R5Jnw TIL Pripyat the area of Chernobyl disaster in Apr. 1986 is still an abandoned ghost town w/ only tour visits frequenting the place...
W7AxX TIL that Joseph Smith, Mormonism's founder, married 30+ women, including girls as young as 14 (Helen Mar Kimball) and wives of other men. Often, he purposefully sent men off on church missions, then stole their wives while they were gone.
9wRQr TIL that piñatas originated in China. The concept spread to Europe where it was more associated with Lent. When the Spanish came to the New World, the piñata came with it, but the people there already had their own versions.
nWZm9 TIL In 2024, scientists observed sperm whales defending themselves from an orca attack, by using poop.
4kxLR TIL - LED’s are made on a substrate of Gallium Arsenide, which is half Arsenic
x6Dab TIL that 14–17 percent of Japanese students aged 16–22 admitted to having romantic feelings towards a character in a video game or anime.
5V4Qr TIL that Terence Crawford, a former professional boxer, was never knocked down during the entirety of his 17-year career. Furthermore, not a single judge ever scored a fight in favor of his opponent.
M75MA TIL that on September 17, 1967, The Doors performed “Light My Fire” on The Ed Sullivan Show. The one condition was that they not use “higher” in the chorus. Jim Morrison sang it anyway, and all future performances were canceled. In response, he said: “Hey man, we just did the Ed Sullivan Show.”
j6YZR TIL Mel Gibson was supposed to direct Good Will Hunting after making Braveheart. He developed the movie for months but wanted more time. Damon and Affleck got impatient and said they were aging out of the characters. So they convinced Mel to leave the project and let Gus Van Sant direct it.
0dL9A TIL in 1999 Red Rocks Amphitheatre won the "Best Small Music Venue" from the magazine "Pollstar" for the 11th time in a row. Following this, Pollstar changed the name of the award to the "Red Rocks Award" and permanently removed Red Rocks from the running.
grN8X TIL Augustus had one biological child, Julia. A strenuous relationship, Julia’s reputation was scandalous. She was eventually exiled from Rome for adultery. In 14 AD she died months after her father, never reconciling. Augustus called her, “his disease.”
LQKM0 TIL that when filming Star Trek IV: A Voyage Home, a woman had her car towed by the film crew. She got a role as an extra, then improvised a response to actors filming - which caused her to be paid for a speaking role and allowed her to get the car back.