The "Today I Learned" Thread

TIL that in the 1970's the US Bureau Of Land Management tried to emulate the US Forest Service by creating their own Smokey Bear-esque mascot. He was a Cowboy named Johnny Horizon who taught people not to litter. He never took off and stopped being used by the early 1980's.

 

Today I learned that Franklin Roosevelt was the first president to ever appear on TV

 

TIL since Bobsledding isnt a sport anyone in America grows up doing, the US Bobsled team recruits athletes straight out of college sports. USA Bobsled scouts travel the country holding tryouts with mostly college football and track athletes. I also think they recruit out of the military too.

In contrast USA Luge who has the same problem mostly gets athletes by recruiting them as kids during youth events. They travel around the country doing "Slider Challenge" events for kids where they scout out who they think might have potential and give some an invitation to tryout for their youth development program in Lake Placid.

 

today @iCarly Rae Jepsen taught @JoshIsMediocre what a unicorn is

 

Also TIL Kiteboard racing is going to be an Olympic sailing event for the first time in 2024

 

Also Breakdancing will be a new Olympic event in 2024 too and is the new sport that will get the most attention, but I already knew that. Fucking weird pick for an Olympic sport though.

 

kind of into it

 

Last Olympic TIL: TIL the surfing events at the 2024 Paris games are going to held in French Polynesia at Tahiti, on the entire other side of the world from the rest of the games.

 

I would say today I learned that pickles have no calories but I’m still not sure on that one

it’s very low if there are any tho

 

TIL that Oklahoma was the last U.S. state to recognize Christmas as a federal holiday

 

Damn dude I didn’t even know that

 

TIL of Engblom v. Carey the only major federal court case in modern history involving the 3rd Amendment of the US Constitution ( the right that the military cannot quarter inside civilian homes)

Background of it is in aftermath of Attica prison riot of 1971 the state of New York started to reform their prison system. Upset by this in 1979 the New York Correctional Officer's Union went on strike. New York governor Hugh Carey then called on the New York National Guard to take over the state's prisons. At one of the prisons they had on property staff apartments, where Correctional Officers would pay discounted rent under a traditional lease. When the National Guard took over they evicted the striking officers from their apartments and used it for their own housing.

Two of the COs then sued the governor directly saying their 3rd amendments rights were violated. It got to the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd District in 1982 where it went to a 2-1 decision that state controlled National Guard troops quartering in apartments during peacetime violates the 3rd Amendment.

 

Not today but recently I learned about Picher, Oklahoma, a tiny town in the far northeast corner of the state that was once of the biggest mining areas in the country but is now one of a few places that have been evacuated and deemed uninhabitable due to all of the pollution from the mines

Picher, Oklahoma - Wikipedia

 

@angrycandy you should know that I learned about this because I saw a reddit comment about "the chat piles in Picher" and I was like wait, what exactly IS a chat pile?

 

and here I thought the most toxic town in America was where ever my ex-wife was living, let me tell ya

 

yil sharks predate both trees and dinosaurs

 

til that fortune cookies were invented in the United States

 

There are so many of these casualties related to fossil fuel extraction. I recently learned about a town in Louisiana that became a sink hole because a petroleum company mined underneath it to store their petrochemicals. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayou_Corne_sinkhole

 

Trees??!!

 

yes trees

 

TIL world champion figure skater Michelle Kwan is currently the US ambassador to Belize.

 

TIL Michelle Kwan never won an Olympic gold medal

 

Big day for you huh