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50 Fascinating “Today I Learned” Posts That Might Leave You Questioning Reality (June Edition)
If you’ve spent enough time online, you’ll quickly realize that our brains weren’t meant to process this much information all at once. This is why it can be helpful to allow the good folks of the internet to curate and select the information you’ll end up seeing today.
We’ve gathered some of the interesting facts people have learned this month and decided to share them with the internet. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to add your own thoughts (or perhaps even facts) in the comments section below.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
TIL A village in India decided that they would not switch on the street lights at night for 35 days since an Oriental Magpie Robin had made the switch box her home. The villagers decided to not disturb the bird as long as she was there. She laid three tiny eggs, two of which hatched.
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#2
Today I learned that in 1666, the English village of Eyam made an extraordinary sacrifice. After the bubonic plague reached their community, the villagers chose to quarantine themselves rather than flee. An estimated 260 villagers died, however, this decision likely saved thousands.
Laurie Peloquin 5 months ago
You can visit Eyam. It is a sobering reminder of the past, and how people can really step up to do a good thing.
#3
TIL Jason Brown, former NFL player, walked away from a 5-year, $37m deal to become a farmer. He maintains a 1,000-acre farm where he grows produce such as sweet potatoes and cucumbers. He donates these crops to local food pantries in need.
Michael P (Perthaussieguy) 5 months ago
I guess he already made enough money to be able to walk away and do whatever he wanted to do. Good for him.
#4
TIL The ancient Egyptian calendar had 12 months of 30 days each, with five days of partying thrown in at the end of the year to make a total of 365
Phantom Phoenix 5 months ago (edited)
Let's bring this back & Party Like It's 1999 BCE! (I have no actual knowledge of the correct historical timing)
#5
TIL: West African populations carry “ghost” DNA from an unknown archaic human species that doesn’t match Neanderthals or Denisovans. Hinting at mysterious lineage.
#6
TIL that Margaret Atwood based The Handmaid’s Tale entirely on real historical events with every element of oppression in the book having already happened somewhere
Michael P (Perthaussieguy) 5 months ago
And it seems currently being played out in many states in the US :(
#7
TIL in 2017 a 4-yr-old girl in Siberia awoke to find her grandmother was sick and not moving. After talking to her blind grandfather, she decided to walk 5 miles alone in temperatures as low as -34°C (-29°F) over several hours to the next homestead in order to find help, which she successfullly did.
glowworm2 5 months ago
Part not mentioned: by the time help arrived, the grandmother had already died from a heart attack. Also, the little girl's mother was investigated with child endangerment. The area she was walking through was filled with wolves. See link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/14/four-year-old-girl-trekked-miles-in-sub-zero-siberia-to-help-her-grandmother
#8
TIL that the producers of "The X-Files" TV show originally wanted Pamela Anderson for the role of Dana Scully. Luckily for the then-unknown Gillian Anderson, executive producer Chris Carter went to bat for her, saying she was the only actress fit for the role as he imagined it.
#9
TIL that an Australian man had his car broke down in the Outback, 150km away from the nearest town. He walked for the next 120km knowing help would not come, until he finally brushed past a search team looking for him, who found him in "remarkably good spirits"
Forrest Hobbs 5 months ago
All the (sane) advice on surviving a vehicle breakdown in the Australian outback begins with "stay with the vehicle". https://www.biglaponabudget.com.au/post/surviving-the-outback-when-your-vehicle-breaks-down
#10
TIL that the shopping cart debuted in 1937. Shoppers hated it. Men thought them unmanly and women found them suggestive of a baby carriage. Inventor Sylvan Goldman hired models to demonstrate it in stores. His "Basket Carriage for Self-Service Stores" soon caught on, making him a multimillionaire.
#11
TIL that dogs can smell your stress, and make decisions accordingly
Edda Kamphues 5 months ago
I think cats can too. Whenever I'm upset they find me and cuddle up to me.
