TIL that in 1979, computers at NORAD indicated a large scale Soviet nuclear attack was underway. American nuclear forces were placed on highest alert and prepared for nuclear war. It turned out to be a false alarm caused by a technician mistakenly loading a training tape into the compute [Source]

TIL Conquistadors were so into chivalric romances and fantasy novels that they named places in the new world based off characters from these stories, such as California and the Amazon [Source]

TIL during the American Civil War the Confederacy frequently had to sustain themselves on dog meat; the first to be consumed would be the horses, then the mules, and lastly the dogs. [Source]

TIL the first 100k copies of Tiger Woods 99 PGA Tour Golf for PS1 contained the South Park short film "Jesus vs. Santa" within the disc's files. One could watch it by viewing the contents via a PC, where it was seemingly intended to be a dummy file. This lead to a recall of those copies! [Source]

TIL that citizens sent Ulysses S. Grant more than 10,000 boxes of cigars as gratitude after a victory at the Battle of Shiloh. He died of throat cancer in 1885. [Source]

TIL in 1888, German inventor Karl Benz asked the Grand Duchy of Baden for written permission to drive his "Motorwagen" on public roads after residents complained about the smell and noise. Grand Ducal authorities agreed and issued him the world's first driver's licence. [Source]

TIL it is not known why the letters in the alphabet are ordered the way they are, but the order of the letters has remained consistent since Proto-Sinaitic script of the 14th century BC, which began with the characters "alp" and "bet." [Source]

TIL according to a University of Swansea study, high-pressure showers actually reduce water usage by up to 56% [Source]

TIL Michael McKean, who famously played Chuck McGill in "Better Call Saul" and David St. Hubbins in "This Is Spinal Tap", is currently one of the highest-earning game show contestants of all time, having accumulated $1,115,400 during his appearances on Celebrity Jeopardy! in 2010. [Source]

TIL Krakatoa's eruption was estimated to be at 310 dB, the loudest sound ever. Well above the typical max sound limit of 194 dB [Source]

TIL that in 1917, over 10,000 African Americans marched in total silence down New York’s Fifth Avenue to protest lynching. It was one of the first mass civil rights protests in U.S. history, yet it is rarely mentioned in standard textbooks. [Source]

TIL Humans rank above meerkats but below beavers in monogamy league table. [Source]

TIL about Joan Ginther, a Stanford statistician who won $21 million by winning the lottery FOUR times. Calculated to be a "1 in 18 septillion" event, a number with 24 zeros. [Source]

TIL North America had native bamboo forests that stretched from New York down to Florida, and as far west as Ohio across to Texas. [Source]

TIL Marie Kondo (the cleaning guru) is only 4'7 (140cm) tall [Source]

TIL that East Germany required their citizens to leave behind a close relative as "collateral", essentially a hostage, when traveling to West Germany to decrease the chance of defection. [Source]

TIL that the United States already has a 1,000-person ballroom available for the President's use. [Source]

TIL the Lewis and Clark expedition had a medical kit that contained fifty dozen laxatives pills know as "thunderclappers" that contained over 50% mercury. This high mercury content was once even used by archeologists to verify a campsite of the expedition. [Source]

TIL that the Y chromosome can disappear with age. About 35% of men aged 70 years old are missing a Y chromosome in some of their cells, with the degree of loss ranging between 4% and 70%. [Source]

TIL ValuJet Airlines, an ultra low cost carrier in the 1990s, was notorious for its dangerous cost-cutting measures. In a span of 2 years from 1994-1996, the airline saw 129 emergency landings & an accident rate 14 times higher than legacy airlines of the era. [Source]

TIL California miners planted a skull to prank a geologist they disliked. In 1866, Josiah Whitney announced it as proof humans existed in North America two million years ago. Whitney never accepted the hoax, even after a fluorine analysis—the first done on human bone—showed it was of recent origin. [Source]