50 Interesting Things People Didn’t Learn At School And Decided To Share Them In This Online Group (New Pics)
Nobody has all the answers. Except for the internet.
Today I Learned, or "TIL," is a subreddit for people to share tidbits of information that may not be widely known, but that others may find fascinating. Often with accompanying pictures, too.
While these factoids may not be newsworthy or highly beneficial to our everyday lives, they at least produce a genuine "Oh, I didn't know that, how cool!"
About every two weeks, we at Bored Panda go through the subreddit and handpick a selection of posts we find to be the most interesting and worthy of your time. Below, you will find what we have in store for you this time. To view our earlier pieces on the subreddit, go here, here, and here.
This post may include affiliate links.
TIL In the 1936 Olympics two Japanese pole vaulters (Shuhei Nashida & Sueo Oe) tied for second. Declined to compete against each other, Nashida was awarded silver and Oe bronze. On return to Japan they had the medals cut in two & joined together to make two 'friendship medals' out of silver & bronze
TIL a homeless man found a 10 000$ check on the street meant for a real estate broker and found a way to return it. So, touched, the broker awarded him a place to live and arranged for a job interview. A year later, he was on the board of directors of one of their foundations.
TIL During World War II, an American lieutenant, realizing his position was inundated with enemy troops, called in an artillery barrage on himself. Following a US counterattack later that day, the lieutenant's body was found alongside approximately 100 German soldiers. His name was John R. Fox.
And he didn't get honors until 1996 when his family was awarded his medals and compensation they should have received long time ago.
TIL When his owner died in August 1936, Shep the Dog followed the casket to the railroad station and watched it being loaded onto a train heading to the eastern US. For six years until his own death, he would greet every train that arrived each day, expecting his master to return.
TIL that on October 18, 1963 French scientists launched a rocket into space, containing a cat named Felicette. She orbited close to 100 miles above earth, then descended safely to the ground via a special parachute. Felicette has the high honor of being the only cat launched into space thus far.
TIL Nordic countries have a "Freedom to Roam", allowing people to enjoy all nature regardless of ownership (within reason)
TIL Michael Jackson was a virtuoso composer, despite being unable to read music or play instruments well. He wrote the parts to his songs by singing and beatboxing into a tape recorder. “He would sing us an entire string arrangement, every part. Had it all in his head, harmony and everything."
TIL that in 1986 an astronomer trying to trace a 75 cent computer time discrepancy for 10 months eventually found a German hacker selling defense secrets to the KGB
TIL spiders tune their webs like guitar strings, tightening and loosening strands so they can read the different frequencies caused by intruders and determine where/how big the intruders are, if they are predator or prey, or if they’re just a potential mate flirtatiously strumming their strings.
TIL Neuroscientists have found evidence to suggest feeling powerful dampens a part of our brain that helps with empathy. Even a small amount of power can have this effect on someone
TIL about the Japanese national pillow fighting tournament. The pillow fighters start by pretending to sleep on futons. But when the whistle sounds, they spring to their feet and race to get a pillow. A mix between dodgeball and chess, teams throw pillows at each other while protecting the 'King'.
TIL when former NFL safety Dave Duerson took his life he left a note that read, “Please see that my brain is given to the NFL’s brain bank.” He shot himself in the chest rather than his head so as to preserve his brain. Doctors confirmed that he was suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
Can we rename the game "Spinal Battering Ram" instead of football, considering the percentage involved in the former far exceeds the latter?
TIL Nic Cage once crashed a Nic Cage film festival, watched 4 of his own films, did a 47-minute Q&A and read a 10-minute short story
Today I learned Dana Carvey underwent heart bypass surgery for a blocked coronary artery, but the surgeon operated on the wrong artery. Eventually he won a lawsuit against the hospital and won 7.5 million dollars, all of which was donated to charity.
TIL when sonar was first invented, operators were puzzled by the appearance of a ‘false seafloor’ that changed depth with the time of day and amount of moonlight. It was eventually identified as a previously unknown layer of billions of lanternfish that reflect sonar waves and migrate up and down.
I know this comment adds absolutely nothing but that is really really cool
TIL Charles Barkley was the first black baby born at a segregated, all-white town hospital in Leeds, Alabama and was in the first group of black students at his elementary school.
TIL Owls’ ears are placed asymmetrically – at different heights on the sides of their faces – so the sounds reach each ear at different times. This is essential to identifying the exact direction of their prey.
TIL Poland sent the US a birthday card with 5.5 million signatures to mark the 150th anniversary of the US in 1926.
TIL that in 1948 the Nobel Committee did not award the Nobel Peace Prize on the grounds that “there was no suitable living candidate”, implying that Mahatma Gandhi would have received it if it were not for his assassination earlier that year.
