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35 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New
When browsing the internet, not only do we rarely learn anything, but we often also forget things. Think of our long-gone attention spans that social media has cut to the brim, and ask yourself when was the last time you scrolled through something seriously beneficial.
While you wonder, let me tell you there’s the internet’s beloved corner of Reddit which makes karma, or rather our brain levels, even because it actually teaches us something. We’re talking about the 'Today I Learned' online group that celebrates curiosity by sharing some of the most interesting and lesser-known things, facts, and bits of knowledge we all appreciate.
Today is the day for the newest TIL batch, so pull your seat closer and enjoy the ride without guilt. When you’re done, be sure to check our previous TIL features here, here, and here and be sure to share them with your friends!
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TIL that when Yoshitaro Shibasaki and his team completed their 1907 ascent of Mount Tsurugi — thought to be the final unclimbed mountain remaining in the Japanese archipelago — they found an ancient sword at the summit that was later determined to have been left there more than 1000 years earlier.
TIL: As far back as 1872, despite practically no women being allowed to vote, Victoria Woodhull of the Equal Rights Party became the first woman nominated for a US Presidential election. Frederick Douglass, a black abolitionist, was even chosen as her running mate
TIL of Lauren Stratford (Wilson) who wrote a book claiming that she was in a Satanic cult in which she sacrificed her own child. After magazine reporters exposed her as never having a child, she changed her name and claimed to be a holocaust survivor, and was exposed again by the same magazine.
TIL A company in the 90's made pencils with the anti-drug slogan "Too Cool to Do Drugs" but had to recall them because, when sharpened, they read "Do Drugs"
This is actually funny. I like how it seems like the message is giving up with the pencil.
TIL George Lucas not only gave his blessing to make Spaceballs, he also handed the movie over to his effects company, Industrial Light and Magic, to provide the space effects and postproduction
Spaceballs the lunchbox, Spaceballs the colouring book, Spaceballs the breakfast cereal, Spaceballs the FLAMETHROWER! and my personal favourite, me "may the swartz be with ya!"
TIL The only children to survive the Titanic without a parent were two brothers aged 2 and 4. Their father kidnapped them from his ex-wife and boarded the ship with a fake name. The father didn’t survive and for weeks the boys were known as the Titanic Orphans until their mother was found.
Or lucky kids - to get away from their kidnaper, to survive, and to be able to eventually go back to their mother. Their story could've been much worse
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If the father was on the manifest under a false name, I wonder what kind of detective work it took to figure out who they were. Did the boys know enough about themselves and family (a lot of toddlers don't know Mom and Dad's names, they just know them as "Mom" and "Dad") to help figure it out? In 1912, the salient data would have been hard to find.
If I remember correctly the boys’ pictures were in newspapers around the world and that’s how they were recognized and returned to their mother.
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The mother might not have been the better parent.
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He did all of that devious work just to have them delivered right back to their mother.
Why is it that when a mother leaves with the children, people don't treat that as a kidnapping? People assume that the mother should have priority in custody when there is a breakup, which is wrong.
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Yeah, children were being abducted by a parent in the middle of a divorce in 1912. It feels like it’s something relatively new that happens, but turns out it’s not a new phenomenon at all.
Why is it that when women leave with the kids, people don't call it kidnapping? We shouldn't view this father more harshly than we do women who leave with the kids.
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At least finding their mother was made a priority, though probably mostly down to the hype with the news of the Titanic & getting the sympathy of every parent who heard about it in the news. I feel like if it weren’t such big news, if they weren’t the only children with no family close at hand & they weren’t so young to be left in such a dire situation; they probably would’ve been sent to an orphanage of some kind & gotten lost in the system. I hope for their sakes their mother was found speedily, that they were kept together & that they were well cared for until she was reunited with them. Children that young, to go through what they did … must’ve been petrifying for the both of them, bless. 😭💔👼
wait was the mom a bad mom? or did the dad just really love his kids? did they find out why he kidnapped the kids?
He was about to be declared bankrupt, so was probably fleeing his debt and didn't want to be permanently separated from his kids.
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Not true. Trevor Allison survived the sinking as an infant because his nurse panicked and took him immediately to a lifeboat without communicating that to his parents. So, Trevor's mom, dad and 4-year old sister Loraine died (she was the only child from 1st and 2nd class to not survive) searching the ship for him believing he was still on board. Sadly, he died of ptomaine poisoning when he was 18. :-(
Because childrens to board the emergency boat first, then women. Men are the last, and highly will not survive.
