30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics)
I hope you’ve got your thinking caps on and you’ve got plenty of dark chocolate that our brains love so much stacked somewhere nearby, dear Pandas, because we’re seriously going to push the limits of your mind today. They say that knowledge is power, and we’re about to make you very powerful, indeed.
We’re continuing our tradition of sharing the best posts shared on the ‘Today I Learned’ online community with all of you, so go on take a peek at what curious internet users were proud to have figured out about the world recently. As you’re scrolling down, don’t forget to upvote the facts that were new to you as well. And if you’ve got any other interesting TIL-worthy things to share with everyone, then the comment section is the place for you to share your knowledge.
When you’re done absorbing all the history, science, and other knowledge from this post, we cordially invite you to have a look at Bored Panda’s previous in-depth TIL articles here, here, and here. Enjoy!
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TIL In Kaziranga, a national park in north-eastern India rangers can shoot and kill poachers to protect the Indian one-horned rhinoceros with legal immunity, reducing rhino poaching.
Everyday, three rhinos are killed by poachers in South Africa, for their horns. At this rate, Rhinos might go into extinction by 2030. A 'shoot-at-sight' is the best way to stop this.
TIL after the holidays, the Rockefeller Christmas tree is cut into lumber for Habitat for Humanity homes
TIL that Gary Sinise, A.K.A. "Lieutenant Dan" from Forrest Gump, started the Gary Sinise Foundation in 2011, and it has raised $194 million for wounded veterans
The TIL online group is absolutely massive. Founded way back in late 2008, r/todayilearned has since then grown into a thriving community of 26.4 million people. They focus on sharing verified, trustworthy facts and avoid opinions and subjective interpretations.
In short, they do their darn best to check every single fact that gets posted on the subreddit. All with the help of the sprawling community, of course. If you want to be a valued member of the community, then you’ve got to be willing to put in the time and do at least some rudimentary research. What this means is being humble enough to admit when you’re wrong and when you don’t like the facts.
TIL In 1975 Elvis went to see a movie with his gf. He was spotted by fans and they went crazy. His gf walks up and pranks the fans saying to Elvis, "Charlie, you're not using that Elvis bit again are you? Come on, you're not telling these people that you're Elvis again are you? The fans left.
TIL After Ayrton Senna's death, it was discovered he secretly donated an estimated $400 million of his personal fortune to help poor children
TIL women in Viking Age Scandinavia did enjoy an unusual degree of freedom for their day. They could own property, request a divorce and reclaim their dowries if their marriages ended.
Not too long ago, I had an in-depth chat about learning things on the internet and choosing our future paths in education with Steven Wooding, a member of the Institute of Physics in the United Kingdom.
He told Bored Panda that the internet “can be both” a tool for good and evil, for education and distraction. It all depends on how we use this tool.
"The internet reflects the world around it, so everything you find in the world will also appear on the internet. I see it as a great shortcut to information (gone are the days of having to visit a library) that can speed up your learning and ability to do things," Steven told Bored Panda earlier.
TIL Indonesia put a nation wide stop on manta ray fishing after it was calculated that a single animal is worth an estimated US$1 million over its lifetime in tourism versus its value of $40-$500 when killed
TIL Sir Paul McCartney's mother (Mary McCarthy) died when he was just 14 years old. He struggled with the grief for around 8 years, until one night she appeared to him in a dream saying things like "Don't worry, live your life, let it be". From this he wrote the world famous Beatles song "Let it be"
Oh my goodness. I just understood the part "When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me". I thought it was a reference to Mary, the mother of god
TIL that in 1993 the Barbie Liberation Organization switched the voice boxes on talking G.I. Joes and Barbie dolls causing the barbies to say phrases like "vengeance is mine" and G.I. Joes to say "The beach is the place for summer." 300 to 500 dolls were modified.
If Barbie says it it's psycho, but if Joe does it it's super cool. Double standards.
According to Steven if we find ourselves constantly distracted and unable to focus while online, we should set clear boundaries for learning, work, and entertainment. “Set aside specific times for studying and other times for fun,” he suggested.
Few of us are strangers to burnout. In Steven’s view, burnout and apathy ambush us if things get too stressful or too boring.
“I believe that burnout awaits us at the two ends of a graph in the shape of an inverted letter 'U.' The graph represents the level of difficulty of what we're doing. If it is too high (e.g., we get too stressed, feel too insecure), we will eventually give up. But the same happens when the difficulty level is too low: when we're doing exactly the same thing over and over again," he told me.
TIL Molly Brown survived the Titanic and was rescued by the Carpathia. Aboard the Carpathia, a battered Brown did what she could to help the other survivors, including raising money from the wealthy to help poor passengers. Her acts of heroism earned her the nickname "the Unsinkable Mrs. Brown."
