmania. The Trafalgar's only and last battle resulted in the Trafalgar being sunk by the real RMS Carmania, which had also been converted into a warship.
x6nP7 TIL about mass suicides in Hitler’s Germany. During the final weeks of WW2, thousands of German families and citizens took their own lives in panic of the advancing Red Army. In Berlin alone, 7,000 suicides were reported and entire towns killed themselves together
5VR7P TIL about a town named Truth or consequences,New Mexico being named after a game show
M7pkK TIL The phrase "the dog that didn't bark" comes from the Sherlock Holmes short story "Silver Blaze," where the absence of a guard dog's barking during a crime leads Holmes to deduce that the perpetrator was someone the dog knew, not a stranger.
j6bjE TIL North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, has a subway system. The Pyongyang Metro is one of the deepest in the world (360 ft.) and has the cheapest fare (half a US cent per ticket).