Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
then open in external browser
and click "Open in External Browser" 
50 Interesting “Today I Learned” Facts If You Are Sick And Tired Of The News (New Pics)
There’s an endless amount of curious and fascinating knowledge out there in the world, and discovering it is part of what makes life exciting. Sadly, we can’t learn it all, even if we devoted years and years to the task. What we can do, however, is take it in bite-sized pieces—something that’s both manageable and genuinely enjoyable.
A perfect place for that is the Today I Learned community on Reddit. There, as the name suggests, people share unexpected and memorable facts they’ve come across. Below, you’ll find a fresh collection of the most intriguing ones.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
TIL after singer George Michael passed it was revealed he had anonymously donated generous amounts of money to multiple charities large and small, and to needy individuals, and would secretly volunteer at a homeless shelters
glowworm2 16 hours ago
This is the way you do it. No bells and whistles or fanfares. Just quietly being a good person.
Cee Cee 12 hours ago
There was a George Michael programme last night on the BBC. He met a woman on a game show. She missed out on the money prize which she wanted for IVF treatment. George quietly paid. Woman had a girl. People only found out after he'd passed and the family asked permission to say what he'd done for them.
Load More Replies...
Multa Nocte 17 hours ago (edited)
That's sweet. Do you think Elon might ever . . . Oh, sorry, wrong universe.
Nikole 17 hours ago
So I watch the show "Loot" that stars Maya Rudolph as a billionaire who has her own foundation and uses her wealth to help people (it's funny and dear - recommend). Melinda Gates had a very brief cameo in the latest episode. SHE is how billionaires should be.
Load More Replies...
Colleen Glim 14 hours ago
His tortured soul roams the earth from November first to December 31. I amuse myself by counting how many times I hear Last Christmas. There seems to be an unwritten law of the multiverse that says you are not a real musician unless you have covered this song
Julie S 1 hour ago
Have you heard of Whamaggeddon? You have to try to go from 1st December till midnight Christmas eve without hearing Last Christmas, I lost on 1st of December.
Load More Replies...
G A 14 hours ago
It's a shame he got a bad rep due to his s*x and d**g related antics during his life.
Geobugi🇰🇷🇰🇭 3 hours ago
It really is. I allways liked him and can not understand how it is anybodies business who he is having s*x with and where as long as both are consent. As far as i know he did not m****t people, did not affect other people with taking some d***s, still the press made him look like he was the worst pervert who ever walked and nobody cared about all the good things he did. I think the man was just not very lucky in life ☹️
Load More Replies...
RELATED:
#2
TIL The Netherlands has been closing prisons due to a significantly low prison population, which is a result of decreasing crime rates, shorter sentences, and a focus on rehabilitation. Around 19 prisons have been shut down since 2009.
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 18 hours ago
Why cannot other countries follow what the Netherlands are doing? It's obviously working?
Lotekguy 18 hours ago
It certainly won't happen wherever prisons are privatized
Load More Replies...
Jaya 18 hours ago
They closed too many, to save costs. And now the need for prisons has gone up again, and now there's a shortage. The Dutch government isn't very good at looking further ahead than 4 years. Same thing with Covid. "The amount of people who need hospital care is going down, we're gonna disassemble everything." Few months later: "Oh no, there's a new wave (like everyone predicted), now we have to deny people hospital care because it takes time to assemble everything again."
Bartlet for world domination 18 hours ago
True. We still have happy children and low crime rates, but things like housing and infrastructure are suffering from a lack of planning ahead.
Load More Replies...
Colleen Glim 14 hours ago
Tbf the American mind cannot comprehend anything that isn’t for profit
Load More Replies...
Riley Quinn 16 hours ago
Well, I hope the US doesn't do something this reckless or we'll lose our place as #1 in the world - for incarceration. /s
Rob D 4 hours ago
Only place in the world where you find freedom plastered all over everyone's g*****n t-shirt. And we jail more people than anyone. Blindly "back the blue" but "don't tread on me". Also deifying the military. Okaaaay. Hey MAGAt, when that government you hate and distrust so much does come for you. Who do you think they're gonna send? Conservative hypocrisy #6489.
Bartlet for world domination 6 hours ago
Got $5300? That's what it takes. Look up DAFT (treaty) on Wikipedia.
Load More Replies...
Anne Roberts 1 minute ago (edited)
Meanwhile, here in the U.S., prison populations are growing. An inmate should have the chance to better themselves through education, counselling, and job training. In this country it seems that prisons are solely for punishment..
#3
Today I learned that in the 2000's, the people in charge of Sesame Street's budget wanted the show to have 25 episodes per season, but the show's staff insisted upon doing 26 episodes per season so that each letter of the alphabet would be the letter of the day for one episode.