The more I read about Gandhi's life, the less I feel he deserved it. The more I read about who have been awarded Nobel Peace Prize, I feel it would have not been outrageous to award him. He was good at speeches that mobilized people but he had a "my way or highway" kinda attitude. Despite his powers, he did little to stop partition of India or the manner it was done, which eventually resulted in the death of millions.
TIL there is such a thing as Earl Grey tea intoxication, where drinking 4L per day causes extensive muscle cramps and blurred vision. Cutting down to 1-2L makes the symptoms go away.
Not sure who's drinking a LITER of tea per day, much less FOUR. Seriously, how did they find this out?
I easily drink a liter of tea a day. And well over a liter of water as well.
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Seems like something he should've warned us about.
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It's the bergamot orange oil intoxication, which is added to the tea.
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Mine too. I can't get enough (which probably explains the cramps).
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Captain ... (errr Admiral?) Picard must be careful... well at least his close with the doctor; that must help.
A descendant of that Earl Grey became the Governour-General of Canada and gave a trophy to the best football team in Canada one year. It is called the Grey Cup. Lord Stanley, a previous GG, gave a similar cup to the best hockey team in Canada.
Easiest thing in the world to drink 1 litre of tea - ask any UK citizen!!!
Anything I drink 4L/day makes me sick; not specific to Earl Grey I guess
Earl Grey specifically. That's why this is misleading... It's the bergamot oil that gives you toxicity in excess. Only proper Earl Grey tea has the real stuff. They do make Earl Grey tea with fake Bergamot essence that won't do this, too.
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Most kinds of teas have theanine which is basically caffeine. So imagine drinking lots of regular coffee - you'll get shivers, nausea, your heart will go too fast. Same thing with tea (of course it will depend on a type and how strong it will be), what you feel are basically symptoms of overdose.
That's not why though. It's because Bergamot oil (which is in earl grey tea) is somewhat toxic.
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Cannot stomach this tea. It contains bergamot. Which is precisely what causes the muscle cramps and vision issues.
It's delicious with milk. I used to hate it too, especially Twinings (it's too floral) but then I tried fancy pants Earl Grey in Singapore and it was beautifully balanced and was amazing. I'm a fan now. (The two best brand I've ever had are TWG and Jing... Jing is better but not by much)
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TIL that in 1648 an angry mob of Parisians once broke into the royal palace, demanding to see the king. They were led into the bedchamber of Louis XIV, who was pretending to be asleep. Satisfied, the mob quietly departed.
TIL in the 1900s the Austerlitz family in Omaha, Lutheran German emigrants, moved to New York City in hopes of finding fortune through their children's vaudeville talents. The son wore a top hat and studied tango, waltz, and other ballroom dances. He would become Fred Astaire.
Fred's sister Adele was also a big star in their stage act. She married a younger son of the Duke of Devonshire and became the sister-in-law of Kathleen Kennedy and Deborah Mitford.
TIL Hummingbirds are one of the fastest animals on Earth relative to their body size. They can cover more body lengths per second than any other vertebrate and for their size can outpace fighter jets and the space shuttle – all while withstanding g-forces that would make a fighter pilot blackout.
TIL many people in ancient Rome who were among the educated elite were aware that lead was poisonous and some of these people even tried to make others aware of this.
TIL Baby horses are born with "feathers", AKA faery fingers or golden slippers (real name eponychium). They protect the mother's uterus during gestation and birth canal during parturition from damage from the otherwise sharp and dangerous hoof kicks. They harden and fall off very soon after birth.
TIL When the doctor Alois Alzheimer wanted to share in a meeting his findings of the Alzheimer patology, the attendees where uninteresed and skipped the questions because they were hurried to go to the next talk that was about "compulsive masturbation".
Years later they all suffered from Alzheimer pathology, and the only activity they would remember and practice properly was compulsive masturbation.
TIL that when the allied forces were at the edge of the city, Hitler ordered the destruction of Paris. The Nazi commander of Paris couldn’t bring himself to execute the order and surrendered the city a few days later.
TIL that In 1979, two families escaped East Germany in a homemade hot air balloon. They flew for 28 minutes at −8 °C with no shelter as the gondola was just a clothesline railing. They landed just 10km from the border. The escape was planned out over 1 and 1/2 years and took 3 attempts.
TIL that P.T. Barnum's famous elephant Jumbo got his name from the Swahili word for chief. It was the elephant who caused the word "jumbo" to mean something large - not the other way around.
