ADVERTISEMENT

"Today I Learned", often shortened as TIL, is an online expression typically used in the title of a post or thread when introducing an interesting fact or trivia that had been previously unknown to the poster, in a similar way to the phrase "did you know?".

Bored Panda already introduced you to the concept when we covered the "Today I Learned" subreddit with nearly 24 million members. But TIL posts are all over the Internet not just Reddit, so why stop there? This time, we put together a list of some of the best "Today I Learned" trivia gems we could find online, so get your notebooks out and enjoy.

#1

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL that in 1920, the town of Jackson, Wyoming elected an all-female town council by a margin of 2-1 over the men, drawing the most voters the town had ever seen. Known as the "pettycoat rulers," the women served for 3 years and did a great deal to clean up the notoriously lawless town.

featheredoctopus Report

#2

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL there’s a cemetery in the Netherlands consisting of 8,300 US veterans who died in WWII. For the past 70 years, Dutch families have come to the cemetery every Sunday to care for a grave they adopted. Hundreds of people are currently on a waiting list to become caretakers.

HeadbangerNeckInjury Report

Add photo comments
POST
anne-karina avatar
Anne
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We are still grateful to those that gave all so we could be free.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#4

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL that in during WW2, an American bomber -*ye olde pub*- was nearly shot down. A German fighter gave chase and once in range, he noticed the dead and injured crew and the terror in the pilots face. He didn’t attack and escorted the plane. Both pilots survived the war and finally met in 1990

war_duck Report

Add photo comments
POST
antonicabre avatar
Anton Kider
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Franz Stigler and Charlie Brown. They became good friends and passed away months apart in 2008.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
#5

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL Prairie dog language is complex. They don’t just have a call for “danger”: their calls differentiate human, hawk, domesticated dog, coyote etc. and specify size & color. One study found that they can communicate “Here comes the short human in the yellow” (vs the tall human in blue) to each other

lord_of_the_bees Report

#6

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL that Bill Murray once drove a taxi cab so that the cab driver could spend time playing saxophone in the backseat. The cab driver mentioned that he never had time to play his sax since he had to work 14 hours a day. Murray took the driver’s seat so that he could finally play some tunes.

pnutbuttafly Report

#7

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL of Ken Allen, a Borneo orangutan in the San Diego Zoo who escaped his enclosure three times. He never acted aggressively towards anyone during his escapes, and generally wandered around the zoo looking at other animals.

nitrokitty Report

Add photo comments
POST
justathought avatar
Joonscrab
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It hurts my heart to see so many animals just confined to a small patch of land for the entirety of their lives. Zoos deserve to be banned.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#8

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

Risika94 Report

Add photo comments
POST
oht_89 avatar
Olof T
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Maybe squirrels are forgetful as survival strategy. They forget enough nuts to plant more trees which gives them... more nuts. If they where to efficient at gathering nuts they might wipe out the trees and thus themselves.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
#9

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL the founder of Hyundai was born to an impoverished family of peasants in what is now North Korea. In 1998, he sent 1001 cows to his hometown in North Korea as a repayment 1000 times over for a cow that he stole in the early 1930s to afford his train ticket to Seoul and escape from poverty.

soyfox Report

ADVERTISEMENT
#10

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL That Aki Ra, a former Khmer Rouge child soldier has personally found and/or destroyed over 50,000 land mines. He now trains bomb experts, curates a mine museum, and advocates for demining and the victims of mines.

Wordwind , wikipedia Report

Add photo comments
POST
ceredwynealanta avatar
monika-soffronow avatar
Monika Soffronow
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The Trump Administration's decision to cancel a policy to eliminate all antipersonnel landmines reverses years of steady steps toward alignment with the 1997 treaty banning the weapons, Human Rights Watch said today.Jan 31, 2020

Load More Replies...
kathrynbaylis_2 avatar
Kathryn Baylis
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Talk about taking something awful from childhood and totally turning it around to do good!

delphinum4 avatar
monika-soffronow avatar
Monika Soffronow
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines was in fact awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1997/icbl/facts/

Load More Replies...
instant_karma_72 avatar
Lisa Bo Bisa
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thank you, Sir! Just yesterday I was reading about Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge. Unbelievable that things like this happen is relatively modern times.

monika-soffronow avatar
Monika Soffronow
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We humans are at our absolute destructive worst whenever someone amasses enough power to try to force their vision, be that political or religious, for "the perfect world order" onto society.

