TIL that, with a population of 33,600, San Marino is the smallest country by population to have won an Olympic medal. Only 5 athletes from San Marino were sent at the 2020 Olympics and 3 of them won medals [source, comments]

TIL Kurt Cobain tracked down The Raincoats, an all-female, obscure post-punk band that had long stopped performing , because he loved their music and was set to tour with them, but he died right before it kicked off. [source, comments]

TIL Despite having the Great Pyramid of Giza built during his reign, the the only known surviving intact depiction of pharaoh Khufu himself is a small 7.5 cm tall statuette [source, comments]

TIL many of the McDonald's Monopoly prizes stay unclaimed. In 2018, 25 million instant food prizes were offered in the United Kingdom promotion, but only 8 million prizes were claimed overall. Out of 20 Mini Coopers offered, only 6 were claimed. [source, comments]

TIL that in the 1990s, Indian vulture numbers began to decline, but no one knew why. Populations fell by over 99.5% before it was discovered that livestock treated with the drug diclofenac were causing lethal kidney failure in vultures [source, comments]

TIL that the chair of the Somali Athletics Committee was suspended from her position for "nepotism and defaming the name of the nation", after she selected her untrained niece to compete in the 100-meter race at the 2021 World University Games, where she finished 10 seconds behind the leader [source, comments]

TIL that in the 30th year of a pharaoh's reign, a jubilee known as Heb-Sed would take place which required the pharaoh to run in a ceremonial course in order to prove that he was still fit to rule over Egypt. [source, comments]

TIL Grocery stores charge food companies and manufacturers a fee for product placement on shelves in their stores, called a Slotting Fee. Many grocers earn more profit from agreeing to carry a manufacturer's product than they do from actually selling the product to retail consumers. [source, comments]

TIL that the childhood game Jackpot, in which a ball is thrown into the air for multiple people to catch, has an antecedent (Ourania) that dates back to at least the 2nd Century AD in Greece [source, comments]

TIL the man who created, wrote, directed and produced the Nickelodeon TV series Hey Arnold! (Craig Bartlett) is the brother-in-law of Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons. [source, comments]

TIL One of the first recorded uses of the F-word is in old English plea rolls to arrest a man known as "Roger Fuckebythenavele" [source, comments]

TIL of the Zebra Murders. A group of four African American serial killers collaborated to kill anywhere from 15 to 70+ white individuals in San Francisco Bay Area [source, comments]

TIL: The Navajo never speak about the deceased. As of tradition, a chindi is a miasma left behind after a person dies, if one made contact with it, it can cause illness. [source, comments]

TIL from 2003 to 2010, the TV Land Awards presented a "Future Classic Award" to a contemporary television show. The winners in order were: American Dreams, Arrested Development, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, The Office, Two and a Half Men, and Glee. [source, comments]

TIL that Leonardo DiCaprio auditioned for the role of Max in Hocus Pocus, even meeting director Kenny Ortega after he was impressed by his audition. He ended up not getting the role due to filming What's Eating Gilbert Grape, for which he would receive his first Oscar nomination. [source, comments]

TIL that the first video game ever created, *Tennis for Two*, was developed in 1958 by physicist William Higinbotham. It was a simple two-player tennis simulation displayed on an oscilloscope, and predates *Pong* by almost 15 years. [source, comments]

TIL In 2023, a Japanese YouTuber set up a system that allowed his fish to play Pokemon games on stream. At one point, the game crashed but continued responding to the fish's input. The fish navigated to the Nintendo store and successfully charged 500 yen ($3.85) to his credit card. [source, comments]

TIL of Ol’ Rip, a horned toad who was entombed in a time capsule in Texas in 1897 and allegedly emerged alive 31 years later, thereafter becoming a national celebrity [source, comments]

TIL the Dodgers and Giants baseball teams originally started in New York. When they relocated to California, leaving NYC without a National League franchise, a new team was started, the Mets. The Mets then adopted the blue of the Dodgers and the orange of the Giants [source, comments]

TIL the Toronto Blue Jays have been owned by Rogers Communications since 2000. The Blue Jays and the Atlanta Braves are the only two MLB teams under corporate ownership. The Braves are owned by Liberty Media. [source, comments]