Rick Murray 1 hour ago
I wonder how much work it took to explain the alphabet to the bean counters? ;)
Chewie Baron 14 hours ago
Never took off in the UK, did Sesame Street. Four times they tried. The Muppets however, a massive success.
#4
TIL David Bowie declined the honor to be knighted twice: “I seriously don’t know what it’s for. It’s not what I spent my life working for.”
Michael Largey 19 hours ago
Many of prominent people have declined knighthoods (and damehoods). One explained "Being a knight will only mean my tailor charges me more."
Auntriarch 9 hours ago
It's a load of bollox is what it is. How else would David Attenborough be only a sir when Dickie was a lord
Norfolk and good 16 hours ago (edited)
It just means he was offered a Knighthood twice and turned it down both times. A Knighthood/Damehood is the highest ranking Order of the British Empire level. Although, it is technically possible to be Knighted more than once as David Attenborough has been. He was awarded the Knight Grand Cross on top of his already existing Knighthood. Honours are announced twice a year- on New Year's Eve and the King's offical birthday in June (just to confuse matters, the King's actul birthday is in November and his mother's was in April but since George II, a monarch's birthday is celebrated in June to avoid the bitter UK winter weather). It's not just famous people who are given honours. They are awarded to anyone who has made a significant contribution in their field so teachers, nurses, charity workers etc.
Load More Replies...
#5
TIL when Monty Python's Life of Brian was released in 1979, its religious satire subject matter was highly controversial. It was banned by 11 local councils in the UK, nationwide in Norway and Ireland. The film was marketed in Sweden with the tag line "So funny it was banned in Norway."
Dilly Millandry 18 hours ago
The Bishop of Southwark, Mervyn Stockwood (who represented the Church of England), and Roman Catholic journalist Malcolm Muggeridge missed the first 10-15 minutes of the film when they viewed it privately before their famous 1979 debate with John Cleese and Michael Palin on the BBC show Friday Night, Saturday Morning. The opening minutes of the film are crucial because they clearly establish that Brian Cohen, the main character, is a separate individual born next door to Jesus, and not Jesus Christ himself. This distinction was the central point of the Pythons' defense against accusations of blasphemy. Yet The Meaning of Life (not critcised or targeted the same way at all) was far more "heretical" and explicitly targeted the core tenets of religion and the Church, while Life of Brian primarily satirised blind devotion, hypocrisy, and human behaviour within organised groups. So much for the religious bods!
G A 14 hours ago (edited)
That Bishop was wearing a foot long crucifix during that interview like he was Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Load More Replies... Multa Nocte 17 hours ago
Went to see this with my mother at the movie theatre when it came out and we came very close to dying during the "Biggus Dickus" scene.
Upstaged75 15 hours ago
In high school drama class we had to bring in a video clip from a movie that we thought was moving. One guy brought that scene. 😂
Load More Replies... 
T'Mar of Vulcan 10 hours ago
We must fight them! -The People's Front of Judea? - No, the Romans!
Load More Replies...
Oskar vanZandt 18 hours ago
Very popular amongst Canadian university students in the 90s... *stoning scene*
T'Mar of Vulcan 10 hours ago (edited)
Not the Nine o'Clock News (the 1980s sketch show with various comedians including Rowan Atkinson) did a take-off of the whole Life of Brian Thing. "The film is not about Python. The Xst figure just happens to have been born in the same place as John Cleese..." - "Come on, even the initials, JC!" - "No, no, the Xst figure is not Cleese! Have we forgotten how often he suffered for us? How often the sketches failed? As you know, when two or three Python fans are gathered together they shall perform the parrot sketch." - "It is an ex-parrot." - (All) "It has ceased to be." (Look it up; it is hilarious.)
Geoffrey Scott 6 hours ago
The woman washing dishes."plop...waaaaaah!...pick that (newborn baby) up will you?"
#6
TIL that a restaurant owner in Kentucky intentionally flooded his own restaurant with clean water to protect it from an incoming river flood.
jocax188723:
It’s like a positive pressure clean room.
Any water will be pushed out by the clean stuff and the mucky water has no way in.
All he has to worry about is water damage. No debris, no mud.
Really clever.
Nikki Sevven 15 hours ago
I mean, it's not like they could count on their congressional reps and senators to help them.
LookASquirrel 12 hours ago
There was text from the article in the Reddit link and it said they are in a flood plain near the Ohio River so they can't get insurance so this was a better idea. It's a brick building so it helped make it possible.