.My SOs great great great grandfather started J&P Coats Thread Co. in Coats NC. it was later bought out and created Coats and Clark thread which was the largest sewing thread producer in the world for a very long time. This was an ad from the extremely early days and actually does depict "Jumbo" (see the little notation) and in fact reflects the public fascination with elephants at the time. (Yes I was corrected by SO, this ad is in his hometown museum!) If you notice the logo in the lower left this elephant is "restrained" by J&P COATS thread. This is the original logo!
TIL: The United States Department of Defense runs Linux. "In fact, the US Army is the single largest installed base for RedHat Linux and the US Navy nuclear submarine fleet runs on Linux"
TIL that guitarist Eddie Van Halen was half Indonesian, and that his family immigrated to the United States because of how badly his mixed-race parents were treated in the Netherlands.
TIL that there is more water in the vapor and clouds above the Amazon rainforest than there is in the Amazon river
TIL in Scandinavia the Kiruna to Narvik electrified railway carries iron ore down a steeply graded route. On the way down the trains generate large amounts of electricity by regenerative braking, which is sufficient to power the empty trains back up the track and pump excess energy into the grid.
The eMining AG "eDumper" mine truck uses exactly the same concept, and one truck saved 50k liters of diesel per year at a mine in Switzerland.
TIL that in 2016 a research ship was named The RRS Sir David Attenborough. An internet poll to suggest the name of the ship showed the actual winner was the name "Boaty McBoatface," but the Science Minister wanted a "more suitable name" and chose a different name from the poll's choices.
TIL that 10s of farmers die each year from Grain entrapment, which is when a person is partially or fully submerged in grain, and cannot get out without assistance. In 2019, 67 incidents of grain entrapment took place, of which 39 were fatal.
There has to be a way to prevent this from happening. Or is there a way and the farmers ignore it?
TIL of all the gold medals won by US swimmers in the history of the Olympics, nearly 10% were won by Michael Phelps. (23/246)
TIL in 1990 Marilyn vos Savant wrote about the "Monty Hall problem" in her column in Parade magazine, correctly answering the statistical brainteaser. Thousands wrote to her to insist she was wrong, including many people with PhDs. Mythbusters even confirmed she was right in a 2011 episode.
TIL that In 1889 a lion escaped from a travelling show in Birmingham and ran into the sewers. When an angry mob formed, Frank Bostock, the owner secretly snuck another lion out the back. He then returned with the lion clearly visible and was hailed a hero. The escaped lion was still in the sewers!
It took 500 members of the police force descending into the sewer , but the lion was recaptured 24 hours later. This particular lion (Wallace) escaped several times and killed at least three men and several horses while he was on the loose.
TIL about “formaldehyde hunger” a well-known phenomenon in anatomy labs where med students get hungry while dissecting cadavers, allegedly due to formaldehyde being an appetite stimulant.
TIL The population of Rio de Janeiro was so unsatisfied with its politicians during the election of 1988, that a well-known local monkey from a zoo received over 400,000 votes.
TIL that unlike terrestrial mammals, whales do not have a connected mouth and respiratory system. They do not and cannot breathe through their mouths.
TIL for centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jewish community in the world. Poland sheltered Jews persecuted and expelled from various European countries. About three-quarters of the world's Jews lived in Poland by the middle of the 16th century.
In Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth religious freedom was official since 1573, but practiced for centuries before that, because it was a multicultural country with people of different faiths (Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Jewish and Muslim). The King (Poland) and the Grand Duke (Lithuania) invited tradespeople and soldiers from other countries to immigrate for work, granting religious and cultural freedoms in exchange for having good workers.
TIL Elizabeth Swaney, a relatively amateur skier, was able to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympics halfpipe by accumulating points at qualifying events leading up to the Olympics by doing flawless yet completely simple routines, outscoring opponents who often would crash in their more-ambitious runs
This is how her performance looked:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e1eh4dk2b4&ab_channel=LesGoGoals
In comparison, this was the level of her competitors:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgIDsIdBTGo&ab_channel=Olympics
TIL Charles Dickens' father was imprisoned when he was boy for unpaid debts. At the age of 12, Dickens' was forced to leave school and work 10-hour long days at a warehouse for 6 shillings per day.
That would explain why most of his heroes started out poor or wen to debtors prison as in Little Dorrit
TIL that during the 1870s, 16 Black Members held seats in Congress—14 in the House, two in the Senate, and each one a Republican from the South with Hiram Revels of Mississippi having been appointed the first Black Senator in February 1870
That was because when this happened (BTW between 1866-1875, many White Southerners in certain states couldn't vote because they refused to take a loyalty oath to the US, so Southern States elected Black Members to Congress, their State Legislatures, even governors. Bascially most of the voters were Black People who were now free and elected other Black People. Once Whites got the vote back, things started to roll back.
TIL The only copies of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" and "Beowulf" are unique manuscripts that came from the same private library -- both were nearly destroyed in a fire in 1731.