#12
TIL a 9-yr-old boy lived alone for 2 years after he was abandoned by his mom who lived with her partner 5 km away & only visited from "time to time". He survived on cake & canned goods and didn't have hot water or heating. However, during this time he continued to attend school & was a good student.
#13
TIL that in the late 1600s, a pirate named Henry Every led the most profitable pirate raid of all time, stealing £600,000 in precious metals and jewels (worth around $141 million today) from a convoy belonging to the Mughal Empire. This led to the first worldwide manhunt. He was never found.
#14
TIL of the Satanic Panic, a moral panic that spread throughout the United States in the 1980s and early 90s. Despite over 12,000 claims of ritualistic Satanic a**se, investigators never found convincing evidence that any such groups existed, much less committed the claimed crimes
Toothless Feline 5 months ago
You just learned of it. I lived through it. It was so ridiculous. Heavy metal music was a primary target (for obvious reasons), as was the roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons (targeted mainly because its bestiary included demons and the magic included summoning spells).
#15
TIL English-speaking officials in Wales put up a bilingual sign reading "No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only", but the Welsh part translated to "I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated"... which was just the email response from their translator.
#16
TIL while a woman was mowing the lawn, a 4-ft snake fell out of the sky from nowhere & wrapped around her arm. As she tried to get it off, it tried to bite her face. Then chaos ensued when a hawk swooped down & tried take it off her arm 4 times before succeeding. She then got help for her bloody arm
#17
TIL of 'normalcy bias', a cognitive distortion that convinces people nothing is wrong during a crisis. One author said that during a tornado warning, people 'would try to shame him into denial so they could remain calm'
#18
TIL that so many Chinese women get plastic surgery in South Korea that China now warns them to get a doctor’s note since their appearance no longer matches their passport
#19
TIL that Italian operas used to include an unimportant song sung by a side character to give the audience a last chance to get up a buy snacks while they were singing. These songs were called sorbet arias since sorbet was commonly sold at opera houses.
#20
TIL in the early 2000s, schools in Perth, Australia gave teenage girls infant simulator dolls that cried and fussed like real babies. The goal was to show how hard motherhood is and reduce teen pregnancy. Surprisingly, girls who got the dolls had higher pregnancy rates than those who didn’t.
Wild Cream 5 months ago
It’s like when my mum threatened to send me to some military-type school when I was being a bratty teenager. She tried to leave the pamphlet on my bed to scare me. Later she walked in on my sister and I going through the pamphlet, “omg they have horseback riding and archery! They have a swimming pool! Can we go?!” 😂
#21
TIL that during the filming of "The African Queen" (1951) on location in Uganda, many of the cast and crew became ill. During the filming of a scene where Katharine Hepburn played an organ, the crew kept a bucket off camera so she could vomit into it between takes
#22
TIL in about 50% of the cases studied, Coca-Cola alone was found to be effective at removing a type of bowel obstruction called phytobezoars (which consist of indigestible plant fibers). And when treatment with Coca-Cola is combined with additional endoscopic methods, the success rate approaches 90%
Michael P (Perthaussieguy) 5 months ago
I have a history of bowel obstruction issues. I'm on a diet severely limiting insoluble fibre. Perhaps I need to change my soft drink brand.
#23
TIL a Croatian woman died of unknown natural causes alone in her apartment; her body remained undisturbed for 42 years until it was discovered sitting in front of her TV in 2008. It's thought that the isolated position of the place allowed the decomposition to go unnoticed until mummification set in
#24
TIL the world’s largest fast food chain isn’t McDonald’s — it’s a Chinese ice cream and boba tea shop called Mixue, with more locations globally than any other brand.
The Majestic Opossum 5 months ago
According to my friendly neighborhood Google: "While McDonald's was previously the largest, Mixue's rapid expansion, particularly in Asia and Australia, has propelled it to the top. As of the end of 2023, McDonald's had 41,822 locations worldwide. Mixue, however, boasts approximately 45,000 locations."