Load More Replies...
sylwia-ania-janiak avatar
Esca Sav
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What country uses rats to find land mines? I remember there was something about their light weight not setting them off so they were perfect for locating them. Edit: Cambodia. Highly recommend to read about it, too.

sanukjim avatar
James F. Wilson Jr.
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The United States to this day still finances a lot of cost to the removal of those mines.

monika-soffronow avatar
monika-soffronow avatar
Monika Soffronow
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"The International Campaign to Ban Landmines is a global network in some 100 countries that works for a world free of antipersonnel landmines, where landmine survivors can lead fulfilling lives." http://www.icbl.org/en-gb/home.aspx

Load More Replies...
View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#11

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL in the 1790s, an Oxford student introduced using guano (bird poop) as fertiliser. He spread guano across the university lawn, using it to spell G U A N O. The lawn was soon scrubbed, but when spring came, the word GUANO was clearly visible, growing higher and thicker than the rest of the grass

malalatargaryen Report

#12

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

JPEGuin Report

Add photo comments
POST
wandiledludlu avatar
wandile dludlu
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I thought it was always weird to have a paper airplane for sent since those things never end up where you throw them

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#13

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL that elephants are tremendous distance swimmers. They can swim for up to six hours and 25 miles (48km). They are so buoyant that if they tire in the water, they can just rest by floating and will not sink. They can also use their trunk as a snorkel and dive.

itsmelen Report

#14

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL in 1980 the FBI formed a fake company and attempted to bribe members of congress. Nearly 25% of those tested accepted the bribe, and were convicted.

MildlySuspicious Report

ADVERTISEMENT
#15

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL scientists used 2,000 year old seeds to regrow an extinct species of date tree. The tree long disappeared from the Judean desert but archeologists found seeds on digs. Surprisingly, the seeds worked and grew a male and female of the species. They hope to use them to produce biblical era dates.

_MikePossibly_ Report

#16

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL that in the Falklands, an abandoned minefield has accidentally become a penguin sanctuary. The mines were set in the Falklands conflict and have remained there since, keeping humans away. The local Magellanic penguins are too small to set them off and have thrived in the area.

chubwhump Report

#17

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL The holes in honeycombs don't actually start out as hexagons. Bees create circular tubes staggered with one another. The heat formed by the activity of the bees softens the wax, which connects the gaps between the holes. Then the wax hardens into the the most energy efficient shape, the hexagon.

KKyata Report

#18

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL that when Eli Wallach, who played "The Ugly" in "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly," arrived in Madrid to shoot the movie, all hotels were full. He ended up having to sleep in the same bed as Clint Eastwood and later often bragged that he was the only man who ever slept with Clint Eastwood.

JordanCurtain Report

ADVERTISEMENT
#19

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL Not only do bats make high-pitched sounds for echolocation, many bat species also sing. A team of scientists that analyzed one species’ song translated it as a sequence that opens with a hello, then a gender identification, then some geographic information, & then a "let's talk" section.

lord_of_the_bees Report

#20

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL that the founder of Old Bay seafood seasoning founded his own company after being fired by McCormick after two days on the job after they found out he was Jewish

spartan6222 , wikipedia Report

#21

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

todayyearsoldig Report

Add photo comments
POST
nicky_colohan avatar
IlovemydogShilo
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There are a lot of things in Sponge Bob Square pants like this because Stephen Hillenburg creator of Sponge Bod was a Marine Biologist.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#22

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL that Alan Alda met his wife of over 60 years at a dinner party when they were the only two guests who ate the rum cake after it fell on the kitchen floor.

zirfeld Report

Add photo comments
POST
davenyc88 avatar
Dave P
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Always nice to hear about celebs in long term happy marriages, in fact good to hear about anyone who can be married that long happily.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#23

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL Harry Houdini wanted to prevent people from copying his "Chinese water torture cell" trick, but didn't want to patent it, as that would require explaining how it works. So he gave a performance of the trick as a one-act play before an audience of one, and then filed for a copyright on the play

malalatargaryen Report

ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#25

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL The formal clothing of the Roman Citizen was the Toga. During Roman elections, those running for political office would rub their Toga with a dazzling white chalk to stand out. Called Toga Candida (pure-white) this clothing was the origin of the word "candidate".

bildungsromance Report

#26

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL Chris Evans turned down the Captain America role multiple times because of Anxiety, fear of a 10-movie commitment and the public spotlight. He went to therapy before taking the role

Tunga88 Report

#27

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL: 44% of adults have held on to their childhood teddies and dolls, and as many as 34% of adults still sleep with a soft toy every night

diacewrb Report

#28

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL wild orangutans use medicinal plants to sooth joint and muscle inflammation. The apes chew leaves of the Dracaena cantleyi plant to create a white lather, which they then rub onto their bodies. Local indigenous people also use the plant for the same purpose.