TIL The famously large President Taft followed a weight loss program. Taft was in contact with Dr. Yorke-Davies for over twenty years and kept a daily record of his weight, food intake, and physical activity. Taft managed to go from 340 to 244 pounds and walked 3 miles to the Capitol every day.
Til the Ford Model T, of which Henry Ford famously said "Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black." was not painted black because it was cheaper, more the fact black paint dried quicker, speeding up the manufacturing process.
But speeding up the manufacturing process makes the process cheaper!?
TIL the opening crawl to Star Wars begins with a storybook-esque narration ("A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....") because George Lucas first imagined his films as stories being told by an ancient race of immortals. The immortals were written out for early films, but this vestige remained.
TIL the oldest woman to climb El Capitan is the mother of Alex Honnold (of Free Solo fame) who did it at the age of 66. Her first time in a climbing gym was when she was 57.
Um... guys, no offense, but does she have a first name? Just identifying her as "the mother of" seems a bit misogynist.
TIL Thomas Jefferson said that his Virginia Act for Establishing Religious Freedom was “meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew, the Gentile, the Christian and the Mahometan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination.” It's on his grave as 1 of 3 great accomplishments.
There are SO many Americans today who would not believe this. Sadly.
TIL sometimes Spitfires had to taxi to the take-off position with a person sat on the tail. In 1945 a pilot forgot about this and took-off with mechanic Margaret Horton clinging on the tail. The pilot realized that his aircraft wasn't handling correctly and landed with Miss Horton still on the tail
In the 1960s an engineer (who only had experience years before as a cadet flying single engine training aircraft) was conducting an engine test of a recently repaired RAF Lightning jet Mach 2 interceptor. He inadvertently activated the afterburner which due to an electical fault couldn't be turned off. He screeched down the runway, narrowly missing another aircraft, before realising the brakes would never overcome the power of the Mach 2 interceptor at full power. He decided the only thing he could do was take off. He took off, without a flight suit or a cockpit canopy and with the ejection seat disabled (ironically to prevent someone accidentally triggering it while on the ground!), he flew a circle of the airfield and after three attempts managed to safely land the aircraft. I imagine he was slightly stressed by that experience!
TIL that cavemen had relatively straight teeth and that crooked teeth are a modern phenomenon
Teeth get crooked because our teeth can't fit into our modern smaller jaws, so they push each other around. Our food intake has changed significantly and since we use our teeth differently now, our jaws got smaller. Cavemen's jaws were bigger, hence all the teeth fit well and should've been straight.
TIL that legendary jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald forgot the words to “Mac the Knife” when performing it live in Berlin and completely improvised the lyrics. She won a Grammy for the performance.
It's a brilliant recording. You can tell that at one point she gets the giggles, then sings about how she forgot the words. One of my favorites.
TIL that Nazi Germany made a New Testament Bible where they removed the genealogies of Jesus that showed his Davidic descent, removed Jewish names and places, but left any mention of Jews that showed them in a bad light, in an attempt to Aryanize Jesus.
TIL that many public libraries in the US participate in Inter Library Loan (ILL). That means you have access to virtually any book, journal,magazine or dvd held by any library in the country
Same in the UK. Our scheme is also backed by the British Library, which is a copyright library. In theory you should be able to obtain (or go to the BL to see it if it's really rare) a copy of ANY book ever published in modern times. It's an amazing thing when you think about it.
TIL, that a decapitated flatworm can regrow not only its head back entirely but also all of its old memories back with it.
TIL that in 1999, author of the Dilbert comic Scott Adams released “the blue jeans of food”: a microwave burrito he affectionately dubbed the Dilberito. The product tanked, with the creator himself later admitting that “three bites made you fart so hard your intestines formed a tail”.
TIL 50 years ago, Ham the chimp was launched into space, where he experienced up to 14.7g during a six-minute freefall. He survived his ocean splashdown (although he nearly drown before rescue crews arrived) and lived 20 more years at a zoo in Washington D.C.
TIL that a crocodile from Burundi named Gustave has killed as many as 300 people. He has evaded numerous capture and kill attempts, and has obtained near-mythical status in the region.
Why try and kill it? I presume most people in that area know his territory so they should just stay away. The croc isn't likely to be killing for fun, unlike humans. Just leave the croc alone. If it came to your house and killed you then I would understand a bit but not if it's in his own territory that people are invading.
TIL that In 1915, a man named Charles Hatfield convinced the town of San Diego that he could create rainfall using a secret mix of chemicals. The city offered to pay him $10,000 if he could end their drought, and the result, a few days later, was the town’s worst flood of the 20th century.
