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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.
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#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
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#2
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 17 hours ago
Many of prominent people have declined knighthoods (and damehoods). One explained "Being a knight will only mean my tailor charges me more."
#3
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 17 hours ago
Why cannot other countries follow what the Netherlands are doing? It's obviously working?
#4
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.
#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."
#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.
#7
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.
#8
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 17 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.
#9
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.
#10
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 17 hours ago
As it was, of course. And the treatment of First Nations people around the world
#11
TIL that a dude in England stumbled on a buried Roman treasure worth $6,000,000 out metal-detectoring for a lost hammer.
#12
TIL in 2014 an Indian news anchor was fired after refering xi jinping as "eleven" jinping on tv
#13
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 17 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?
#14
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.
#15
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.
#16
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 16 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.
#17
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.
#18
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".
#19
TIL Oscar voters now must watch every nominated film in a category before casting a vote, no more voting based on buzz or hype.
#20
TIL 75% of the world's tornados happen in the United States, approximately 1,200 annually.
Panda McPandaface 16 hours ago
They're generally not dangerous unless you're wearing red shoes.
#21
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.
#22
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.
#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 13 hours ago
Everyone assumed he was with whichever adult was closest to him at the time.
#24
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.
#25
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 16 hours ago
It's more like “well behaved women often make history but seldom receive the credit”.
#26
TIL since 2023 there are more births in the US among women 40 and older than there are to teenage girls.
#27
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 16 hours ago
That probably would have extended the longevity of many malls that now lie vacant and delapitated...
#28
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.
#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 16 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.
#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 9 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 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.
#32
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 15 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".
#33
TIL that the kangaroo rat can survive its entire life without drinking any water.
Daniel Atkins 17 hours ago
This is better stated as kangaroo rats don’t drink water but get it from the food they eat.
#34
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.
#35
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.
#36
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 15 hours ago
Large doses can cause liver damage, but are always used in very small amounts. But alcohol us legal...
#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.
#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.
#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 15 hours ago
Defense and moving the ball are part of winning, just as much as making the actual points. Bad players forget this.
#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 16 hours ago
Public as in 'open to anyone with skills, money and connections'.
#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 17 hours ago
I'd have thought President Trump might have contributed? Him being a real stable genius and everything.
#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.
#45
TIL Mariah Carey makes $2.7-3.3M per year from All I Want For Christmas Is You.
#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 14 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"
#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 16 hours ago
Of course they did... Privatisation only benefits the companies and their shareholders.
#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."
#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 7 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.
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