#7
TIL about Kotaku Wamura, who served as the mayor of the village of Fudai, Iwate between 1947 and 1987. During his tenure, he spent ¥3.56 billion on building a floodgate, which was derided as being a waste of funds. When the 2011 tsunami hit, the gate saved the village from the destruction.
#8
TIL that the Nuremberg Charter's definition of "crimes against humanity", which was used in the Nuremberg Trials, includes only acts committed during a war of aggression. This was partly because the US was concerned that Jim Crow segregation would otherwise be considered a crime against humanity.
Daisydaisy 18 hours ago
As it was, of course. And the treatment of First Nations people around the world
Geoffrey Scott 6 hours ago
Which is why I've gotten in trouble with those who demand reparations "You DO realize it is a long line, right? At the front are the Seminole, the Souix, the Chippewa...
Load More Replies... Michael Largey 17 hours ago
Today's GOP essentially renounced Nuremberg by denouncing Democrats who reminded members of the military that they had a duty to disobey an illegal order.
#9
TIL that when President McKinley was [hit] in 1901, the best surgeon around was knee-deep in a complex operation. When told he was needed elsewhere, he replied that he could not leave, not even for the President. Even after he was told who his new patient was, he remained put and finished his work.
geezeronthehill 18 hours ago
"McKinley he hollered, McKinley he squalled. The doctor told McKinley, 'son, I cannot find that ball. You're bound to die, you're bound to die.'"
#10
TIL Daniel Schorr, the journalist who read Nixon's infamous enemies list on TV live, discovered his own name was in the list while reading it.
Michael Largey 18 hours ago
It was a badge of pride, of course. But people on the list were often subject to punitive tax audits and other forms of harassment.
Multa Nocte 17 hours ago
It's a good thing that US presidents no longer have enemies lists. Well, YOU know . . . .
Mari 13 hours ago
Trump prefers to show his enemies list rather than his friends list...
Load More Replies... 
#11
TIL that a dude in England stumbled on a buried Roman treasure worth $6,000,000 out metal-detectoring for a lost hammer.
Sue User 17 hours ago
Fine. Take my upvote. But consider it your Christmas present.
Load More Replies...
rustyscate 15 hours ago
the man who found the Roman treasure while looking for a hammer, Eric Lawes, was paid a substantial reward of £1.75 million, which he split with the farmer, Peter Whatling, under UK Treasure Act laws, and he eventually found the hammer too, which is now displayed with the hoard at the British Museum.
glowworm2 16 hours ago (edited)
Actually, yes. When the team of archaeologists from the Suffolk Archaeological Unit came to carry out an emergency excavation of the site, they eventually found the missing hammer and donated it to the British Museum along with the treasure itself, known as the Hoxne Hoard.
Load More Replies... Tyranamar Seuss 1 hour ago
I live in a country where the earlier people did not use metal. So I'll never find anything like this. Unless it was from the 20's during the Great Depression when everyone buried their money.
Load More Replies... 
#12
TIL that an AI company which raised $450M in investments from Microsoft and SoftBank, and was valued at $1.5B, turned out to be 700 Indians just manually coding with no AI whatsoever.
SistaChans: AI - actual indians
SixEightPee: Anonymous Indians.
JonatasA: All Indian.
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 19 hours ago
No! We cannot have people taking jobs away from AI. How will AI be able to pay its bills and feed its family?
#13
TIL in 2014 an Indian news anchor was fired after refering xi jinping as "eleven" jinping on tv
LookASquirrel 12 hours ago
😂This is funnier to me because we are watching King Kong v Godzilla and she's in it so she was my first thought!
Load More Replies... #14
TIL at a 1991 meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Andrew Lyne retracted groundbreaking results that he had recently released, which detected the first planet orbiting another star. He received "thunderous applause" from his peers for his integrity & the courage to admit his error publicly.
Michael Largey 17 hours ago
Did they ever take back what they did to Pluto? I know the science involved, but I still think Pluto should have been grandplaneted in.
Chich the witch 12 hours ago
Ceres lost planet status long before but no-one cares. its all Pluto, Pluto, Pluto.
Load More Replies...
Meowzers! 8 hours ago
The date is wrong. The Claim (July 1991): Lyne and his team detected tiny timing variations in radio pulses from the pulsar PSR B1829-10, interpreting them as the gravitational tug of a planet. The Error (January 1992): Lyne realized he'd failed to account for the Earth's elliptical orbit around the Sun, a correction that, when applied, made the planetary signals disappear. The Retraction: At a January 1992 AAS meeting, Lyne publicly admitted the mistake, earning widespread respect for his integrity.
Chaos Pandas Unite 4 hours ago
Thank you. That is pretty cool he figured it out and then shared the error. I mean that is how science works, the best theory that works until it gets disproved/updated.