It shows how men were viewed as less important back then. It's a disturbing level of sexism.
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Because single fathers couldn't board the boats, since they were grown men. They had to give their children to a complete (female) stranger and stay on the ship to face certain death. Yeah, we men are biggots and full of prejudice against women, aren't we?
Oh, your last sentence says plenty. The women and children weren't necessarily prioritized over the men, men were believed to be stronger and more likely to survive a shipwreck.
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If a mother ran away with the kids and was killed in a ship wreck, people would just say she was taking care of the kids. Why is it only called kidnapping when the father leaves with the kids?
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Funny how when women leave with the kids, it isn't called kidnapping and we don't celebrate their death. Why the double standard?
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Maybe the father was the better parent. Why is it that when the women leave with the children, people don't call that kidnapping?
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TIL that a 2019 study showed that evening primrose plants can "hear" the sound of a buzzing bee nearby and produce sweeter nectar in response to it.
TIL US President John Adam’s beloved daughter Nabby developed breast cancer and underwent a complete mastectomy without anesthesia while strapped to a chair.
TIL in 1983, NFL Chiefs running back Joe Delaney sacrificed his life in an attempt to save three children from drowning. His number is unofficially retired by the team and a statue was put up in his hometown.
TIL Baseball player Al "The Hebrew Hammer" Rosen was an amateur boxer and known for challenging anyone who insulted his heritage, or used anti-Semitic slurs, to fight. His stated preferred method for dealing with anti-Semitism was to 'Flatten them'.
TIL the boy whose exorcism was the inspiration behind The Exorcist grew up to be a NASA engineer. His work contributed to the Apollo mission in the '60s.
Ronald Edwin Hunkeler. The book and movie are (very) loosely based on his story. He was a spoiled kid with a strict mother in a very religious family: neighbors and other witness at the time said the mother was "[manipulating his] beliefs, turning to trickery to get her to take him out of school for a while". He later admitted it was all set up for show and attention. Went on to become an engineer and worked on the Space Shuttle Thermal Shield, but lived a troubled life both on the job and in the family. Died in 2020.
TIL, despite its vastness, it only takes 39-40 digits of pi to calculate the size of the observable universe to an accuracy of 1 hydrogen atom. Because of this, NASA uses only 15 digits of pi in even their highest accuracy calculations.
TIL that Hormel Foods keeps a file of hatemail they've received from American soldiers who had to eat the notorious food product while at war overseas
TIL French secret service agents bombed the Greenpeace ship "Rainbow Warrior in order to stop Greenpeace from disrupting underwater nuclear testing in 1985.
An act of terrorism for which they have not been properly held to account.
TIL that there are around 50-60 blue faience hippopotamus statuettes that survived from Ancient Egypt. Due to the danger hippos posed in the wild, they often snapped off the legs of hippopotamus statuettes before placing them in tombs, so the hippos wouldn’t be able to eat the soul of the deceased.
Technically they could still eat them… it would just be more difficult
TIL Tom Dolan, despite having both exercise induced asthma and a narrow trachea giving him access to only about 20 percent of the air an average person breath—was at one time considered the best swimmer in the world and is a two time Olympic gold medalist and world record holder.
TIL Episodes Five and Ten of 1960s Doctor Who story The Daleks' Master Plan were long considered missing until they were found in the basement of a Mormon church in Wandsworth. Nobody has found out how they got there.
There were whole seasons of Doctor Who that were thrown out or taped over when the BBC did a clean out. Some have been remastered using the audio track and animation.
TIL that during World War II, the United States published a spy manual urging middle managers in enemy territory to sabotage their employers by bringing up irrelevant issues, promoting bad workers, haggling over petty details, and holding unnecessary meetings.
TIL of the ancient Greek athlete Theagenes. After his death, a rival athlete who held a grudge would beat his statue. The statue fell on his rival, killing him. It was then put on trial, convicted of murder and was exiled by being thrown into the sea.
TIL about corn sweat, where corn plants release water into the air. One acre of corn can release 3,000-4,000 gallons of water per day, and can raise the humidity level up to 10%.
