42 New Facts From The ‘Today I Learned’ Community That Don’t Disappoint (New Facts)
Now that autumn (or fall for our fellow Americans) is approaching and evenings are getting longer, you might lack inspiration for fun activities to avoid the looming seasonal blues. So we suggest you gather your family and/or friends for an ultimate trivia soirée!
We even took care of compiling a bunch of fresh and fascinating facts from the ‘Today I Learned’ community that are perfect for quizzing even your most knowledgeable close ones. Scroll down to find them below, and don’t forget to upvote the ones that would tie you in a knot during a trivia night.
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TIL Eminem once turned down a joint tour with Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg that would've been worth $100m (£80.2m) collectively. He said no because the lengthy tour wouldn't allow him to see his daughter Hailie for a long period of time. He said "I just don’t want to go on tour & come back & Hailie's grown"
TIL an entire squad of Marines managed to get past an AI powered camera, "undetected". Two somersaulted for 300m, another pair pretended to be a cardboard box, and one guy pretended to be a bush. The AI could not detect a single one of them.
TIL the mobile game "Send Me to Heaven" involved throwing your phone as high in the air as you can. The creator made it with the hope of destroying as many iPhones as possible, but Apple banned it from the App Store.
If we haven’t yet convinced you to start organizing a trivia night with your close ones, you should hear about all the benefits that it has to offer.
"I would say that trivia nights help increase a person's confidence in their intellect. So many times, players will say, 'I'm no good at trivia,' but then they are the person on their team who came through with the one clutch answer that helped them win the game. So if you want to feel smarter, come to trivia!" Brianna Liestman, the brand engagement director behind Trivia Mafia, previously told Bored Panda.
Trivia Mafia is a bar operation based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, known to produce the highest-quality quiz nights in bars, taprooms, distilleries, and private events. How fun!
TIL that in 1792, 400,000 British people gave up sugar to boycott slavery when the UK population was at 6 million
TIL Car mufflers and firearm silencers function based on the exact same principles and were both developed by the same inventor
TIL: the roof on an oil storage tank is not attached to the walls, but floats on the surface of the oil to avoid creating a space for flammable vapors to accumulate and explode.
I had to check the volume in those types of tanks back in the 1960's during the annual stocktake. It wasn't a fun job to do in Winter with the oil Company's Installation being located on the wharves. Even less fun when you climbed the outside metal stairway to the top of the tank & discovered the roof was floating well below you, necessitating climbing backwards down a dodgy ladder. Once on the roof, which moved slightly but disconcertingly under your weight, you had to check a gauge, make a note of the volume level then climb out again. Two 4-person teams would stocktake the entire Installation over a weekend & compare records at the end of each day. Any differences had to be be physically checked again by a member of each team. The one positive was that the overtime payment amount was significant
"Personally, I think participating in trivia helps boost memory and recall. I often receive messages from my players telling me facts and anecdotes that they were reminded of by one of my questions,” said Brie Zulkiewicz, host of trivia events at bars and birthday parties, work events, and even weddings.
TIL that being awake for 20 hours is equivalent to being drunk enough to be forbidden from driving.
TIL That Decca declined signing The Beatles in 1962. "Guitar groups are on their way out" and "the Beatles have no future in show business. "
TIL on one occasion, Jeffrey Dahmer accidentally consumed the drink laced with sleeping pills that was intended for his guest. When he awoke the following day, he discovered that his potential victim had stolen several items of clothing, $300, & a watch. He never officially reported the incident.
And that’s not all! Participating in a trivia night can be a great stress reliever, too. Taking your mind off whatever is causing you anxiety or stress and focusing on the game offers a great distraction. Playing and especially winning in a relaxed environment can release a rush of dopamine into your brain, making you feel excited, satisfied, and even euphoric. All the more reason to play!
TIL that there are giant concrete arrows placed every 10 miles across the U.S., stretching from New York City to San Francisco. They were originally built to help USPS airmail pilots navigate coast-to-coast before modern instruments made visual navigation obsolete.