QuietCakeBionics Report

Add photo comments
POST
nadinebamberger avatar
Nadine Bamberger
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Please don't use anything containing palm oil, plantations are the main reason for the extinction of these amazing creatures.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#29

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL the red stuff dropped from airplanes to put out forest fires also acts as a fertilizer.

aiandi Report

Add photo comments
POST
leilaodinis avatar
LeilaOdinis
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A guy on a fire crew left his truck up on the bush during the fight during fire season in British Columbia (early 90's when I heard since my Father was on one of the crews) Buddy was new and didn't know about the retardant and what was in it or cared. The others on the crew told him to move his truck before the bomber came by with a sweep in the areathey were in. He ignored them and continued on his way. The other firefighters shrugged and went back to the line. The bomber flew over right where he left his truck. It dropped its cargo. The guys truck and interior was a fresh new red color that couldn't come out of the original white upholstery.

View more commentsArrow down menu
#30

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL of Miguel Wattson, an electric eel from Tennessee with its own Twitter account. Whenever he discharges a large enough jolt, a tweet will be automatically send out to his account EelectricMiguel. Apart from sending tweets, he also helps power up Christmas trees at the aquarium.

qmzwnxo Report

#31

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

engineers_feed Report

#32

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL in 1506, a 1000+ year old statue was unearthed. The main figure, Laocoön, was missing an arm. The pope commissioned a contest to find who would recreate the missing arm best. Michelangelo's version lost. In 1906 the original arm was found and in nearly the exact pose Michelangelo had sculpted.

DoctorStrangeBlood Report

Add photo comments
POST
marinamercouri avatar
Beatrice Multhaupt
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It has been suggested that Michelangelo earned a living as an art forger before he became famous (Laocoön was found in the back yard of the art dealer who declared it an authentic antique). This would indeed explain how M. knew exactly where to position the arm.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#33

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

nicodebenito Report

Add photo comments
POST
justathought avatar
Joonscrab
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What a way to convert a horrible view into something that draws people into the cafe instead of just putting a solid wall to hide it! It's not stupid if it works!

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
See Also on Bored Panda
#34

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL in 2007, 33-year-old Steve Way weighed over 100kg, smoked 20 cigarettes a day & ate junk food regularly. In order to overcome lifestyle-related health issues, he started taking running seriously. In 2008, he ran the London Marathon in under 3 hours and, in 2014, he set the British 100 km record

suzukigun4life Report

#35

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

l_loppezz Report

Add photo comments
POST
joycemelton avatar
Joyce Melton
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Some sharks bear live young. And in some of those species, the sharklets battle each other for survival, loser gets eaten--before they're even born!

View more commentsArrow down menu
#37

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL - A man suffering from gastrointestinal distress in a Kansas Home Depot mens room provided a friendly warning to other bathroom goers by saying: “You need to get out of here because I’m fixin’ to blow it up.” Police were called on suspicion of a bomb threat. No charges were laid.

fraggle_captain Report

#38

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL The Tollund Man, who lived during the 4th Century BC, was so well preserved on discovery that that he was mistaken for a recent murder victim. His internal organs were intact; it was concluded that his last meal was porridge consisting of 40 kinds of seeds, eaten 12 to 24 hours before his death.

DerVampyrRusticana Report

#39

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

leenslemontree Report

Add photo comments
POST
monika-soffronow avatar
Monika Soffronow
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Fifteen states have a population of less than two million, of these there are seven states with less than one million people. The smallest is Wyoming with about 580,000 residents. Each state is represented by two senators in the Senate. This means that one senator from Wyoming represents 290.000 people and that one senator from California represents almost 19 million people. Do you see anything wrong with this picture? If the scales were tilted the other way around, (19.000.000X1,53%=290.700) this would give us 290.000X1.53%=4.437 which is about the population of the small town of Portola Valley in California.

View more commentsArrow down menu
#40

People-Share-Today-I-Learned-Interesting-Facts

TIL that when future US President Lyndon B. Johnson was Senate majority leader, he instructed his staff to make his scotch and soda significantly weaker than his guest’s, so that he could keep a clearer head

malalatargaryen Report

Add photo comments
POST
sasyscarborough avatar
Sasy
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Also the reason for Bonds martini to be shaken not stirred, more shaking causes ice to melt watering down the drink.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu

Note: this post originally had 111 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.