TIL that Stephen Hawking used a single cheek muscle to communicate. A sensor attached to his glasses detected these movements which in turn moved a cursor on a screen that utilized predictive text. Much of this text was personalised to Hawking and was based on phrases he had previously used
TIL that Military Chocolate was made to taste terrible on purpose, as to have the soldiers actually save it for emergencies instead of eating it prematurely.
Having tried Hershey's, I think this is something that's carried on to this day.
TIL actors were not looked upon highly in the Roman Empire, and were considered to be on the same social level as prostitutes.
That attitude continued for many centuries. In fact, 'famous' and 'celebrated' actors are essentially a thing since about the 1880's.
TIL the first reported successful blood transfusions were performed by the Incas as early as the 1500s. Spanish conquistadors witnessed blood transfusions when they arrived in the sixteenth century
TIL that Teddy Roosevelt enjoyed boxing while president. His sparring partner punched him so hard he lost vision in his eye for the rest of his life. Roosevelt never told the other man what had happened.
TIL: That seagrass can convert 20 times more carbon per acre than land forests.
And kelp forests around the world are disappearing at a alarming rate
TIL a Polynesian man named Tupaia drew an incredibly accurate map for Captain Cook, but it was misunderstood to be badly made and unusable. The map puzzled people for centuries until some researchers finally figured out how to use it correctly.
He was kind of awesome but because racism, wasn’t given credit until decades later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupaia_(navigator)
TIL Giraffes only need 5 to 30 minutes of sleep in a 24-hour period! They often achieve that in quick naps that may last only a minute or two at a time
TIL Ford originally wanted to unveil the 2021 Ford Bronco on July 9, 2020. However, the debut was rescheduled for July 13 when it was pointed out that July 9 is the birthday of O.J. Simpson.
TIL There was a mysterious culture in Eastern Europe between 5,500 to 2,700 BC which constructed sophisticated, organized, densely-populated settlements - only to burn them to the ground every 60-80 years to rebuild the same settlement as before
TIL that before Terry Crews was a football player or actor, he was a courtroom sketch artist. He covered the worst murder case in Flint, MI history.
TIL Stingray injuries are almost never fatal. When Steve Irwin was killed in a stingray attack in 2006, he was only the second reported fatality in Australia since 1945. Only one to two fatal attacks are reported each year worldwide.
Steve Irwin didn't have much of a chance seeing as he was stabbed in the heart with the stinger and ended up bleeding to death. You are more likely to die from severe infection than the actual toxin itself.
TIL that there are ancient languages that are considered untranslatable or ‘extinct’ because we have no descendant languages to use as a frame of reference for translation. One example is the Etruscan language of Italy that belonged to people who lived in Italy before the Romans.
TIL in the 1990’s, a group of Mazda engineers created a suitcase “car” from a large Samsonite suitcase and a pocket bike; the suitcase car took just a minute to assemble and had a top speed of 30 km/h (18.46 mph)
TIL the role of Hannibal Lecter was turned down by Sean Connery, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro & others. Silence of the Lambs would go on to be the 3rd film in history to win all "Big 5" Academy Awards & upon release in 1991 on VHS, became the most rented film in the United States.
TIL During the American Revolution at the Battle of Long Island, 400 Maryland Soldiers repeatedly attacked a superior British force in order to allow Gen. Washington’s army to escape total destruction. Washington said of them, “Good God, what brave fellows I must this day lose”.
There was no Battle of Long Island...Maybe you meant the Battle of Brooklyn? But the Marylanders held the Whitestone Pass, to allow for an alternate route if Washington got cut off from Manhattan, but he didnt and retreated to Manhattan from Brooklyn. They did hold the Whitestone Pass which kept many British troops tied down which were not used against Washington as a Result.
TIL that contrary to popular belief, sweating does not remove toxins from the body. Dehydration from excessive sweating can actually make it harder for your body to remove toxins.
TIL One study found that job seekers are more likely to be hired if they wear glasses to their interview. Several studies have shown that people who wear glasses are typically perceived as more intelligent, more competent, and more industrious than those without spectacles
TIL about Devin McLean, an Air Force veteran who saved his boss from an armed robber and was later fired by AutoZone for violating workplace policy.
Unfortunately doing anything to tackle or confront a robber is strictly against most workplace policies and this is a more common occurrence than one would wish.
TIL that despite being strongly associated with NASA and astronauts, freeze-dried ice cream was never taken on board any missions to space.
TIL that in 1981, the US Post Office issued an anti-alcoholism stamp that said "Alcoholism: You can beat it!" Though well intentioned, it was a huge flop mainly because it could look like the sender was sending a specific message to the recipient.