TIL that, of the ninety-nine emperors of the Roman Empire (and later the Western Roman Empire), around 54-69 of them were murdered or committed s****de. That is a 55-70% mortality rate from murder or s****de.
TIL During the SARS-CoV-1 outbreak in 2004, a Taiwanese woman took a bath in 40.5% ethanol in the belief that it would protect her from the virus. She absorbed the ethanol through her skin and died of ethanol poisoning.
Now that we’ve probably convinced you to host a trivia night, the trivia experts have a few tips on how to make it the best it can be. Brianna from Trivia Mafia suggests that the most important thing that makes it successful is the quality of the questions.
"Trivia Mafia's approach to trivia is to avoid too many 'either you know it or you don't' questions. We write round themes, and those theme descriptions are often really helpful in giving players a clue as to what the answer to a question could be.
For instance, at a recent trivia night, I am the kind of person who is hopeless with sports knowledge. But because I knew just enough about major players in baseball and I knew the rules of the round, I was able to get the answer."
TIL that photographer Robert Landsburg sacrificed his life in an attempt to save his photos during the Mount St. Helens eruption. He laid on top of his film, letting the volcanic ash cover him. Seventeen days later, his body and the preserved photos were recovered and used to document the eruption.
Sacrificed his life for photos seems a bit dramatic. He took the photos, realized he couldn’t outrun his fate and made a decision to do his best to preserve his last works in his life. Which is noble but not sacrificial
TIL Dog hair is up to 80% warmer than wool but not elastic.
I bought a book about spinning dog hair into yarn, it was called Why wear something from a sheep you've never met. Made me want to set up a husky grooming business 😂
TIL about Bir Tawil, an 800-square-mile area of land between Egypt and Sudan that is terra nullius (land belonging to no one) because both countries refuse to claim it. Claiming Bir Tawil would legally force them to give up their claim on the more valuable Hala'ib Triangle.
I claim it! And as the national anthem I'll take the tune of Woody Woodpecker. Tidelideedee
Other things Brianna finds crucial for an enjoyable trivia night are an engaging host and the pace of the game.
“Our games are typically 90-120 minutes, and our hosts have flexibility within that time frame to pace trivia appropriately. Some players and businesses want the host to move a little faster so people can close their tabs or get their kids to bed on a school night. Other places want a longer experience, where folks are really taking their time answering questions, eating and/or drinking, and enjoying a night out."
TIL Antarctica has a full-time professional fire department, and maintains about 46 staff.
TIL in 2021 in Austria, during a routine bandage change that occurred 2 days after a patient's leg amputation surgery, it was discovered that the wrong leg had been amputated. The surgeon was found guilty of gross negligence and fined €2,700 and the patient's widow was awarded €5,000 in damages.
The patient's widow? Did he die because the wrong leg was amputated?
Meanwhile, Brie highlights the importance of knowing the players.
"The most important part of planning a successful trivia night is knowing your audience. You will want very different questions for a busy, crowded night at a sports bar versus a bridal shower brunch. Questions should always be tailored to ensure that the group is engaged and entertained rather than always prioritizing difficulty.”
TIL that former MLB pitcher Randy Johnson kept a bag of baseballs by his bed to throw at home invaders
TIL that houseflies can get addicted to Nicotine and C*****e. In smoker's homes, house and fruit flies will change their evolutionary behaviors to seek out cigarette smoke, even though nicotine is extremely toxic to them
TIL in the early 1840s, Ohio's Oberline College banned students from consuming meat, seasonings, condiments, and most caffeinated beverages, and at one point many students were living on bread and water.
CloudberryRushXo:
This was part of the "Grahamite" health movement, which promoted a bland, vegetarian diet for moral and physical purity.
The extreme rules banning spices and caffeine were very unpopular and quickly abandoned due to student protests over poor nutrition.