Load More Replies... #15
TIL scientists have been able to trace the start of HIV/AIDS to King Leopold’s Belgian Congo, originating as far back as 1909. The first person to be infected probably got the virus in the 1920s.
rustyscate 15 hours ago
The first human HIV infection likely came from chimpanzees in West Africa, transferring through hunters' exposure to infected blood while butchering the animals (the "bushmeat theory"), possibly around 1908, with the virus spreading globally from central Africa (Kinshasa) by the 1920s, though pinpointing the single first carrier is impossible as it was a natural zoonotic leap, not a single event, and early cases went unrecognized until the 1980s.
Load More Replies... #16
TIL Philip Pullman was accused of being "the most dangerous author in Britain" because he said "I'm trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief" and wrote the "His Dark Materials" books as a rebuttal to the heavy christian message of "The Chronicles of Narnia".
Nikki Sevven 15 hours ago
Funny, despite my RC upbringing and having read the Chronicles in childhood, I never made the connection until I was an adult and learned more about C.S. Lewis.
Norm Gilmore 11 hours ago
I was the same but it was probably because non religion was the thing in our family. I just enjoyed them for the stories. I was late teens when it was pointed out to me!! I still have them on my book shelf.
Load More Replies...
Smeghead Tribble Down Under 4 hours ago
I have always loved the Narnia books and never made the so-called Christian message until a few years ago (I'm 45) Hated His Dark Materials.
UKGrandad 7 hours ago
His little-known novel, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, is an excellent take on the Jesus story. Pullman has Jesus and Christ as identical twins separated at birth, with Jesus going around doing his goody-goody schtick and Christ following him around messing it all up again. Well worth a read.
#17
TIL that in 2016, a monkey fell onto an electrical transformer, shorting it and causing the entire country of Kenya to have no electricity for 4 hours. The monkey survived.
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 19 hours ago
The ENTIRE country? I doubt that. It is a big country, there will be several power plants and the like?
Bartlet for world domination 18 hours ago
Kenya’s grid at the time was heavily centralized, with major reliance on a few large hydroelectric plants. This monkey accident took place at the Gitaru power station an when it went offline, the loss of such a significant portion of generation capacity cascaded through the system, leaving the entire country without electricity. Link in comment.
Load More Replies... #18
TIL about the “Maze Procedure,” in which heart surgeons literally scarify a maze into heart tissue so abnormal rhythms get trapped while normal ones can pass through. The procedure has an 80%-90% success rate in curing atrial fibrillation.
#19
TIL of Nandy, a disabled Neanderthal skeleton found in Iraq who suffered blindness, major hearing loss, a missing arm, and other serious healed injuries that likely left him unable to care for himself. Despite this he lived into his 40s, suggesting he was supported and cared for by his community.
Dilly Millandry 18 hours ago
There was enough to tell that he was blind from head trauma and was profoundly deaf due to blocked ear canals 🤷
Load More Replies...
Daisydaisy 18 hours ago
Even the Neanderthals chipped in to care for their unwell community members!
Major Harris 54 minutes ago
"the deaf, dumb and blind caveman, sure plays a mean pinball......"
Panda McPandaface 18 hours ago
He grunted it to anyone that would listen.
Load More Replies... #20
TIL Oscar voters now must watch every nominated film in a category before casting a vote, no more voting based on buzz or hype.
Norfolk and good 15 hours ago
The Oscars have never been about talent and are awarded based on who did the best campaign and sucked up to the Academy the best. Shakespeare in Love, anyone?
BC_Animus 11 hours ago
Just because it's a rule doesn't mean they have to follow it though. Do they get quizzed on the movie before the vote? What's to stop them from just playing the movie while napping? And honestly if they were voting based on buzz or hype before, probably means they are the type of people to be influenced by buzz or hype anyways so their votes would be biased.
#21
TIL a 10-pound mini dachshund named Valerie survived alone for 529 days in the Australian bush after she ran away during a camping trip to Kangaroo Island (a remote island in southern Australia). She was eventually spotted and captured (after 2 months of trying) before being returned to her owners.
Cee Cee 11 hours ago
Never underestimate dachshunds. They're not as daft as they look plus they are very stubborn and surprisingly good hunters. Souce? I own dachshunds.
Nils Skirnir 9 hours ago
She actually gained weight while out there and was pretty healthy
Load More Replies...
AnnaB 13 hours ago
I'm surpised that one of the 20 billion dangerous creatures living in Australia didn't get her.
Slapdash1 7 hours ago
Obviously, she was meaner, badder and more dangerous
Load More Replies... Bartlet for world domination 18 hours ago
Or the Australian bush is heaven on earth for a little dachshund.