#25
TIL that Richard Norris Williams survived the Titanic disaster, was told his legs should be amputated due to severe frostbite, but refused—and went on to win the U.S. National Tennis Championships.
The Majestic Opossum 5 months ago (edited)
He also broke down a door to save another passenger, and was yelled at by a crew member for damaging property 🙄. He and his father were some of the last to escape the ship, his father even asking someone to refill his flask while they waited. According to Wikipedia: "The ordeal left his legs so severely frostbitten that the Carpathia's doctor wanted to amputate them. Williams, who did not want his tennis career to be cut short, opted instead to work through the injury by simply getting up and walking around every two hours, around the clock. The choice worked out well for him: later that year, he won his first U.S. Tennis Championship, in mixed doubles, and went on to win many more championships including the Davis Cup with fellow survivor Karl Behr."
#26
TIL Over 80% of the world has never taken a flight.
Michael P (Perthaussieguy) 5 months ago
Take a look on 'flight radar 24' and be amazed at how many flights are in the air at any one time.
#27
TIL that Louis Joseph Xavier, a French prince, died after developing an injury from a fall that turned fatal. Louis said that he developed his injury after being pushed by a playmate, but he refused to say who pushed him so they would not be punished. He was only 9 years old.
#28
TIL In 1995, a boy was discovered with blood containing no trace of his father’s DNA due to an extremely rare case of partial human parthenogenesis, where the mother’s egg cell divided just prior to fertilization, making parts of his body genetically fatherless.
#29
TIL that the Y chromosome can disappear with age. About 35% of men aged 70 years old are missing a Y chromosome in some of their cells, with the degree of loss ranging between 4% and 70%.
#30
TIL Italy used to be the 4th largest economy on Earth in 1991, behind only the USA, Japan and Germany, however unsustainable budget deficits and massive public debt eventually caught up to them, flatlining their economic growth
#31
TIL that the Six Chinese survivors of the Titanic disaster were expelled from the United States within 24 hours of their arrival, due to the Chinese Exclusion Act which was in force between 1882 and 1943
#32
TIL For centuries, Borzoi dogs could not be purchased but only given as gifts from the Tsar. The breed was almost rendered extinct after the Russian Revolution, as the communists associated the breed with the upper classes and k***ed Borzoi dogs in large numbers.
#33
TIL supermarkets put fruits and veggies right at the entrance so you feel like you’ve made a healthy choice — giving you permission to grab junk food later without guilt. Meanwhile, essentials like milk are way at the back, forcing you to walk past all the snacks.
Geoffrey Scott 5 months ago
I suspect milk is at the back as that is where deliveries are made and it makes more sense to have your chillers in the back as well. Solution: Get your dairy last.
#34
TIL that lobsters don’t die of old age. They just keep growing and reproducing until something k**lls them.
Kabuki Kitsune 5 months ago
They kinda do die of old age, in a way. The older they get, the harder it becomes for them to shed their exoskeletons each year to grow. Eventually, they'll get to a point where they can no longer survive the process to shed their shell. Either they can't fully escape from the old shell, or the shell just doesn't split, and they die inside it.
#35
TIL that Roman emperor Nero participated in the Olympics in AD 67. He had bribed organizers to postpone the games for a year so he could participate and won every contest in which he was a competitor. After he died a year later, his name was removed from the list of winners
#36
TIL that in 1978, a man mailed himself from Australia to the UK in a wooden crate as cargo, and survived the 63-hour journey.
#37
TIL con artist Anthony Gignac once convinced American Express to issue him a platinum card with a $200 million credit limit under the name of an actual Saudi prince by claiming that failing to supply him with new card would anger his supposed dad, the king.
#38
TIL astronauts aboard the ISS do not wash or dry their clothes. They wear them until they're too dirty or stinky to wear, then they put them in a capsule and drop them into the atmosphere, where they burn up during re-entry.