With the game now organized, how do you improve your chances of winning? We all want to be winners, don’t we?
Brianna’s piece of advice for winning is to make more friends with different interests or with plentiful life experiences.
“The teams that do the best with trivia have a really wide Venn diagram of knowledge, even if there aren't a lot of people on the team. Intergenerational teams also do really well, because there are zeitgeist moments that will be obvious to them that won't be as obvious to the person across the table. They can work together using their individual strengths."
TIL that the American Indian Wars only ended a 101 years ago in August 1924 with the conclusion of the Apache War and the granting of citizenship to all Amerindians in June 1924.
TIL that after Top Gear ended, host Richard Hammond was so devastated, he cried all the way home from the studio and ran out of fuel, because he didn't want to fill his car up covered in tears
TIL in 2007 a bottle of Allsopp's Arctic Ale brewed in 1852 was put up for auction online, however it was misspelt 'Allsop's Arctic Ale' in the listing. This made it hard to search for, so the winning bid was only $304. The buyer then relisted it with the correct spelling and it sold for $503,300.
Brie, on the other hand, recommends practicing. "Trivia, like many hobbies, is something a player can improve on with practice. In general, staying aware of current events and taking time to read for enjoyment will improve your odds of success."
Brie added, "I always encourage players not to focus on winning or losing, but to lean into what they got out of the process. There are almost always questions that one can’t answer, but paying attention and reflecting on them can often be as personally beneficial as knowing the right answer."
TIL On August 11, 1952, the Jordanian parliament forced King Talal to abdicate less than 13 months into his rule due to his mental illness. He would spend the rest of his life in a sanatorium.
TIL about HTTP 451, an error status code displayed when the user requests a resource which cannot be served for legal reasons. The number 451 is a reference to Ray Bradbury's novel "Fahrenheit 451", in which books are outlawed..
TIL the most reliable record-high IQ score ever recorded belongs to mathematician Terence Tao, with a confirmed IQ of 230.
230 is a meaningless IQ score (and Terence Tao would know that). It is 8.6 standard deviations above the mean, meaning that (I believe; I cannot find an online calculator that goes that high) that the score would suggest that out of a population of one trillion, less than one person did that well.
TIL the country that eats the most pizza per capita is Norway, with each person eating about 11 pounds of pizza a year.
TIL That London's Billingsgate Fish and Smithfield Meat Markets will both close in 2028, after the Corporation of London decided against building them new locations in Dagenham. Smithfields has existed since the 10th Century and Billingsgate since the 16th Century.
This has been on the news a lot here in uk, they are fighting to keep it open
TIL Approximately 70,000 years ago, the human population was between 5,000 and 10,000
Impossible! Everyone says the Earth is only 6000 years old. /s
Don't be ridiculous. Anyone with a calendar knows it's only 2025 years old. ( also /s )
Load More Replies...I take it you are volunteering to take yourself out of the Gene pool then? To start the process.
Load More Replies...WRONG. There is nothing in the bible about it. Fire the statistics guy!
they were confined to a coastal region in africa because of climate change . . .
TIL Ian Fleming, author of the original 007 novels, was against the casting of Sean Connery as James Bond, calling him an “overgrown stuntman”, and criticizing his appearance. However, he ended up liking Connery’s performance so much that he characterized Bond based on him in future novels.
Fleming was... a piece of work to say the least. He was a chain smoker and heavy drinker, often starting his day with a martini or a bourbon and going through four packs a day. He alternated cigs and drinks with strong coffee and hated anyone who drank tea. He was obsessive about bespoke clothing, was a gambling a****t and drove like a madman, most of 007 defining acts were him playing his fantasies. He was a conservative edgelord, strongly traditionalist but outspoken against institutions. He often played mean pranks on his friends, including serving food with wasps inside, or placing scorpions and large insects in the guest rooms. He bragged about being a WW2 spy and special ops agents, but his service records dispute this (he was personal assistant to rear-admiral Godfrey) and had a hand in devising some plans, but never participated actively.