Load More Replies... #22
TIL 75% of the world's tornados happen in the United States, approximately 1,200 annually.
Panda McPandaface 18 hours ago
They're generally not dangerous unless you're wearing red shoes.
glowworm2 16 hours ago
Technically silver if you've read the book. MGM just wanted to showoff their new use of Technicolor.
Load More Replies...
Michael Largey 18 hours ago
Rather minor, compared to other destructive forces loose in my country.
Load More Replies...
Robin Roper 17 hours ago
I live in the US in an area that is not known for having tornadoes and yet, at least 4 have caused damage very close to where I live. They are very dangerous and can be huge or small.
Joe Russo 11 hours ago
I was accidentally way too close to a tornado twenty-five years ago. My advice: never be anywhere close to a tornado...
K Ma 45 minutes ago
Where I live, we had a tornado come through that had the highest wind speed ever recorded. IIRC, its still the record. Coming out of the cellar afterwards was mind boggling.
Load More Replies...
April Pickett 15 hours ago
Let's see; tornados and floods in the middle; earthquakes, mud slides, fires in the west; and hurricanes, flooding, and minor earthquakes in the east. You can't go south (hurricanes,flooding, fires) or north (10' of snow).
Adrian 5 hours ago
Can you name a place anywhere in the world with no natural disasters?
Load More Replies...
arthbach 48 minutes ago
75% of tornadoes occur in the USA. However, researchers at the University of Manchester found England averages about 2.2 tornadoes per 10,000 square kilometres annually, higher than the US average of 1.3. England has the highest density of tornadoes in the world, but thankfully, they tend to be significantly smaller than the USA's version. Although they tend to be fairly close to cities, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Reading and London.
#23
TIL in 2013 a 9-yr-old boy got past 4 security check points at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport "without so much as a wink of suspicion" before boarding a flight to Las Vegas to go see an online friend. He didn't have an ID or a boarding pass & was alone with no parent or guardian with him
Jennifer Gray 15 hours ago
Everyone assumed he was with whichever adult was closest to him at the time.
Riley Quinn 16 hours ago
The only reason is that he wasn't carrying more than 3.4oz of fluids, otherwise he would've been busted.
#24
TIL the phrase “well behaved women seldom make history” was coined by a historian who argued we should study the lives of normal people more.
Michael Largey 18 hours ago
It's more like “well behaved women often make history but seldom receive the credit”.
sofacushionfort 2 hours ago
From what I’ve seen of history, I wouldn’t want most of it blamed on me
#25
TIL since 2023 there are more births in the US among women 40 and older than there are to teenage girls.
Bartlet for world domination 17 hours ago
A Reddit commenter broke it down: Over 40s have 4.1% of the children and teenagers 4.0%. This down from almost 13% in 1990.
Norfolk and good 14 hours ago (edited)
I'm nearly 40 and couldn't think of anything worse. No way am I still looking after children and teenagers into my 50s and 60s.
Huddo's sister 14 hours ago
My fertility doctor told me the other day that in Australia, 30% of births are to women 30+, 10% of those are 40+
#26
TIL coffee was first introduced to India in the 17th century by a Muslim saint who, while returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca, smuggled seven coffee beans by hiding them in his beard.
#27
TIL that during the filming of The Devil Wears Prada, most fashion industry designers and executives declined appearing as themselves in cameo roles due to fears of upsetting Vogue editor Anna Wintour, who is widely believed to have been the inspiration for the character Miranda Priestly.
#28
TIL that the designer of the first shopping malls had envisioned them as mixed-use facilities with libraries, apartments, green spaces, post offices and medical services being placed alongside commercial stores.
Oskar vanZandt 18 hours ago
That probably would have extended the longevity of many malls that now lie vacant and delapitated...
Huddo's sister 15 hours ago
My old local, the largest shopping centre in the southern hemisphere, does have apartments, a hotel, offices, a gym and childcare centre in it. Most shopping centres in Australia will have a post office included, and many have other mixed services.
Bartlet for world domination 17 hours ago
And as it turns out, that is still the most commercially viable option if you want to exploit one. And it definitely needs a supermarket.
Perfectly Cromulent 2 hours ago
When I lived in Vancouver WA, the closest public library branch was in the mall. It was FANTASTIC.
Geoffrey Scott 6 hours ago
My dream, if it is decided to tear down our 100 yr old middle school, is to refurbish it for community housing instead.
#29
TIL of the Great Stink of 1858 London, caused by a combination of hot weather and untreated human waste, which led to the construction of a new sewer system that is still in use today.
