Today I Learned (TIL)

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/MewMeowHowdy on 2025-06-14 11:41:53+00:00.

Original Title: TIL about the 1947 Texas City Disaster: A ship carrying ammonium nitrate, among other cargo, exploded. The resulting detonation was felt in Louisiana, recorded by a seismograph in Denver, CO, and caused a 15-foot tidal wave. The blast and devastation has been likened to a small-scale Hiroshima.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/SuvenPan on 2025-06-14 11:15:13+00:00.

Original Title: TIL 15-year-old Shyam Lal in India decided to take his spade and dig a pond to quench the thirst of people and cattles. Fellow villagers laughed at him. Lal identified a spot in the forest in and kept digging — for 27 years. The result was a one-acre 15-feet deep pond.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/haddock420 on 2025-06-14 11:06:24+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/BadenBaden1981 on 2025-06-14 10:35:21+00:00.

Original Title: TIL George Shultz, former Secretary of State and Treasury, was a board member of Theranos. When his grandson Tyler became whistleblower, he sided with Theranos and tried to silence Tyler. After Theranos went bankrupt, he praised Tyler.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/DepartureAcademic80 on 2025-06-14 09:40:07+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/whatisc on 2025-06-14 04:39:25+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/TylerFortier_Photo on 2025-06-14 03:28:54+00:00.

Original Title: TIL in 2016 a man inadvertently recreated a "Seinfeld" plot: Attempting to return 10,000 aluminum cans in Michigan (10c return rate per) from Kentucky (5c return rate). He was later arrested for one count of beverage return of nonrefundable bottles.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/manamonggamers on 2025-06-14 03:25:16+00:00.

Original Title: TIL: GPS satellites don't ever actually interact with GPS devices at all. 31 US satellites simply broadcast their position non-stop and GPS devices triangulate their own position using the location of 3 "nearby" satellites.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Overall-Register9758 on 2025-06-14 02:30:08+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that although intensely private, Joe DiMaggio allowed a children's hospital to use his name and image on condition that they never turn away a child because of inability to pay. The deal was struck with a promise and a handshake.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/sscottrell on 2025-06-14 02:12:51+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Tetracropolis on 2025-06-13 22:35:25+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Ill_Definition8074 on 2025-06-13 23:35:55+00:00.

Original Title: TIL about Dorothy Molter who lived alone in the Northern Minnesota wilderness from 1948 until her death in 1986. Despite once being called "The Loneliest Woman in America" her remote cabin received upwards of 7,000 visitors a year with many stopping by to sample her homemade root beer.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/2SP00KY4ME on 2025-06-13 22:29:17+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/ExtensionSearch5266 on 2025-06-13 20:15:07+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/tyrion2024 on 2025-06-13 21:12:35+00:00.

Original Title: TIL in 2016 two teens died after ingesting a concoction known as 'Dewshine' (a mixture of Mountain Dew & racing fuel, which is virtually 100% methanol). These are the first reported deaths in the US associated with the mixture. Two other teens who also drank it became intoxicated, but survived.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/DangerNoodle1993 on 2025-06-13 21:08:32+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that when local troops, hired by communist Albania, attempted to capture Prince Leka — the exiled Crown Prince of Albania — while he was in Gabon, he dissuaded them by appearing at the door of the plane holding a bazooka.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/waitingforthesun92 on 2025-06-13 20:56:27+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that the 1981 film “History of the World, Part I” had no planned sequel. The “Part I” was a joke referencing Sir Walter Raleigh’s book “The History of the World,” which was intended to be published in several volumes - but only the first was completed as Raleigh was executed in 1618.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/DangerNoodle1993 on 2025-06-13 20:40:47+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/pantsunami on 2025-06-13 19:32:39+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/watchful_tiger on 2025-06-13 19:36:49+00:00.

Original Title: TIL the old Danish criteria for common law marriage was that" If anyone has a mistress in his home for three winters and obviously sleeps with her, and she commands lock and key and obviously eats and drinks with him, then she shall be his wife and rightful lady of the house."

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/tyrion2024 on 2025-06-13 19:01:56+00:00.

Original Title: TIL in order to prove to Sony that The Social Network would be under 2 hours despite the length of Aaron Sorkin's script (162 pages instead of the typical 120), director David Fincher timed Sorkin reading it out loud, which took 1 hour & 59 minutes. The final runtime was the same. (25:46-26:58)

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/scream3isawful on 2025-06-13 18:38:48+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/bygonecenarion on 2025-06-13 17:40:38+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/DangerNoodle1993 on 2025-06-13 16:44:23+00:00.

Original Title: TIL about the "Alexandra Limp" — a Victorian fashion trend where ladies wore mismatched footwear, one high heel and one low, to emulate Princess Alexandra, who developed a pronounced limp after a bout of rheumatic fever.

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/MrMojoFomo on 2025-06-13 16:24:58+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that the first woman considered to achieve the naval rank of admiral was Laskarina Pinotsi, commonly called Bouboulina (Greek for "little darling" or "little something"). She commanded Greek forces in the Greek war of Independence in 1821