TIL of Cain's Jawbone by Edward Powys Mathers, a 1934 mystery novel printed with its 100 pages out of order. To solve the puzzle, readers must determine the correct page order as well the names of both the six murderers and six victims. The mystery has only ever been solved by three people.
TIL of Herman Francis Mark, an Austrian scientist and son of a Jew, who chose to flee Austria in 1938. He clandestinely bought platinum wire, worth roughly $50,000, which he bent into coat hangers while his wife knitted covers so that the hangers were able to be taken out of the country.
For a period of time after the rise to power of Hitler/ the Nazis, Jews were allowed to leave Germany, but have to leave their fortune behind. So he was smuggling his money out of country.
"My little secret for avoiding apathy is giving myself little challenges, difficulties, or assumptions that I need to stick to during my tasks. This way, I can polish my skills, avoid burnout, and (as a bonus side effect) get better results over time. Try to be conscious of 'the burnout curve'—and adjust your life's challenges so that they always hit somewhere near the top of the curve,” Steven said.
The expert opened up about how we should pick our path for college and university if we’re feeling unable to choose. In his opinion, we should listen to our hearts. “Don’t choose based on things like the job you could get, as you’ll always be wishing you were doing the thing that really interests you," he said.
"If you have no idea, ask yourself what subject at school did you enjoy most? Or what other activity do you find yourself doing? Can that be a starting point as to what to study at university?"
TIL Dr. Charles R. Drew, an African American, developed improved techniques for blood storage, which saved thousands of Allied forces' lives during WWII. In 1942, however, he resigned as director of the first American Red Cross Blood Bank because of their exclusion of African-Americans' blood.
People were pretty dumb back then. The color of one's skin has no relationship with the blood in one's veins. Wait, people are still dumb now.
TIL a Brazilian priest strapped himself to 1000 balloons as a fundraising event for truckers. He set off into the sky and then disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean. His body was recovered months later.
TIL that a hurricane hit Hawaii when Jurrasic Park was filming. The sets were destroyed and the cast and crew were stranded in a leaking hotel ballroom. Steven Spielberg played cards with the kids for hours and told them stories to distract them. Real footages of the hurricane were added to the film
TIL of the end of Brazil's monarchy. The last emperor; Pedro II's liberal regime pushed for women's rights, ended slavery, gave power to the parliament and respected freedom of speech. But he was overthrown, exiled and replaced by a republican regime that was practically a military dictatorship.
TIL the classic Kong dog toy was created after an auto-repair shop owner's dog kept chewing a VW Bus suspension part
TIL that On July 21, 1972, George Carlin was arrested and charged with violating obscenity laws after performing his famous "Seven Dirty Words" routine at Milwaukee's Summerfest. He would go on to be arrested a total of seven times for reciting that same routine.
For all the you rightwing culture warriors out there this is what a real violation of freedom of speech looks likes, it's not a bunch of people complaining or boycotting an artist because of something they said it's the government actually taking punitive actions against a civilian for stuff they said, which even then there are agreed upon limits such as passing information on how to make a bomb etc.
TIL in 1944, a 21 year old tail gunner of a Lancaster Bomber jumped from his aircraft after being shot down over Germany. He fell 18,000 ft without a parachute and survived with a sprained leg as his only injury.
Back in my day we did not have fancy parachutes to save us if we got into trouble in the air we just jumped and walked it off, all you kids and your gravity kills this and your slow your descent that!
AND we walked Uphill both ways 5 miles to school with just cardboard and string for shoes!!!
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Actually, Vesna Vulović, a Serbian flight attendant survived the parachute fall from 10 160 meters, which is about 33,333 ft, and survived. She holds the Guinness world record still. Look her up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesna_Vulovi%C4%87
My grandfather was a tail gunner on a Lancaster too, but he was fortunate enough to come home after 32 missions. Tail gunners had one of the highest fatality rates among crew members because a) they were first to be targeted by enemy aircraft and b) there wasn't enough room for a parachute in the tail turret. Their bravery and courage was off the charts!
A standard tour of operations was 30 completed operations. Completed meaning bombs dropped over the target - if you returned early without dropping your bombs, the mission didn’t count towards your total. However, once the Pathfinders were introduced, they were required to complete an extended tour of 45 operations. Many did more of course. Freddie Johnson survived the war after completing 91 missions as a rear gunner and being shot down twice. My father was a Gunner, flew Lancasters during WWII, so it's something that has always been of interest.