TIL that SNL called Phil Hartman "The Glue" because his professionalism and comedy skills held together so many sketches
TIL in 2009 British people rebelled against the ongoing trend of X Factor victors winning Christmas number one by purchasing copies of Rage Against the Machine
TIL The professional bowler Chris Barnes once beat a robot optimized to throw strikes
TIL that dandelions are edible and are actually really nutritious and can be eaten raw
I would only use young plants though, bigger and darker leaves taste very bitter.
TIL traditional grass lawns originated as a status symbol for the wealthy. Neatly cut lawns used solely for aesthetics became a status symbol as it demonstrated that the owner could afford to maintain grass that didn’t serve purposes of food production.
TIL Story Musgrave is the most formally educated astronaut with seven academic degrees and only astronaut to have flown on all five space shuttles.
TIL Consumers lose $3 billion a year in unspent gift cards, with starbucks itself having $140 million in unused gift cards.
TIL Quentin Tarantino directed an episode of CSI in 2005 after word of him being a fan of the show got back to the show's producers.
TIL that the surgeon August Bier tested on his own assistant a form of anesthesia consisting of injecting cocaine directly into the spine, and to check how effective it was, he stuck a needle in his leg, hit him in the shins with a hammer, ripped off his pubic hair and even squeezed his testicles.
TIL that Sigmund Freud was a Cocaine Addict, and he personally prescribed it to his wife and friends
Yeah, and you also should see his works in that light. Easy to see d***s everywhere when you're constantly doped up on coke.
TIL in 1962 boxer Emile Griffith fought Welterweight Champion Benny Paret. At the weigh-in, Paret infuriated Griffith, a bisexual man, by touching his buttocks and making a homophobic slur. Griffith won the bout by knockout; Paret never recovered consciousness and died in the hospital 10 days later.
Ah yes, the only time you get praised for beating the hooraw out of another person, and paid for it.
TIL the original version of The Game of Life had a suicide square
TIL of the Fontana delle Tette in Treviso, North Italy, a XVI century topless statue of a woman sprinkling water from each nipple. During celebrations, it spouts red and white wine, free to drink.
TIL that the highest-ranking US military officer of Vietnamese descent is the only survivor of a family whose killer was photographed being shot in the head in a Pulitzer-winning photograph.
Nguyễn Văn Lém was a member of the Viet Cong. He was executed in Saigon during the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War. Before being captured, Lém had allegedly murdered Lt. Col. Tuan as well as Tuan's wife, six children, and his 80-year-old mother. Lém was brought to a South Vietnamese brigadier who then executed him. The event was witnessed and recorded Eddie Adams, an AP photographer. The photograph won Adams the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography.
TIL When Emperor Nero got his mistress pregnant, he divorced and banished his wife Octavia. When this led to a public outcry, he instead had her executed.
TIL There is no difference between “saltwater” taffy and regular taffy. It is simply a marketing gimmick in coastal regions with origins in Atlantic City
TIL that the Capitol was designed to have George Washington's tomb on public display. Both houses passed bills saying he should be buried there, and his wife consented, but due to various delays it took until 1830 for it to be viable. After an attempted theft of his head, the project was cancelled.
While Washington is lauded for may actions he took to create the US, treating him as the lone point of idolatry minimizes the efforts others put forth. It wasn't a single man that created the US. As well, to me, it would take away from the creation (the USA) and make the man more the focus. He is to be honored for his efforts but I suspect even he would prefer we celebrate the country more than the men who created it. We separated England to escape a king. Creating a pseudo king would be an insult.
TIL that the Ignalina nuclear power plant located in eastern Lithuania is identical to the Chernobyl plant in Pripyat. The plant remained operational until 2009 and was used as the set for the HBO Chernobyl miniseries.
The fatal flaw of the Chernobyl plant was that there were carbon end-caps on the reactor rods. If it hadn't been for those, there would have been no accident. Maybe the one in Lithuania didn't have those, and even if it did, once they knew what happened in Chernobyl to cause the end-caps to fail, they could simply not do that. Chernobyl only had a meltdown because they were in the middle of performing tests which stressed the system in ways that aren't normal for everyday operation.
TIL that the first documented mention of adults playing cricket came from 1611, when two men were fined 12d each for failing to attend church on Easter Sunday because they were playing cricket.
TIL that the packaging colour for air-dropped humanitarian ration packs had to be changed from yellow to salmon after someone realised that the same shade of yellow was also used for air-dropped cluster bombs.