TIL the Statue of Liberty almost wasn't built in New York because the governor wouldn't use city funds to build its pedestal, but Joseph Pulitzer's newspaper articles inspired 160,000 people to donate. Though a majority of donations were less than $1, they raised over $100,000 in just five months.
Most donations were $0.01. There was a whole segment about it on Drunk History. Great show
TIL talk-show host Stephen Colbert half-jokingly ran for US President in the 2008 election. He stated that he would only he run if he received a sign, which came when Viggo Mortensen, who played Aragorn in Lord of the Rings, appeared on his show and gave him a replica of the the sword, 'Anduril'.
TIL In 1957 woman was struck by consecutive foul balls. First one broke her nose and the second broke her leg while being carried out on a stretcher.
TIL that the Moai (Easter Island Heads) were originally intricately carved before being weathered by wind. Some had holes for eyes made of coral and obsidian designed to awaken their power, and others had tophats for ceremonies. Island legend says a shaman awoke the first Moai and made them walk.
TIL of the German general Ferdinand Schörner, who at the end of World War II abandoned his army group to fly to Austria and personally surrender to the Americans, all to avoid capture by the Soviets. The Americans handed him to the Soviets.
The allies let the Russians deal with war criminals in a fast and inexpensive way. The Nurnberg trials were a demonstration to the world what happens with the elite of sadistic murderers.
TIL: The ADA exclusively recommends "soft" bristles for toothbrushes. Medium or firmer brushes are considered harmful because they can erode teeth enamel and damage your gums.
TIL that the rivalry between Manchester United and Liverpool began during the industrial revolution when Manchester built a canal to circumvent Liverpool to avoid paying fees for importing/exporting goods through their port.
TIL Over half of psychology studies fail reproducibility test
And yet you have to take some version of a Myers-Briggs to get a minimum wage job.
TIL if you scale the history of the universe to a single year, where the Big Bang happened at January 1st 00:00:00 and the present day is December 31st 23:59:59, all of recorded human history fits within the last 12 seconds
We are also closer in time to the T. Rex than the T. Rex is to the Stegosaurus.
TIL the 1970 Guess Who song "No Sugar Tonight" was created when the band's guitarist saw a tough biker in a California intersection getting yelled at by his girlfriend for not taking out the trash and leaving her with the kids. She added, "And one more thing, you ain't getting no sugar tonight."
According to Burton Cummings, as Randy Bachman had written "New Mother Nature" which was in the same key as "No Sugar Tonight", they decided to make one song, while keeping each of the song's names. So, "No Sugar Tonight" is actually called "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature"
TIL of Mikhail Devyataev, a Soviet fighter pilot who in Feb 1945 escaped a Nazi concentration camp near Peenemünde with nine other POWs by taking over the commandant's He 111 bomber. The NKVD didn't believe his story and classified him as a criminal, but in 1957 he became a Hero of the Soviet Union.
TIL Winston Churchill's mom was an "American dollar princess" from Brooklyn who had a snake tattoo on her wrist!
Dollar Princesses", were wealthy American heiresses hoping to infiltrate the upper echelons of the British imperial elite by marriage.
TIL prior to making Clerks, Kevin Smith would see how many credit cards he was able to approved for, competing for the most active cards against his friends. Those credit cards stayed mostly unused until production of Clerks had begun, and would up being maxed out for the production.
He was also the sole worker for the video store he worked at. When the credit card companies called his place of employment to verify his income he stated he was the owner and the amount was correct. Snoogins
TIL James Murray Spangler (1848–1915), a salesman and janitor, invented the first commercially successful portable electric vacuum cleaner that revolutionized household carpet cleaning. His device was the first to use both a cloth filter bag and cleaning attachments. His invention was patented 1908.
TIL: It only took one week in 2000 for the Olympic Village to run out of 70,000 condoms. Olympians have been shown to have need for more and more condoms as the years go by, requiring over 100,000 in 2012.
TIL Thomas Jefferson sent a giant moose carcass to Paris to prove that America’s animals were bigger than Europe’s
TIL Mariah Carey wrote and recorded a secret grunge album under the pseudonym "Chick" because Sony thought it would ruin her image
TIL Alcatraz's prison guards created the myths about man eating sharks and deadly waters of San Francisco to discourage prisoners from escaping. There is only one recorded shark fatality in San Francisco in 1959
Because telling prisoners about freezing water, strong tides and disorienting fog wasn't obviously enough to stop them from trying to escape.
Today I learned that the CIA secretly owned a Swiss company called Crypto AG that maintained offices all over the world and sold products with secret backdoors for the US government and key allies.
TIL Screenwriter Tom Schulman was hired to rewrite the script for Honey I Shrunk the Kids, given only 7 days to overhaul it from a drama into a comedy.