Toothless Feline 5 months ago
It’s because water is too limited a commodity on the station to be used for laundry. They simply don’t have enough water storage to keep some available for laundry. Even personal cleansing is restricted to conserve water.
#39
TIL that with a net worth of $500 million, German Shepherd, Gunther IV is the world's richest dog. He inherited his fortune from his father, Gunther III, the previous richest dog in the world.
#40
TIL about the Barkley Marathon. It's a 100 mile long ultra marathon through the state of Tennessee with a 60h time limit. You can only apply by sending an essay on why you deserve to take part in it in addition with a 1.60$ entrance fee.
#41
TIL Starting in 1760 there was a forced land grab by wealthy landowners in Scotland that evicted thousands called the Highland Clearances, this was a major reason for the Scottish Diaspora.
Forrest Hobbs 5 months ago
More about this sorry tale here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_Clearances
#42
TIL in 2010, then stripper Bryan Hawn attempted to raise a 6-week old hyena, Jake, in a 1 bedroom apartment in Miami. This continued for 11 months, until Hawn was forced to re-home the hyena after it bit a friend, destroyed his plumbing, pooped everywhere, and broke his arm. They remain close.
Wild Cream 5 months ago
This reminds me of Mad Libs 😂 A (noun) and a (animal) live together in a (style of home) in (location)
#43
TIL The largest human-made structure visible from space is not the Great Wall of China but El Ejido, a large complex of plastic greenhouses in the province of Almería, southeastern Spain
Toothless Feline 5 months ago
The Great Wall isn’t even particularly visible from space. It’s very long, but also proportionately quite narrow. It’s like seeing a stray hair from ten feet away.
#44
TIL 74-year-old woman, with no priors, decided to rob a bank to handle financial ruin after being scammed by someone claiming to be from US Customs. She took full responsibility and is currently in prison.
Michael P (Perthaussieguy) 5 months ago
With a roof over her head, meals and health care. At her age, she may actually be better off
#45
TIL that James Bond creator, Ian Fleming had it written into his contract at The Times newspaper that he would spend 2 months a year in Jamaica. It was during these breaks that he decided to turn his hand to writing books, working for 3 hours each day.
#46
TIL that in 1960, three teenagers were brutally m******d while camping at Finland's Lake Bodom, and the case remains one of the country’s most infamous unsolved crimes.
#47
TIL Japan creates new land by burning garbage; they'd made over 250 sq km (96 sq miles) of it by 2012 using the ash
Day Andie 5 months ago
I don't know why this is so astounding. The US doesn't even bother to burn their garbage. They just bulldoze some dirt over their landfills, wait a couple years till people forget where the old dump was, and then build subdivisions over it. That's one of the reasons our local dump is so strict about tires. Yes, federal regs require they be kept separate. But the company that owns the landfill now sold the land the old dump is under. They now have a lawsuit because if tires are buried they tend to migrate upwards, and the people in the new subdivision are not happy finding old tires coming up in their lawns. There are lots of problems with building on landfills. They way they found out about all those problems is because they've done it often enough. https://north-construction.com/what-are-the-risks-of-building-on-a-retired-landfill-site/
#48
TIL the first recorded human fatality attributed to a leopard seal occurred in 2003 when biologist Kirsty Brown was k**led by one while conducting research snorkeling in Antarctica. The animal drowned her by holding her underwater for around six minutes at a depth of up to 230 feet (70m).
#49
TIL that doctors warn that sitting on the toilet for more than 10 minutes is bad for you
#50
TIL in 2017 a healthy 16-year-old boy died from drinking several highly-caffeinated drinks too quickly. He drank a McDonald's latte, a large Mountain Dew soft drink, and an energy drink in just under two hours, which caused a "caffeine-induced cardiac event causing a probable arrhythmia".
