69woZ TIL that there was a psychiatrist named Zholia Alemi who forged credentials in the UK for 2 decades before finally getting exposed
wo4AW TIL the French General Committee on Terminology approved the term "arobase" to mean the @ symbol in an email address.
R5yw6 TIL Akbar the Mughal preserved peace and order in his religiously and culturally diverse empire by adopting policies that won the support of his non-Muslim subjects. He abolished the sectarian tax, appointed non-Muslims to high civil and military positions, and embraced religious tolerance in India
W7be8 TIL Tom hanks is a type 2 diabetic. Significant weight fluctuations for various film roles such as A League of Their Own and Cast Away might have contributed to the diagnosis.
9wXKm TIL that feudal Edo's police force in Japan wasn't made only of elite samurai. Many officers came from rough, physical jobs like sumo wrestling, firefighting and labor gangs, giving the shogunate a street-tough police corps.
nWM8Y TIL that the most expensive video game ever made is Monopoly Go!, almost entirely due to its $1 billion marketing budget
4kWow TIL the brain literally shrinks during dehydration. Even mild dehydration (1–2%) causes the brain to temporarily contract, which is why thinking feels harder.
x6nAD TIL in 2015 mixed martial artist Yang Jian Bing died due to dehydration when weight-cutting for a fight put on by ONE Championship. Later that month, ONE Championship banned weight-cutting by dehydration and now holds fights based on a competitor's "walking weight", rather than pre-fight weigh-ins.
5VRoR TIL in 2019 when John Deer fell overboard (at a "shark point") near the San Blas Islands while sailing around the world solo, his boat sailed away from him because it had been on "auto pilot mode". But he survived after swimming 17km through shark-infested waters at night to eventually reach safety.
M7p48 TIL about the sandbox tree, also known as the dynamite tree, due to its exploding seed pods. The tree is also covered in thorns and has a poisonous sap. They are native to South and Central America.
j6bXQ TIL that during the "fantasy comedy" era of the 1960s, NBC debuted a show called "My Mother the Car", which features a deceased mother reincarnated as an antique car who communicates with her son through the car radio. It lasted one season and is considered the 2nd worst show of all time.
0dxm5 TIL that the government of Portugal (including the royal court) moved to Brazil to escape Napoleon in the early 1800s.