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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!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
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.
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#2
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
#3
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.
#4
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"
Tigerpacingthecage 3 years ago
This is actually funny. I like how it seems like the message is giving up with the pencil.
#5
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
Danny Eglen 3 years ago
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!"
#6
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.
#7
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.
#8
TIL US President John Adam’s beloved daughter Nabby developed breast cancer and underwent a complete mastectomy without anesthesia while strapped to a chair.
Ray Heap 3 years ago
You can read on how she felt it as her first hand report. I did and I wish I hadn’t.
AnnwylTheBloodyLovesFerghus 3 years ago
I haven't read her report. I'm not going to. Poor woman. I do know that they used to give some women hysterectomies without anesthesia. Because many doctors believed that women's reproductive organs caused mental illness. And they had zero regard for mentally ill people. Unfortunately, many women who were confined to sanatoriums, were not ill at all. They were sent there by fathers\husbands who considered them to be ill\abnormal because they spoke their minds and or didn't conform to proper womanly standards. Or because the husband wanted to be rid of a troublesome\inconvenient\rich wife. Therefore skipping a scandalous divorce. Just thinking of it makes me furious.
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J Nic 3 years ago
I just read that she died less than a year after the surgery. New tumors developed on the scar tissue. This is horrific.
RaroaRaroa 3 years ago
I just read 22 months on wikipedia. Operation was October 1811, she died August 1813.
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Jknbt 3 years ago
John Collins Warren (1778-1856) made history on October 16, 1846 with the first successful surgical procedure performed with anesthesia.
AspieGirl88 3 years ago
No anaesthetic whatsoever?! Omg. Just thinking about it, I’m getting flashbacks to a botched tooth-extraction I once had done (when I became totally immune to local anaesthetic & the dentist insisted on pulling the tooth anyway) … I mean, holy jeez! They could’ve at least tried to dull her senses some other way, even getting her inebriated on booze beforehand would’ve been a small mercy, FFS. To hack-off her breasts with absolutely nothing to dull the pain is just cruel human torture! 😭
Caroline Higson 3 years ago
Do you have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome? It causes resistance to local anastetic. Many, including myself remember the pain of getting teeth pulled
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Pjerrot 3 years ago
In those times Women where seen as “ Week and Delicate “…. Wow!!! Women gives birth without anesthesia all over the World. The Strongest Pressure & Pain U Can put a Body💪🏼 Sience show Men would’nt survive that. They don’t have the same nervesystem. I’m quite shure that the reason She made it throug that masectomy without any anesthesia is because She was a Woman!💪🏼🙏🏻
Kathryn Baylis 3 years ago
I hope they at least let her drink some whiskey or something to take the edge off—-doubt that’s possible but at least she’d have been somewhat relaxed.
Colin Matthews 3 years ago (edited)
"The good old days..." remember this post when someone says that.
Adele Maestranzi 3 years ago
This was in one of the episodes in the miniseries "John Adams" with Paul Giamatti.
Christina B 3 years ago
Oh my dear gosh that poor woman - how horribly frightening for her, not to mention horrific and painful
Hiram's Friend 3 years ago
"While the use of opium poppy and other herbal remedies as anesthetics date back to early civilization, the first public demonstration of modern anesthesia was on October 16, 1846 ('Ether Day')". https://www.woodlibrarymuseum.org/history-of-anesthesia/
kkathleen517 3 years ago
Does it bother anyone else that they have to put TIL before every single one of these?
Kevin Donegan 3 years ago
Let me guess ... she finally died due to an infection. Good God. I hope she was liquored up.
Timmy Pillinger 3 years ago
So did f***y burney. She said the sound of scraping was the most off-putting bit
Loki’s Lil Butter Knife 3 years ago
Tragically, she passed away around 22 months later as new scar tissue formed. 😔
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Rebecca Trinkner 3 years ago
Can you really even call it a Mastectomy then? They chopped her tits off!
Mark Serbian, PK&RG,W 3 years ago
This begs the question: WHY? There had to be a reason not to give the poor woman anesthesia
#9
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.
#10
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'.
#11
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.
Jrog 3 years ago
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.
#12
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.
#13
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
#14
TIL French secret service agents bombed the Greenpeace ship "Rainbow Warrior in order to stop Greenpeace from disrupting underwater nuclear testing in 1985.
Kayjunmoon 3 years ago
An act of terrorism for which they have not been properly held to account.
#15
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.
CatsWearingHats 3 years ago
Technically they could still eat them… it would just be more difficult
#16
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.
#17
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.
Huddo's sister 3 years ago
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.
#18
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.
#19
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.
#20
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%.
#21
TIL that SNL called Phil Hartman "The Glue" because his professionalism and comedy skills held together so many sketches
#22
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
#23
TIL The professional bowler Chris Barnes once beat a robot optimized to throw strikes
#24
TIL that dandelions are edible and are actually really nutritious and can be eaten raw
TCW Sam Vimes 3 years ago
I would only use young plants though, bigger and darker leaves taste very bitter.
#25
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.
#26
TIL Story Musgrave is the most formally educated astronaut with seven academic degrees and only astronaut to have flown on all five space shuttles.
#27
TIL Consumers lose $3 billion a year in unspent gift cards, with starbucks itself having $140 million in unused gift cards.
#28
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.
#29
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.
#30
TIL that Sigmund Freud was a Cocaine Addict, and he personally prescribed it to his wife and friends
TCW Sam Vimes 3 years ago
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.
#31
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.
KombatBunni 3 years ago
Ah yes, the only time you get praised for beating the hooraw out of another person, and paid for it.
#32
TIL the original version of The Game of Life had a suicide square
#33
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.
#34
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.
Chancey 3 years ago
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.
#35
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.
#36
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
#37
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.
DD 3 years ago
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.
#38
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.
Izzy Curer 3 years ago (edited)
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.
#39
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.
#40
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.
#41
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
#42
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.
#43
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.
#44
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
#45
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."
#46
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.
#47
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.
#48
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.
#49
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.
Allan Breum 3 years ago (edited)
and those bastards still refuse to clean up the mess that base left; chemical and radioactive contaminants.
#50
TIL Gunslinger effect, The quantum physicist Niels Bohr deducted that in a gun dual, the person who draws first loses.
#51
TIL about the Ibadan forest of horror, in which peoples bodyparts were harvested to be sold for ritual sacrifice.
RoanTheMad 3 years ago
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... :/
#52
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.
AnnwylTheBloodyLovesFerghus 3 years ago
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.
#53
TIL that cigars have beetle larvae. Under the right temperature and humidity, they can hatch and infest whole cigar boxes.
#54
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.
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Izzy Curer 3 years ago
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
1.21Gigawatts?! 3 years ago
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.
H Edwards 3 years ago
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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Izzy Curer 3 years ago
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
1.21Gigawatts?! 3 years ago
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.
H Edwards 3 years ago
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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