UKGrandad 17 hours ago (edited)
The London sewer system was designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette. His great-great-grandson, Sir Peter Bazalgette, was the man whose TV production company, Endemol, produced the reality TV show, Big Brother. So, Sir Joseph worked to pump the shít out of society only for his descendent to pump it back in.
TotallyNOTAFox 17 hours ago
And the designer planned the sewers twice as big as they needed to be back then to make them future proof
G A 14 hours ago
But no one spent any more money extending them as London expanded, and they are now struggling to keep pace with demand.
Load More Replies... Chich the witch 12 hours ago
IIRC, it was ignored until the smell began to annoy the House of Commons. Can't have those privileged noses wrinkled now can we :p
#30
TIL when Galileo discovered Saturn’s rings, he sent letters to his fellow Astronomers announcing this, but in code. One of the people who got this letter was Johannes Kepler, who misinterpreted it as saying there were two moons of Mars. The two moons of Mars would not be discovered until 1877.
Stardust she/her 10 hours ago
Phobos and Deimos. They say that Phobos, the larger moon is being pulled towards its planet and in a few million years will eventually cross the Röche limit and form a ring around the planet. Coincidentally Saturn will have lost a lot of its ring material by then
#31
TIL that the United States government still sends $4,500 worth of cloth to the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy every year, and has done so every November 11th for the past 230+ years in recognition of a still-standing treaty with them.
Oliver 11 hours ago (edited)
I highly doubt the current administration has kept it. If they did the “error” will be corrected in the next three years. Back to violating 100% of the treaties with Native Americans. Ugh.
Load More Replies... #32
TIL Mithridatism is the practice of protecting oneself against a poison by gradually self-administering non-lethal amounts. The word is derived from Mithridates VI, the king of Pontus, who so feared being poisoned that he regularly ingested small doses, aiming to develop immunity.
Devin Schmitt 18 hours ago
odorless, tasteless, dissolves instantly in liquid, and is among the more deadly poisons known to man
Load More Replies...
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 18 hours ago
Wasn't Mithridites stabbed to death of similar? Hard to develop an immunity to violent death.
ADHD 15 hours ago
shoulda had his pals stab him wi tiny knives for a while to build up immunity,
Load More Replies...
#33
TIL that while tonka beans are prized for their flavor, it's banned in the US since 1954. The beans have the taste of vanilla, licorice, caramel, and cloves. Restaurants in the US that have the ingredient have been subject to raids and chefs relied on smugglers for the beans.
michael Chock 17 hours ago
Large doses can cause liver damage, but are always used in very small amounts. But alcohol us legal...
Nikole 16 hours ago
Furthermore: "Many experts believe the ban was an overreaction, as it would take about 30 beans to cause harm, and coumarin exists in many other legal foods like cinnamon and strawberries. "
Load More Replies... Riley Quinn 15 hours ago
Yeah, and 2-3 teaspoons of nutmeg is toxic, but it's still legal. You'd be surprised at the number of toxic foods we consume everyday.
Bruce Mardle 18 hours ago
Interesting. I've just read that they contain coumarin, which can be toxic. It's also commonly used as a fragrance.
#34
TIL that between 1697 and 1698, Tsar Peter the Great of Russia travelled incognito to Western Europe under the alias "Peter Mikhailov" to gain knowledge of their advances in learning. At 6'8" he was likely the tallest man in Europe, and so his disguise was almost certainly laughably ineffective.
Bartlet for world domination 16 hours ago
As a Dutchie, I had to look this one up. The Dutch Republic had earlier produced Trijntje Keever (1616–1633), the tallest woman in recorded history at 2.60 m (8 ft 6.75 in). But she died decades before Peter’s arrival. Apparently the average Dutch person at the time was only about 5'6".
#35
TIL that the kangaroo rat can survive its entire life without drinking any water.
Daniel Atkins 18 hours ago
This is better stated as kangaroo rats don’t drink water but get it from the food they eat.
Jedi Panda 14 hours ago
I mean, anyone can go their entire life without water, they just won't live very long...
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 18 hours ago
This is not phrased very well. The fat could die from dehydration, it could have lived its entire life without drinking water.
#36
TIL that a 2,000-year-old Chinese woman, Lady Dai (Xin Zhui), was found so well-preserved that her skin was still soft and her blood type could be determined.
#37
TIL of a man who found $7.5 million in a "Storage Wars" unit he bought for $500. He had to negotiate with the original owners, who paid him $1.2 million to return their money.
Oskar vanZandt 18 hours ago
I'd have wanted 1.2million plus the initial £500 I paid. Petty, I know.
Marno C. 15 hours ago
1. I am sure the police would be very intersted to know the source of that money and why it was kept in a storage locker. 2. If I had (for some strange reason) millions of dollars sitting in a storage locker, I would be durn sure to pay the rental fees promptly and regularly. 3. The police would be interested yet again to find out why #2 didn't happen.