TIL Matt Groening was approached to adapt his 'Life in Hell' comic for The Tracey Ullman Show. Fearing he’d lose ownership and hurt his comic if the show failed, Groening quickly created The Simpsons
TIL the last conviction for private and conseual homosexual acts in the USA was in 1998.
Guess where . . . .go on, have a guess 😄 YEP, IT WAS TEXAS . . . of COURSE it was texas 🤣
TIL that the saliva of Komodo dragons - contrary to popular belief - doesn't have more bacteria than other carnivores, and actually have a very good mouth hygiene.
TIL when Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace premiered in May 1999, it's estimated that 2.2 million full-time employees in the US missed work to attend the film, which resulted in a $293 million loss of productivity.
TIL that in 2021, a Frontier Airlines flight from Orlando to Knoxville was cancelled, leaving 13 people stranded, with no other flights for another two days. The group worked together to rent a minivan and drove the entire distance, making it there the following morning.
Awe! It's just like home alone! I wonder if they played polka music. 🤣
TIL that the $2 bill is still being printed and circulated today. The reason it feels rare is because so many people believe it’s rare and end up hoarding it, which keeps it out of circulation.
A lot of banks don't put them into distribution because of people's reluctance to spend them. You can ask your back for a few notes, and they usually have them. Post office sometimes does to. They aren't usually worth more than face value. The notes stamped by the post office on 1976 can be worth tens of dollars. Circulated bills from before 1900 can be hundreds of dollars. Uncirculated bills from prior to 1966 can be thousands of dollars.
TIL that up to 31% of kids and 10–15% of adults grind or clench their teeth in their sleep. It’s linked to stress, anxiety, depression, headaches, TMJ pain, and sore jaws. Night guards don’t stop it, they just protect teeth from the damage
TIL that Andreas Mihavecz, the person who holds the record with longest survival without food or water,* was locked in a holding cell and forgotten for 18 days
*He survived because he was able to consume condensation from the cell walls.
TIL Sampoong Department store collapse. The owner changed building design that removed support columns for floor space. Years later when warned about the risk of imminent collapse he refused to evacuate people out the building over fears of revenue loss. 502 victims died
This is a broad simplification. Columns were not removed, they were redesigned to be smaller and further apart. Then, there were other major factors. Design changes including adding extra floors. Concrete made with seawater and beach sand instead of clean water and good aggregates, with half the rebar required. Heavy machinery on the roof that got moved around without any structural consideration. Multiple ignored signs of structural instability ignored. Orders for evacuation postponed to avoid losing sales....
TIL Romani people were chattel slaves in Romania until 1856
Chattel is - forever slaves / property slaves. As opposed to indentured / debt slaves
TIL that gold can be made so thin that 1 ounce can cover 300 square feet ft as “gold leaf”.
TIL that during Benito Mussolini's rule in Italy, homosexuals were rounded up and sent to the Tremiti archipelago.
TIL about ortolan bunting, the French practice of force-feeding a bird, dunking it in liquor, frying it in its own fat, then eating it whole. It is customary to cover one’s face with a cloth while consuming it to “hide oneself from God’s judgment.” Their hunting and consumption is banned in the EU.
There was a very good article about one of Mitterand’s last meals and ortolan was on the menu…….. it is important to know europe has a very bad bird poaching problem. CABS monitors, catches and tries to prevent it, but they are insane for sooting migratory birds, trapping songbirds, and killing hawks. It’s really bad. CABS is committee against bird slaughter and could use support
TIL that there's an average of 22cm height disparity between rich and poor people in the Philippines. The highest in the world due to nutrition differences and other socio-economic factors.