TIL that, in order for the British Army to legally exist, Parliament must pass an act every 5 years. This stems from the Bill of Rights 1689, which forbade a standing army in time of peace without Parliamentary approval.
TIL that Alaska is not least populated state of the US. It has more people than Vermont and Wyoming.
In fact, Washington DC (population 705,749) also has more people than either Vermont (623,989) or Wyoming (578,759), however they have no vote, nor any representation in the US Congress.
TIL of Alfred Wintle, a British officer in World War 1 who tried to escape hospital disguised as a nurse. Although he successfully attended a women-only dance in the nurses' quarters, he was caught as he forgot to take off his monocle.
TIL that Bethesda set up a challenge that would reward any couple free Bethesda games for life if they gave birth on Skyrim's 11/11/11 release date and named the baby Dovahkiin. One couple took up that challenge and their son's now called Dovahkiin Tom Kellermeyer
TIL Martin Luther enrolled at the University of Erfurt at age 17 to study law which he described as a "beerhouse and whorehouse". He gave up law for philosophy but eventually left university altogether, sold his books, & became a monk.
And a true preacher of hate! The hero worshippery about him is actually quite irritating, if you know about books he wrote, like "About the jews and their lies". A lot of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" was taken from Martin Luther. Self-righteous, full of hate for ... farmers, women, non-christians of any kind, and a lot of his fellow christians, too. Erasmus of Amsterdam, another reformer of that time, was actually disgusted about him. Rightfully so.
TIL that famous computer hacker Kevin Mitnick only wound up in jail originally because a "friend" was pissed that Mitnick beat him at a $150 bet. | After being bested, Mitnick's then-friend was so angry about losing that he called the FBI and blew Mitnick in.
Holy crap! One of the best characters from the video game Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines is a hacker Nosferatu called Mitnick! I never realized who he was named after! I am so happy to know this now.
TIL in 1816, 147 shipwrecked Frenchman were stuck adrift on a makeshift raft when their captain cut the rope towing them. It took only 3 days for them to resort to cannibalism & only 15 survived to be rescued after 13 days. The aristocrat captain hadn't sailed in 20 yrs & it was 100% avoidable.
FYI. The French frigate Méduse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_M%C3%A9duse_(1810)
TIL farts don’t dissipate easily in space and a particularly smelly astronaut, while in the space shuttle’s middeck, would position his butt next to an air hose that led to the ISS and fire away. He called it “sending emails” to the ISS
TIL that during WWII, the US military developed a manual to sabotage German corporations, with tips such as "Do your work poorly and blame it on bad tools. Work slowly. Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible. Spread rumors. Haggle over precise wordings. Never permit short-cuts."
"Do your work poorly and blame it on bad tools. Work slowly. Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible. Spread rumors. Haggle over precise wordings. Never permit short-cuts." hmmm ......sounds like the Senate
TIL in the 80’s and 90’s, the LAPD set up a task force to look into the possibility of an active serial killer they dubbed the “Southside Slayer”. In reality, they had 4 or 5 active serial killers.
Always wondered if a serial killer has unknowingly killed another serial killer.
TIL Marco Polo became Kublai Khan's diplomat at 21 years old. One of his journeys included 2-year voyage from China to the Persian Gulf where of 600 men, only 18 survived. Altogether, throughout his life he traveled almost 15,000 miles or 24,000 km.
TIL Steve Jobs purchased a company from George Lucas in 1986, named it "Pixar", and its first client after being incorporated was Disney.
TIL that the white rind of a watermelon, between the pink flesh and green skin, is loaded with nutrients and just as healthy as the commonly eaten pink flesh.
TIL Truman was among the poorest U.S. presidents, with a net worth much less than $1 million. His financial situation contributed to the doubling of the presidential salary to $100,000 in 1949. In addition, the presidential pension was created in 1958 when Truman was again having financial hardship.
If the media is to be believed Trump's perceived wealth is smoke and mirrors.
TIL a woman named Pamela Kreimeyer died at a gender reveal party after her family members filled a steel umbrella stand with gun powder, but instead of it emitting a shower of sparks, the metal pipe could not take the overpressure; acting like a pipe bomb.
TIL after an obese umpire died during a game, Major League Baseball decided to enforce weight limits. In 1999 under this policy, umpire Eric Gregg was fined $5,000 for exceeding 300lbs.
TIL of Labi Siffre. Dr. Dre wanted to sample his 1970s song "I got the..." for Eminem's "My Name Is" but Siffre, openly gay, initially refused, demanding sexist and homophobic lyrics be removed. Dre and Eminem made changes and the song became a massive hit.
