Today

j6kVa TIL: The Lord of the Rings is presented as a translation of a book originally written in Westron, the common speech of Middle-earth. Therefore, Frodo Baggins' real name in Westron is Maura Labingi.
M7Era TIL Germany was once a utopia for transgender people
5VyAp TIL of Mrs Mills' Piano - a 1905 Steinway upright piano at Abbey Road Studios. Its "characteristic out-of-tune honky tonk sound" has been featured on countless albums. Paul McCartney tried to buy it, but was refused.
x605w TIL in the US there was an "oyster craze" of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Due to advances in oyster farm technology, between 1880 and 1910, as many as 160 million pounds of oysters were harvested a year, and in 1909 the price per pound fell to less than half of beef.
4kyA5 TIL that Nintendo character Mario was named after a real life businessman, Mario Segale. When the company fell behind on rent, Segale gave them a second chance to come up with the money. Nintendo paid their debt and named their flagship character after him.
nWKnb TIL 1 billion meals were wasted everyday while 783 million people were affected by hunger in 2022
9wyAG TIL that the first webcam was invented to check if a coffee pot was full. Cambridge scientists basically said, ‘Why walk 20 steps when we can invent new technology instead?’
W74MY TIL that Coca-Cola is currently flavored with decocainized coca leaves
R5Kl7 TIL an automatron was created 225 yrs ago that can draw very detailed drawings.
wo0Go TIL that the animal with the least amount of neurons in their brain are Sponges with 0 neurons, and the animal with the most are Elephants with 257 billion neurons. Humans average at around 100 billion neurons.
69y5X TIL that in the 1960s, San Diego considered building a floating stadium in Mission Bay for the Chargers and Padres, with modular pontoon sections to accommodate various events
OG7QY TIL there is a sport called Teqball that is similar to table tennis but played with a soccer ball