Gordon 14 hours ago
I just would have kept the whole thing...if they had 7.5 million, you'd think they could've paid their storage fee !
BC_Animus 11 hours ago
Would you REALLY wanna risk angering someone with that much money hidden?
Load More Replies... 
Rebecca Joan 1 hour ago
Why did he have to share? If you had that much $ and still din’t pay your storage fee, oh well!!
#38
TIL In 1653, Dutch sailor Hendrick Hamel and 35 crewmates shipwrecked off the coast of Joseon (modern-day Korea). Due to Joseon's isolationist policy, they were not permitted to leave. After 13 years, Hamel and 7 others escaped by boat to Japan. He then wrote the first Western account of Korea.
#39
TIL that the non-profit that runs Wreaths Across America is owned by the same family that runs the Worcester Wreath Company, the for-profit supplier for Wreaths Across America, and the family’s non-profit use their donations to purchase wreaths from the family’s for-profit business.
Marno C. 14 hours ago
This is actually a very common tax dodge amongst America's rich. Step 1: create a chartable foundation in your name. 2. Hire much of your family and friends.2. Make sure that many of the salaries are classified as 'exempt' business expenses that further reduce tax load. 3. Include many other perks as salary compensation or gifts-in-kind that can be counted as part of charitable giving. (These can include rent free apartments, personal loans for living expenses, free access to corporate jets, etc.). 4. Charitable 'events' then use the rich persons' other assets and are billed a pretty penny for it or issuing inflated 'donation' receipts to count against business taxes. (e.g. Trump Foundation holding events at Mar-a-lago or Trump Towers). Honestly, most famous people foundations are utter scams and the laws need to be improved to make sure that they have conflict-of-interest free relationships and are doing actual charity work, not tax workarounds.
Michael Largey 18 hours ago (edited)
Disgusting and not uncommon. You can catch this by looking at the non-profit's IRS Form 990. I ran across non-profit A which was owned by for-profit B. 60% of non-profit A's income was paid to for-profit B - for "consulting and management services". A and B refuse to be more specific.
Oskar vanZandt 18 hours ago (edited)
Figures... the almighty dollar that many Americans are add1ct3d to and keeps them aimlessly chasing the nebulous American Dream.
#40
TIL that in 2013, NBA player Brian Scalabrine, who only averaged 3 points per game in his entire career, challenged 4 volunteers who criticized him over his bench role and claimed that they would beat him 1-on-1 in an organized event. Scalabrine won every game with a combined score of 44–6
michael Chock 16 hours ago
Defense and moving the ball are part of winning, just as much as making the actual points. Bad players forget this.
Michael Largey 18 hours ago
It's not like he grabbed the bench with both arms and refused to go into the game.
#41
TIL medieval alchemists associated the 7 known metals at the time (gold, silver, quicksilver, copper, iron, tin, and lead) with the 7 classical planets (the sun, the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, respectively). Because of this association, quicksilver is called "mercury" today.
#42
TIL that the CEOs of Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Adobe and Cobra Beer all attended the same public school in Hyderabad.
Bartlet for world domination 17 hours ago
Public as in 'open to anyone with skills, money and connections'.
Marno C. 14 hours ago
I wonder if they all go to the Annual Bilderberg Conference? (N.b. To help recall the name, I typed 'big secret meeting in the forest' into Google and it was my top result!)
Load More Replies...
#43
TIL James Garfield is the only president of the United States to have made an original contribution to the field of mathematics. His proof of the Pythagorean theorem was published in the New England Journal of Education in 1876.
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 18 hours ago
I'd have thought President Trump might have contributed? Him being a real stable genius and everything.
Daisydaisy 18 hours ago
So a tad more intelligent than some more recent US presidents we can think of?
#44
TIL that in Japan during the Edo period, the gonin-gumi system held groups of five households collectively responsible for each other's crimes, so people were punished for things their neighbors did.
G A 14 hours ago
The paranoia keeps neighbours spying upon neighbours and keeping them straight without involving police or authorities.
Space Invader 11 hours ago
...or create vast group efforts to cover the crimes up.
Load More Replies... Norfolk and good 14 hours ago
North Korea has something similar. If someone commits a political offence (which in North Korea is most things) then three generations of their family can be sent to a prison camp with them.
#45
TIL Mariah Carey makes $2.7-3.3M per year from All I Want For Christmas Is You.
Jeff Hunt 17 hours ago
I can and will happily annoy the hell out of everyone one month a year for $3 million.
Mike F 6 minutes ago
One month? Only one? H3ll, that cursed song starts long about Halloween.
