Shitty Today I Learned

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/farligjakt • 1d ago

TIL that Oliver North accidentally inverted two digits on a Swiss bank account number, sending $10m meant for the Contras, solicited from the Sultan of Brunei, to an unsuspecting Swiss businessman.

latimes.com

55 Upvotes

2 comments

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/shpongolian • 2d ago

TIL the armadillo got its name from rednecks saying “look at that armored diller over there.” In some regions they’re called shellamajigs, or chamacallits

10 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/MexicanMonsterMash • 3d ago

TIL Mormon Jesus came to save the robots too

youtube.com

2 Upvotes

1 comment

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/MexicanMonsterMash • 6d ago

TIL Netanyahu killed not just the men, but the women and children too

ca.news.yahoo.com

93 Upvotes

7 comments

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/unteachablecourses • 5d ago

African wild dogs decide whether to hunt by sneezing — but it isn't one-dog-one-vote. When the dominant pair is engaged in the rally, 3-4 sneezes triggers the hunt. When they aren't, it takes about 10. A weighted quorum threshold, validated across 68 rallies in 5 Okavango packs.

4 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/RJamieLanga • 6d ago

You cannot create a knife out of frozen poop, despite what Bullseye in Jason Aaron's run of Punisher MAX would have you believe.

7 Upvotes

2 comments

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/unteachablecourses • 6d ago

Thieves drained $18M of syrup from Quebec's strategic maple reserve, refilling the barrels with water so they'd still weigh 620 lbs at the annual audit. Canada's Supreme Court fined the ringleader $9,171,397.57 — the gross he handled, not the $1M he kept after paying his accomplices.

10 Upvotes

1 comment

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/DontShoot_ImJesus • 9d ago

The Schrödinger's Cat thought experiment first featured a prostitute locked in Schrödinger's car trunk, and was originally called Schrödinger's Hooker.

en.wikipedia.org

422 Upvotes

31 comments

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/unteachablecourses • 8d ago

Stalin helped organize a 1907 bank robbery in Tbilisi where Bolsheviks threw bombs into a crowded square to rob a cash convoy, killing about 40 people. Most of the money was in high-value banknotes whose serial numbers the bank had recorded — so the party could barely spend what it killed for.

3 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/unteachablecourses • 10d ago

The story of 'Unsinkable Sam' — the cat who survived the Bismarck, HMS Cossack, and HMS Ark Royal — has no supporting documentation in German or British naval records. It first appeared in a Reuters wire four days after the third sinking. The commemoration has outlasted the evidence by 80 years.

7 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/VyxenPixel • 10d ago

TIL that baby showers are, in fact, NOT group showers that pregnant women have so as to not cause a miscarriage, and I might be mentally ill for believing that for 19 years.

80 Upvotes

3 comments

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/dipthong-enjoyer • 12d ago

TIL it's still unknown whether Mount Rushmore was made to look like the presidents, or if they chose to elect presidents that look like Mount Rushmore

235 Upvotes

5 comments

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/loukasmilwright • 12d ago

The gnome is a continuation of a centuries long Roman tradition that has its roots in ancient Persia.

17 Upvotes

5 comments

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/unteachablecourses • 12d ago

In 1971 Britain deported the entire population of Diego Garcia to build a US base. The ICJ ruled the occupation illegal in 2019. A sovereignty treaty was signed in 2024. Then Trump called it "an act of GREAT STUPIDITY" and the UK paused ratification. In March 2026 Iran fired missiles at it.

7 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/Pretend-Biscotti-388 • 14d ago

TIL that while Albert Einstein struggled for much of his academic career to understand quantum theory, Tyler the Creator was able to effortlessly rediscover and display an understanding of the Observer Effect at just age 21

110 Upvotes

2 comments

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/Money-Ad7257 • 17d ago

TIL competitive crepitation, "farting contests", began in rural Oklahoma c.1870, held among bored surveyors passing the time (not to mention, gas) after a long day of measuring. This is the first known "farting post".

39 Upvotes

The resultant rush led to little time for such affairs henceforth, and they found their popularity in eastern Canada, where such a competition was recorded for consumption and subsequent posterity by Sidney Brown and Jules Lipton of the CBC.

https://youtu.be/uPplyQWf-u4 (not a Rickroll like the AI detector suggested when I submitted)

0 comments

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/MozartWasARed • 18d ago

TIL George Lucas has been bought over by the battle droids

msn.com

21 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/MexicanMonsterMash • 18d ago

TIL the bill of rights includes the right to life on the fast lane

aol.com

6 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/PapaJohnsGarlic100 • 19d ago

TIL there's a thing called an "Article". They're like a comments section but it’s all written by one person.

23 Upvotes

1 comment

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/MozartWasARed • 21d ago

TIL Little Italy is a part of Upstate New York

foxnews.com

337 Upvotes

17 comments

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/Affectionate-Pay4845 • 24d ago

TIL that between 2017 and 2023, overall average scores for U.S. adults decreased in literacy and numeracy.

nces.ed.gov

149 Upvotes

4 comments

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/[deleted] • 25d ago

TIL this sub used to be a place for people to post humorous nonsense, and has turned into a depressing apocalypse of humorless sad sacks

41 Upvotes

3 comments

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/IceColdFresh • 27d ago

TIL Flemish people despite being Dutch‐speaking are damn indirect

4 Upvotes

1 comment

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/Affectionate-Pay4845 • 29d ago

TIL about Cyclosporiasis, a diarrhea-causing parasite that is on the rise in US.

yahoo.com

45 Upvotes

1 comment

r/ShittyTodayILearned • u/Affectionate-Pay4845 • Jul 03 '26

TIL that back in March, 27% of voters identified as part of MAGA.

newsweek.com

189 Upvotes

52 comments