Ahnjunwan 5 months ago
Huh? The LD 50 for caffeine is about 10 gram for an adult, even of we reduce that to 5 gram since he was younger we are still talking about 50 cups of coffee. I doubt very much that he was a "healthy 16year old". Unless he did not have a condition he did not know about or mixed it with something very unhealthy, this is hard to believe. Also, like strange one mentioned, caffeine makes your system quite a bit active and he would have felt terrible and agitated. You can not just massively o******e caffeine, feel nothing odd and drop dead. I think we miss some information here. One more thing, mix caffeine with sugar and the effect is even worse, that could indeed push the effect of caffeine but still not enough to kiill you imo
#51
TIL a 32-year-old man’s habit of inhaling nitrous oxide via “whippits” left him unable to walk for 2 weeks before he visited an ER. He lost the use of his legs about 3 months after his habit began due to a condition caused by a deficiency of vitamin B12. He was successfully treated with B12 shots.
Auntriarch 5 months ago (edited)
Whippets, on the other hand, are an inexhaustible source of an entirely different gas....
#52
TIL that on February 19 2014, Omaha spree k**ler Nikko Jenkins filed a federal lawsuit seeking $24.5 million from the State of Nebraska for wrongfully releasing him from prison
#53
TIL that the longest time a criminal remained listed in the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list is 32 years, while the shortest time is just 2 hours
#54
TIL a teenager working at a haunted hayride felt awkward jumping out of the woods to scare people, so he took the place of a skeleton hanging by a noose in a tree. However, when he began struggling to remove the rope from his neck, everyone watching thought it was part of the act & watched him die.
#55
TIL that Jack White from The White Stripes got his last name from his then wife and bandmate, Meg White. They divorced in 2000 and continued touring together for decade, until they disbanded in 2011. Jack, who has re-married 2 times, still uses the "White" lastname to this day
Toothless Feline 5 months ago
Early in the band’s career, they claimed to be siblings. Some people believed it.
#56
TIL "Stark Raving Dad," the Simpsons episode guest-starring Michael Jackson, was removed from most Simpsons distribution, including a reprint of the season 3 dvds, after the 2019 documentary "Leaving Neverland" was relased.
#57
TIL that in 2014, the comedian Tracy Morgan was involved in a car collision with a Walmart trailer, k**ling his accompanying friend, and leaving Morgan with a broken femur and nose, brain injury, and broken ribs. He sued Walmart for negligence, and the company settled the lawsuit for $90 million.
Elwood Schwartz (it/that) 5 months ago
The accident was well covered news. TIL about the settlement.
#58
Today I learned that the G in G-Spot stands for Gräfenberg. Ernst Gräfenberg is the gynecologist who “discovered it”.
#59
TIL Cristiano Ronaldo does not drink alcohol. He even received libel damages over a Daily Mirror article that reported him drinking heavily in a nightclub while recovering from an injury in July 2008.
#60
TIL that for 8 years (1990-1998) Michael Jordan never lost 3 games in a row, tallying up to 626 games. The next closest is Stephen Curry at 314 games.
#61
TIL that after a 4 year old from Nebraska was declared brain dead in 1983, doctors kept his body "alive" for more than 20 years.
Tropical Tarot 5 months ago
It's not any worse than keeping a brain dead woman alive so she can have her baby against the wishes of her husband and the rest of her family. Oh wait this was this month near Atlanta Georgia.
#62
TIL The creator of Girls Gone Wild got the idea while working on compilations of violent videos for his Banned From Television series that was sold on infomercials. He is now living in Mexico to avoid numerous legal and a**se allegations.
StrangeOne 5 months ago
That guy always seemed scummy to me and those poor girls didn't know how they were being exploited for 0 pay.
#63
TIL in 2017 Facebook robots were shut down after they talked to each other in a language only they understood
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Becky Samuel 5 months ago
Oh noes! Three extra letters of reading has completely destroyed my experience! I must immediately complain about it!
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Oh noes! Three extra letters of reading has completely destroyed my experience! I must immediately complain about it!
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