TIL in 2023 a Kenyan male chess player wore a burka as a disguise to enter a women’s chess tournament for prize money, but was caught after his strong performance, silence and "masculine" shoes raised suspicion
"Strong performance". At chess? His strong performance at chess? So in other words, women can't play chess very well so anyone winning must be a man ?. . . . . . . God help us if a lesbian turns in Dock Martens 💪
TIL a Texas woman found she had a felony charge against her in Oklahoma by accident when she got married, after a VHS was rented with her name when she lived there 21 years earlier and wasn't returned. This explained her own mystery of having troubles with employment during these years.
TIL about “Dolbear’s Law” - a way to (roughly) estimate temperature by counting the number of cricket chirps in a 15 second timeframe, then adding 40!
TIL there is an archipelago just off the coast of Canada that is a French overseas territory. Its inhabitants are French and EU citizens.
Similarly Frances largest land border is with Brazil as a result of french Guyana , it's colony in south America
TIL that college graduates who joined fraternities have higher incomes despite their lower grades.
TIL after Tim Duncan's sophomore year in college he was already a top NBA prospect. Jerry West, the Lakers GM, said he could've been the #1 pick in the '95 draft. But he finished college instead because he promised his dying mom he'd get a degree. It didn't hurt his draft position, he went #1 in '97
TIL that NATO tanks fire rounds with semi-combustible nitrocellulose casings; Basically Explosive paper. Most of the casing burns up when fired, leaving only a small metal stub for the crew to remove, reducing weight and increasing fire rate.
'Nitrocellulose', otherwise known as 'Guncotton'. As I understand it, it was accidentally discovered when someone used a cotton towel to wipe up some spilled nitric acid and put it behind his stove to dry. Once dried, he saw a spark from the stove hit it and the whole thing instantly combusted, 'Whoosh'! It was refined and used as propellant for projectiles. I believe it produced much less smoke than the gunpowder of those days. P.S. - In his novel "From the Earth to the Moon", Jules Verne had the Baltimore Gun Club's 'Columbiad' cannon, intended to throw a projectile to the Moon, charged with guncotton instead of gunpowder. Amusingly, the Columbiad was constructed near where Cape Canaveral is now, the projectile was roughly the same dimensions and shape as the Apollo Command/Service Module, and it carried a crew of three.
TIL wealth consultants told the actors on the TV show Succession not to duck their heads when exiting a helicopter because "you would've been doing this your whole lives. You know where the propeller is. You wouldn’t duck your head, you’d just walk right the f**k out."
That is plain stupid. People working with helicopters daily duck their heads. Pilots do so. Medevac crews do so. It's actually part of mandatory safety training for those people, since 1) blades flex significantly when slowing down 2) ground may be uneven 3) if you are primed on ducking you are less likely to raise a hand or jump 4) some helos have the blades much lower than others. Ducking as an automatic reflex greatly reduces the overall risk, is generally good practice and it helps is not receiving raised dust in your eyes.
TIL Disney has a code word for when guests attempt to scatter ashes at one of their theme parks: a "white powder alert"
So what code word do they use then for someone trying to snort c*****e?
TIL William Thornton, who designed the US Capitol building, was called to Mt Vernon to treat a dying George Washington, only to arrive after the president had died. Thornton proposed ressurrecting the frozen corpse by heating it up, inflating the lungs, and infusing lamb's blood. His family declined
TIL that The Old Man and the Sea was one of Saddam Hussein’s favourite books because it was about “struggling against overwhelming odds with courage, perseverance and dignity”
TIL a 2023 study found sniffing women’s tears reduced male aggression by 44%
No doubt male aggression was the primary cause of the tears in the first place
TIL that the state with the highest obesity rate is West Virginia, at just over 41%
Take me home, country roads. But slowly, with a stop-off at McDonald's if you please.
TIL that when Ronnie James Dio came to record his part of Tenaciou's D's "Kickapoo," he brought his own mic. The producer told Dio that he wouldn't need it as their mic was top of the line. One his first take, Dio effectively destroyed the studio's mic and they had to use his
TIL: Video game character Lara Croft was originally envisioned as a Latina woman named Laura Cruz; however, after consulting with a book of baby names and a local phonebook, the name was changed to Lara Croft.