Load More Replies... Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 18 hours ago
This is, objectively, the worst song. Not just the worst Christmas song, but the very worst song ever. When she does that warbling singing I feel the need to carry out violent crime.
Forrest Hobbs 15 hours ago
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het: yes, but Slade's Merry Christmas Everybody annoys me just as much. And Wizzard's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" is much worse than either if you ask me.
Load More Replies... UKGrandad 17 hours ago
I'm going to get a lot of hate for this, but this is one of the few Christmas songs that I actually like.
NightOwlPanda 12 hours ago
It's the only Christmas song I want to hear. But that has nothing to do with the Christmastime lyrics; it's just a good pop song. It would be fun to listen to even if it had other lyrics.
Oskar vanZandt 18 hours ago
One reason I don't listen to mainstream commercial radio stations...
#46
TIL the youngest mother in history, who gave birth at the age of 5, is still alive today at 92 years old.
Forrest Hobbs 16 hours ago
Wikipedia says "Lina Marcela Medina de Jurado (born 23 September 1933) is a Peruvian woman who became the youngest confirmed mother in history when she gave birth to her son Gerardo on 14 May 1939 when she was five years, seven months, and 21 days of age. Based on the medical assessments of her pregnancy, she was four years old when she became pregnant, which was biologically possible due to precocious puberty." and "Gerardo grew up healthy, but died in 1979 at the age of 40 from bone marrow disease"
Owen 1 hour ago (edited)
What sick f*ck got her pregnant? Actually, I don't want to know. Let him fade from history all together. He doesn't deserve to be remembered.
Load More Replies... brittany 16 hours ago
they never were able to verify who the father of the boy was. its speculated that it happened to her so young she didnt understand what was happening and couldnt answer their questions
Load More Replies... #47
TIL that Daniel Fahrenheit (who invented the mercury thermometer) set 0°F to the coldest stable temperature he could maintain in his lab by dissolving salt in water.
#48
TIL in 2008 Chicago sold off all of its city parking meters to private investors for 75 years, and the private investors already made their money back and turned a profit.
Oskar vanZandt 17 hours ago
Of course they did... Privatisation only benefits the companies and their shareholders.
Marno C. 14 hours ago
It is rather socialist of me, but 'business model' thinking does not belong in certain arenas: health care, education, policing/firefighting, and basic civic infrastructute. Those need to be run on a 'public good/civic model'. Otherwise, the people just get robbed by the rich.
Nikole 16 hours ago
Yeah. And this became Mayor Daley's "legacy". Stupidest, most myopic move.
Zephyr343 15 hours ago
Didn't they get $1 billion for it, which the company made back in a year? I hate street parking in Chicago. I usually look for a garage. The one I sometimes use off Hubbard and N Orleans is like $7 for the first 29 minutes and $20 after that. Although I did just discover parking in a hospital garage is a lot cheaper 😅
Load More Replies... #49
TIL that Jackson Pollock abandoned titles and started numbering his works. His wife, Lee Krasner, said, "He used to give his pictures conventional titles, but now he simply numbers them. Numbers are neutral. They make people look at a picture for what it is, pure painting."
Grumpy old man 12 hours ago
Thats the point of abstraction. The entire 20th century was about rebelling against what you and Bougereau as leader of the French school of Belle Arts think art is. NOW, we're over it, returned to classical art, ateliers have popped up all over the world. Photography ended realism, AI brought it back. Lots of people say "My kid could do that" but somebody else did it. Like Pterry and Discworld, anyone could have done it, but he did
Load More Replies... Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 18 hours ago
What a load of Pollocks. One might say it they were to see a gallery of his work.
Nikki Sevven 15 hours ago
Relatives of mine have a painting of his hanging on the wall of their two-story stairwell. Decades ago, I dubbed it "Vomit After Eating Paella."
#50
TIL Anthony Olson endured 9 years of chemotherapy (2011-2020) for cancer that he eventually learned he never had. He was told that without treatment, he'd be [gone] by the end of the year. When a second biopsy came back negative, he was told to ignore it because it meant the treatment was working.
Auntriarch 8 hours ago
Carenza Lewis (TV archeologist) was diagnosed with breast cancer and didn't find out it was incorrect until after having a double mastectomy.
Note: this post originally had 80 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
Explore more of these tags
What do you think ?
You May Like 46 People Share Mildly Disturbing Facts You May Have Never Heard Before 60 Interesting Facts That Are Better Than Watching The News 44 Truly Random Facts That Are Still Better Than The News
Ilona Baliūnaitė
Ilona Baliūnaitė
Dominyka Proškėnaitė
Related on Bored Panda