TIL about Louis Remme, who rode on horseback nonstop from Sacramento to Portland in 1855, racing against the ship-borne news of a bank run that would prevent him from withdrawing his own money
TIL that the largest pyramid in the world is located in Mexico, not in Egypt. The Great Pyramid of Tepanapa has a base four times the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
TIL That "Barker’s Beauties," the models on The Price is Right, did not have contracts, but were were rehired on a week-to-week basis to keep their salaries low.
TIL Roughly 2.5 billion people watched princess Diana’s funeral in 1997. At its height the queue to reach the book of condolences took 6.5 hours. The queen gave her first live broadcast in 50 years
TIL that Pres. George HW Bush vomited on the lap of Japanese PM Kiichi Miyazawa during a 1992 state banquet. The incident caused a wave of late night TV jokes & ridicule, even coining Busshu-suru meaning "to do the Bush thing or bushing it". It was also spoofed in the film "Hot Shots! Part Deux."
TIL that in 1961, Thomas Monaghan got half-ownership of "Domino's", now one of the largest pizza companies in the world. All he had to give in return was his used Volkswagen Beetle car.
TIL that "American cheese" is a combination of cheddar, Colby, washed curd, or granular cheeses. By federal law, it must be labeled "process American cheese" if made of more than one cheese or "process American cheese food" if it's at least 51% cheese but contains other specific dairy ingredients.
TIL that in 1983, Hasbro executives travelled to to the Tokyo Toy Show to look for new toys they could release in the United States. After finding a series of transforming robot toys, they teamed with Marvel Comics to create a comic book and animated series--"Transformers"--to sell the toys.
TIL that the United States has offered to purchase Greenland from Denmark twice, once in 1946 and again in 2019 due to its strategic location in the Arctic, the U.S. also occupied the island during WW2 from 1940-45 after the fall of Denmark and constructed Thule Air Base.
TIL Gunslinger effect, The quantum physicist Niels Bohr deducted that in a gun dual, the person who draws first loses.
TIL about the Ibadan forest of horror, in which peoples bodyparts were harvested to be sold for ritual sacrifice.
For those wondering, the "Forest Of Horror" was a building located in Soka Forest, Ibadan, Nigeria. It was used for human trafficking and ritual sacrifices. It was discovered by taxi drivers after they had gone searching for a missing driver from the area. Eight people were rescued upon discovery, though many more bodies (and body parts) were discovered. It has been demolished and actually redeveloped into a school. Which I find kind of horrific, but in a nation where some are lucky to go to school, I guess maybe you can't complain to much... :/
TIL a bankrupted con-artist from Oregon was able to purchase a bank license and opened a offshore bank in Grenada by claiming to own a 4 pound ruby worth $20 million dollars and a appraisal document proving its worth. The ruby was owned by a man in California who didn't know the scammer.
Big deal. A several-times bankrupted orange sock puppet claiming to be a billionaire started multiple businesses which were either frauds to begin with (see TRump University, TRump Foundation, etc.), or he ran them into the ground (casinos, for pity's sake!). He was still able to bamboozle millions of people into voting for him leading to the unholy four year infestation of the oval office. A bank is nothing.
TIL that cigars have beetle larvae. Under the right temperature and humidity, they can hatch and infest whole cigar boxes.
TIL that the title "Triple Ace in a Day" refers to pilots who shot down 15 enemy aircraft in a single day. There have only been 5 such pilots, all of whom flew for the German Luftwaffe in WWII.
TIL that in ancient Greece, before they knew what caused jaundice, they believed the condition could be cured by staring at a yellow bird. Somehow, the bird was supposed to suck the yellow out of you
Today I learned there’s a country called Burma. In 7th grade we used something to learn countries but it never showed me where Burma was. I knew there was some land in between India and Thailand but never knew it was a country called Burma.
Burma has been known as Myanmar since 1989, although it took the rest of the world a few more years to start calling it that.
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TIL that in ancient Greece, before they knew what caused jaundice, they believed the condition could be cured by staring at a yellow bird. Somehow, the bird was supposed to suck the yellow out of you
Today I learned there’s a country called Burma. In 7th grade we used something to learn countries but it never showed me where Burma was. I knew there was some land in between India and Thailand but never knew it was a country called Burma.
Burma has been known as Myanmar since 1989, although it took the rest of the world a few more years to start calling it that.
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