Today

GArjQ TIL that television was not introduced in South Africa until 1976 because the apartheid government viewed English programming as a threat to the Afrikaans language.
pYQLe TIL the first publicly witnessed and verified perfect score in Pac-Man (without manipulating the game's hardware) did not happen until 1999
J15x8 TIL that the artist Mary Vincent (McGriff) survived a SA at age 15 where the perpetrator cut both her forearms off and threw her off a cliff. She survived and walked several miles before being rescued.
vPQWB TIL The washing of horse penises in the UK is a highly specialised boutique business but one company has a founder who was originally a vet performing a similar service for domestic pets.
DQ8jP TIL 17-year-old female pitcher Jackie Mitchell struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in succession during an exhibition match. As a consequence, the baseball commisioner terminated her contract and Ruth later trash talked about women in baseball to a newspaper.
m1MAE TIL Jim Thorpe was the first Native American to win Olympic gold for the U.S., dominating both the pentathlon and decathlon in 1912. He then went pro in baseball, football, and basketball, and even became the first president of the NFL.
yVx6l TIL that after Japan opened up to the world in the 1850s, Japanese art styles influenced European artists including Van Gogh, he called the influence Japonaiserie.
ANVjo TIL that the only taxidermied blue whale in the world is located at the Natural History Museum in Sweden. A hinged jaw was made so people could walk around inside until a couple was found having sex. Now the jaws are only opened on special occasions.
QNo69 TIL that around 200 cats are tasked, as "security officers", with keeping mice out of the Forbidden City
b6Q54 TIL the movie Boyhood (2014) was filmed from 2002 to 2013 and began filming without a completed script, with only basic plot points and the ending written initially. Director Richard Linklater developed the script throughout production and incorporated changes he saw in the actors into the script.
LQ7nv TIL the bubble style glass on pub windows not only offers privacy by distorting what's inside, but was sold cheaper as it was the last part in the process of blowing glass, perfect for establishments
grQp7 TIL As part of a live-fire test of a nuclear air-to-air rocket, 5 U.S. air crewmen agreed to stand directly beneath the nuclear explosion to prove it would not affect ground populations