The developers gave her a backstory after (to their surprise) players got really interested in just who this woman was and wanted to know more about her. I remember reading it in the gaming manual back in the day (remember when games came with those little books full of lore and instructions on how to play?).
TIL about the Empires of the Deep, an ambitious $130 million mermaid epic blockbuster funded by Jon Jiang, a real estate billionaire. It was intended to be a China–Hollywood co-production that would rival Avatar. While the film itself is finished, it remains unreleased.
TIL volleyball only used to allow scoring for the serving team rather than the current system which awards a point on every rally regardless of serving team
TIL that Isabela Merced got started in acting because her parents thought it would be a helpful distraction from their house burning down
Fun fact, the guy who created The Sims was inspired by HIS house burning down and the process of building a new one.
TIL Kaitlin Olson was accidentally waterboarded for real while filming the season 4 IASIP episode, "The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis"
TIL EA Games holds 30+ patents to accessibility technology in video games with the promise to not enforce them and to keep them available to the public
Yep, I’m sure their unenforceable promise will be kept right up until the point it becomes unprofitable to do so.
TIL a few tech companies (ie. AOL) used to fight spam with Haikus (poems) embedded into an email licensed from a company named Habeas. Habeas would sue mass spammers for copyright infringement. In one case, they won a $100k judgement.
TIL Emanuel Bronner, Of Bronner's Soap, Escaped a Mental Hospital in the 1940s
TIL 70mm IMAX systems require a PalmOS device to operate. During the release of Oppenheimer on IMAX, a PalmOS emulator running on a Windows 10 tablet was used to show the film.
TIL that a 12 inch semiconductor wafer costs $19000 to make and produces around 215000 RFID chips for use in disposable subway tickets. Each chips are around 0.5x0.5 mm in size
TIL George Lucas wanted 2Pac to be Mace Windu in the prequels, but he passed away before he could audition for the role.
Reading about the Brits boycotting sugar to protest slavery. I recently read that in WWII many US soldiers were appalled to find that non whites were allowed in restaurants, pubs etc when they were sent to England.
The US command was also displeased how their black soldiers were treated by the french soldiers in WWI - indifferent. The black colonial troops in WWII that fought in France also weren't allowed to march even close to US troops during the victory parade in Paris
Load More Replies...And here's my contribution! Jervis Bay is legally part of the Australian Capital Territory because in order to qualify as a capital city, Canberra was required to have a sea port. And Canberra is landlocked (though it does have a lake).
That sounds like they just annexed land and made up a rule. The international community recognises more than 40 while countries that are landlocked.
Load More Replies...This just shows most people don't learn anything in the USA. Half of this I knew from school in the 80s
Judgemental comments like yours lead to the belief that learning is for dorks/squares etc and therefore "uncool". How about being happy because people are choosing to educate themselves regardless of when they do so?
Load More Replies...Reading about the Brits boycotting sugar to protest slavery. I recently read that in WWII many US soldiers were appalled to find that non whites were allowed in restaurants, pubs etc when they were sent to England.
The US command was also displeased how their black soldiers were treated by the french soldiers in WWI - indifferent. The black colonial troops in WWII that fought in France also weren't allowed to march even close to US troops during the victory parade in Paris
Load More Replies...And here's my contribution! Jervis Bay is legally part of the Australian Capital Territory because in order to qualify as a capital city, Canberra was required to have a sea port. And Canberra is landlocked (though it does have a lake).
That sounds like they just annexed land and made up a rule. The international community recognises more than 40 while countries that are landlocked.
Load More Replies...This just shows most people don't learn anything in the USA. Half of this I knew from school in the 80s
Judgemental comments like yours lead to the belief that learning is for dorks/squares etc and therefore "uncool". How about being happy because people are choosing to educate themselves regardless of when they do so?
Load More Replies...