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Nicholas Alkemade discovered his parachute was on fire and having to choose between burning to death or the sudden, relatively merciful death from impact, went with the latter. He landed in deep snow among some young pines that broke his fall. He sprained his knee and unable to move and facing hypothermia, blew his survival whistle until some German civilians found him. The Gestapo refused to believe his story, accusing him of being a spy and burying his chute. Only when the wreckage of his plane was found with his burned parachute where he had described it did they accept his remarkable story.
He was slowed down by snow covered fir trees and landed in snow, that ultimately saved his life. Witness by a German patrol, treated like a guest after he left hospital.
The sound of a Lancaster bomber is unlike any other plane I've heard. When you hear it, you just know it's a Lancaster.
I live near the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, and they will fly the Lancaster on special occasions. It's awesome to see
Load More Replies... I remember a story similar (it could be the same one) about an American tail gunner. His parachute was useless, the aircraft was going down so he jumped anyway. He crashed through a bunch of trees and broke both legs. The Luftwaffe found him, brought him back to their base and threw a huge party for him before the gestapo came and took him away.
Edited to add--I just noticed the footer, is this Cpl Phil Major or is it the author? Please cite your source. This sounds like my grandfather's story, Alfred J Cote. He landed in an orchard, broken leg. A farmer's family hid him and helped him but finally gave him to the authorities. He went to a concentration camp and survived. Please, any further info would be appreciated as he passed away and I could never find more info...
Unfortunately they were busy when all the other millions were dying in the same war.
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I know the story. He fell through a dense canopy of pine trees and then on very thick snow. The Germans who captured him at first tried to shoot him as a spy, believing he had hidden the parachute, but later they found their parachute still on the plane where he said the plane had crashed.
People should stop denying the presence of miracles and things we cannot explain with logic and science. They happen every day, which is why people survive the unthinkable.
His fall was broken by pine trees and a deep, soft snow cover on the ground. In this instance there is logic and science.
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He fell into snow covered large trees that cushioned his fall. And when you think that humans terminal velocity is approx 140 mph that’s all it has to slow you from.
From that height, you want to land in some soft bushes, high grass, maybe a tree. Water pretty much feels like concrete at that point.
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TIL that a pilot's 16 year old son was allowed to sit at the plane's cockpit of an Aeroflot flight while it was on autopilot. He disengaged the autopilot, triggering a series of events which led to the plane crashing and the death of all 63 passengers and 12 crew onboard.
TIL that a couple days before the deadly eruption of Mt. Pelee in 1902, the town of St. Pierre was plagued by in invasion of giant centipedes and pit vipers, claiming the lives of 50 people.
TIL teenagers take more risk not only due to an undeveloped frontal cortex, but also due to higher dopamine response that provides greater rewards for novel activities
TIL after the massive success of his #1 hit "Somebody That I Used to Know", Gotye stopped recording solo music, went back to his old band and hasn't released a song under the Gotye name ever since
TIL the original John Hughes cut of "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" ran 3.5 hours because there was so much improv between Steve Martin and John Candy, and that that cut is probably lost forever.
TIL two thirds of Argentina's population is of Italian heritage. They fled there for economic opportunities and to escape devastating wars. It is the only other country besides Italy with an Italian heritage majority population.
TIL that in 1924, a tunnel network was discovered underneath Washington D.C. Speculation behind the network's origins included a Confederate hideout or a liquor depot for bootleggers; they were actually dug by the Smithsonian Institute's entomologist Harrison G. Dyar, who 'did it for exercise'.
TIL Utqiagvik, Alaska. People often call the town "the top of the world," When the sun sets on November 18, it will stay below the horizon until January 23, resulting in a polar night that lasts for about 66 days.
TIL that the most successful predator in Africa is the African wild dog. If a pack targets a prey, there’s an 85% chance they’ll bring it down successfully
African wild dogs are probably the best candidate for the Hollywood cliche of a predator that hunts the protagonist to unreasonable lengths. Predators will give up if you seem too difficult to catch (unlike Hollywood depictions). But wild dogs, once they've decided you're food, not much can change their mind. They are terrifying hunters. Definitely an animal that I wouldn't want to meet when I'm lost.
TIL Elvis Presley Never Wrote Any of His Own Songs despite being one of the most recognizable musicians of all time.
TIL Richard Scrushy, charged with masterminding $2.7 billion fraud case, came up with a novel strategy: "[play] the religion card" and become a televangelist to curry favor with jurors (the trial was held in Alabama). He was acquitted of all charges.
Note: this post originally had 75 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
TIL the programming language 'Python' got its name from the show "Monty Python's Flying Circus"
TIL the programming language 'Python' got its name from the show "Monty Python's Flying Circus"