TIL the man who invented the modern theory about oxygen and combustion, Antoine Lavoisier, was guillotined in 1794 during the French Revolution:
This is what happens when only independently wealthy people can practice science
TIL that in 2016, Live Nation admitted that less than 1/3 of tickets for a popular tour were available to fans | When The Tragically Hip announced their final tour, 2/3 of tickets were sold to brokers and more were held for industry guests.
This made people so angry it threatened a revision of the way tickets were sold. It also made people angry at the government, who had allowed it to happen
TIL that the human foot is uniquely advantageous for endurance running. Having entirely front-facing and short toe length decreases the amount of mechanical work required to push off the ground, thereby reducing the metabolic cost.
That is our "thing". The reason we survived. Lions hunt, birds fly, we run. Not fast, but long enough to outpace our prey.
TIL that when US Pres. John Tyler refused to toe the Whig party line in 1841, his cabinet resigned one by one and the Whigs expelled him from their party. He served the majority of his term as "a man without a party."
Gee, I wish Mitch McConnell had had the cojones to do the same in 2017. sigh.
TIL After Peter the Great mandated that all officers in his army must have started their career as privates, noble families began to register newborn boys as privates. First reporting for service at the age of 15, the boys were then promoted through seniority to junior lieutenant or equivalent rank
TIL President William Henry Harrison used to do his own grocery shopping at the local market, and was known to invite people he met there to have breakfast with him at the White House. The practice stopped when people seeking jobs in the new administration began harassing him.
TIL of the Heart Attack Grill restaurant in Las Vegas, which serves high fat/sugar food. Customers wear hospital gowns, waitresses are dressed as nurses, and customers over 350lb in weight eat for free. There is in fact a history of people dying there from cardiac arrest.
Such a bad idea. Offering free food to someone severely obese is appalling. Yes it is the individuals choice to eat it, but where is the companies accountability for encouraging it.
TIL the explosion that led to the Chernobyl nuclear accident was chemical, driven by gases and steam generated by the core runaway, not by nuclear reactions. No commercial nuclear reactor contains a high enough concentration of U-235 or plutonium to cause a nuclear explosion.
Youre splitting hairs.the heat that caused the explosion came from run away uncontrolled nuclear reactions.
I love how these are always called "Things I didn't learn in school" as if school was supposed to teach you about Nicholas Cage, etc.
I totally agree with you. I am a teacher and I am SO tired of this. Children are at school 24h per week. So 144 hours per week at home. We teach French, Maths, English, History, Geography, Sport, Music, Arts, Sciences. And of course social behaviour because they do not learned at home how to say "good morning, thanks, please". So sorry we do not have time to teach them everything else.
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Is there a setting I'm missing for the bored panda app? This has no pics for me. It's just the text.
John. When you are reading the captions there is a little chain link at the bottom of it. Press on that and it will take you to the story and any pictures if there are any included.
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C'mon Bored Panda, stop recycling other internet sites' content! I subscribe to Reddit's TIL and read it several times a day. Most of these have been lifted from there and in pretty much the same order.
Way up at the top, Bored Panda specifically says they get this stuff from Reddit's "TIL" subreddit. Guess you missed that part so, I copy/pasted it here just for you: About every two weeks, we at Bored Panda go through the subreddit and handpick a selection of posts we find to be the most interesting and worthy of your time. Below, you will find what we have in store for you this time. To view our earlier pieces on the subreddit, go here, here, and here.
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I find it immensely frustrating to have to read 'TIL' at the beginning of every single fact. It's just not necessary -_-
I love how these are always called "Things I didn't learn in school" as if school was supposed to teach you about Nicholas Cage, etc.
I totally agree with you. I am a teacher and I am SO tired of this. Children are at school 24h per week. So 144 hours per week at home. We teach French, Maths, English, History, Geography, Sport, Music, Arts, Sciences. And of course social behaviour because they do not learned at home how to say "good morning, thanks, please". So sorry we do not have time to teach them everything else.
Load More Replies... Is there a setting I'm missing for the bored panda app? This has no pics for me. It's just the text.
John. When you are reading the captions there is a little chain link at the bottom of it. Press on that and it will take you to the story and any pictures if there are any included.
Load More Replies... C'mon Bored Panda, stop recycling other internet sites' content! I subscribe to Reddit's TIL and read it several times a day. Most of these have been lifted from there and in pretty much the same order.
Way up at the top, Bored Panda specifically says they get this stuff from Reddit's "TIL" subreddit. Guess you missed that part so, I copy/pasted it here just for you: About every two weeks, we at Bored Panda go through the subreddit and handpick a selection of posts we find to be the most interesting and worthy of your time. Below, you will find what we have in store for you this time. To view our earlier pieces on the subreddit, go here, here, and here.
Load More Replies... I find it immensely frustrating to have to read 'TIL' at the beginning of every single fact. It's just not necessary -_-
