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!
#1
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.
Image credits: AbaloneSea7265
#2
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
Image credits: Curious_Sentence7155
#3
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.
Image credits: The_Ry_Ry
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.
#4
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.
Image credits: Someguy2930
#5
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.
Image credits: puu22222
#6
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
Image credits: Sosuke7964
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.
#7
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.
Image credits: NJJbadscience
#8
TIL the classic Kong dog toy was created after an auto-repair shop owner's dog kept chewing a VW Bus suspension part
Image credits: brock_lee
#9
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.
Image credits: marlonbrandto
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.
#10
TIL Elvis Presley Never Wrote Any of His Own Songs despite being one of the most recognizable musicians of all time.
Image credits: dd28064212
#11
TIL after the holidays, the Rockefeller Christmas tree is cut into lumber for Habitat for Humanity homes
Image credits: MerryJaneHolland
#12
TIL that the first airship to be lifted by helium used most of the helium available in the world at the time to fill its 59,000 cubic meter volume.
Image credits: 1000Huzzahs
"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?"
#13
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.
Image credits: TheTriviaPage
#14
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'.
Image credits: AbathaCrispy
#15
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"
Image credits: Azlamington
#16
TIL Antoine Walker has earned $108 million throughout his NBA career and he filed for bankruptcy in 2010, just two years after retirement.
Image credits: defiantlyobey
#17
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
Image credits: SappyGilmore
#18
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.
Image credits: JohnSith
#19
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."
Image credits: SingLikeTinaTurner
#20
TIL that 18-yr old rich socialite Ginevra King, in love with Scott Fitzgerald, wrote & sent him a Gatsby-like short story. In it, she is trapped in a loveless marriage with a wealthy man yet still pines for him, a former lover from her past. 7 yr later this became the outline for 'The Great Gatsby'
Image credits: abaganoush
#21
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.
Image credits: behrkon
#22
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.
Image credits: StoopitTrader
#23
TIL that some of the boulevard medians in Milwaukee, Wisconsin have 8-10 ft deep bunkers with toilets in them, originally installed in the 1930s as a convenience for city workers who were out and about all day without access to a toilet
Image credits: Mike_ZzZzZ
#24
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
Image credits: Pixorev
#25
TIL: Chili peppers, whose spiciness is now so prominent in Indian, Chinese, Thai, and other Asian cuisines, originated in South America and were unknown in Asia until world-wide sea trade first brought them there the mid 1500's.
Image credits: simp-for-china
#26
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.
Image credits: New_Particular7075
#27
TIL In the last four years of Elvis Presley’s life, he had been prescribed 19,000 doses of drugs. In 1977 alone[the year of his death], Dr. Nicholpoulous had written 199 prescriptions totaling more than 10,000 doses of sedatives, amphetamines, and narcotics to Elvis.
Image credits: Someguy2930
#28
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.
Image credits: Kirbyz2013
#29
TIL when the Romanov’s were executed, the Tsar’s daughters were the last to die as their clothes had diamonds sown into then giving them some protection from the firing
Image credits: Boydasaurus10
#30
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
Image credits: Not_Bill_Hicks
#31
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.
Image credits: CircleBox2
#32
TIL that Michigan ranks number one as the state with the highest percentage of water (41.5% of its total area). Sources of water are so abundant there that no one in the state is ever more than 6 miles from a body of water.
Image credits: Paracortex
#33
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.
Image credits: SonOfQuora
#34
TIL the 2006 movie Idiocracy was released in only 7 cities and expanded to 130 theaters rather than the typical 600, the film's distributor was entirely absent in promoting it, and while posters were released to theaters, no movie trailers, no ads, no press kits, and only two stills were released.
Image credits: photoalbumguy
#35
TIL the practice of playing music to the callers on hold was created by a factory owner who discovered that a loose wire in his factory's phone lines made the building a giant receiver. The broadcast from a close radio station was transmitted through the wire and played when calls were put on hold.
Image credits: qasqaldag
#36
TIL That in 1762, Benjamin Franklin had a hollow walking stick created that could secretly hold ~1 pint of oil in it. When the head of the stick was pushed down, it would release oil from the bottom. He did this to trick his friends into thinking he had the power to calm waves in troubled waters.
Image credits: Stitchpool626
#37
TIL In 2007, Warren Buffett bet a hedge-fund manager that the S&P 500 would beat a portfolio of hedge funds. After 10 years, the S&P had returned 85%; the hedge funds, 22%.
Image credits: substantial-freud
#38
TIL Indonesia put a nation wide stop on manat 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
Image credits: Sensitive_nob
#39
TIL the prosthetics in The Elephant Man (1980) were designed directly from body casts of Joseph Merrick (aka the Elephant Man) made in 1890 & preserved for 90 years in a hospital museum. The prosthetics were so acclaimed that audiences pressured The Oscars into creating the "Best Makeup" award
Image credits: howmuchbanana
#40
TIL Tchaikovsky and his patron shared over 1,200 letters, but only met once by accident. When he wrote her to apologize, she responded that there was nothing to apologize for, and invited him to visit her home to see her new paintings, but at a time when she would be away
Image credits: beerbellybegone
#41
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.
Image credits: beerbellybegone
#42
TIL a 21 year old tried to commit s**cide by injecting elemental mercury intravenously. The liquid metal traveld to the pulmonary capillaries where it stopped, causing a non-fatal embolism.
Image credits: Arfem
#43
TIL Solitary bees are considered "super pollenators" with a 95% pollination rate compared to honeys bees at 5%
Image credits: IAmUBro
#44
TIL fluorine is much less common in the universe than most elements of a similar atomic weight, because the usual nuclear reactions in stars cannot create it, but can destroy it.
Image credits: NirgalFromMars
#45
TIL the heir apparent of Ottoman Empire fought in WW2 and participated in the Normandy landings as an American soldier.
Image credits: sangbum60090
#46
TIL despite the common theory that “New Coke” was a marketing ploy, the main reason for its launch was it consistently beat Pepsi and Coca Cola Classic in blind taste tests. It performed so well that one bottling company even threatened to sue Coca Cola if they didn’t launch the new product.
Image credits: TheRavenSayeth
#47
TIL when brainstorming the time travel plot for Star Trek: First Contact, they considered sending the crew back to the Renaissance, befriending Leonardo da Vinci, and having sword fights alongside phaser fights. The idea was scrapped for being too campy and Patrick Stewart refused to wear tights.
Image credits: WouldbeWanderer
#48
TIL After Ayrton Senna's death, it was discovered he secretly donated an estimated $400 million of his personal fortune to help poor children
Image credits: Illbb
#49
TIL that a Millard Fillmore Society used to gather annually at his grave to remember how forgettable a president he was (1850-1853)
Image credits: archfapper
#50
TIL Many Biblical scholars believe Jesus was not born in 0BC, but rather 4-6BC, even though "BC" was named to be Jesus' birth year. Since Jesus' age at death and date of crucifixion are more easily estimated from historical records, many theologians assume the original calculations were off.
Image credits: TwentyfootAngels
#51
TIL the premise for The Smashing Pumpkins music video "Today" was inspired by a memory from Billy Corgan when the local ice cream truck driver quit his job, and he ended up giving away all of the ice cream in the truck to all the neighborhood kids.
Image credits: WildAnimus
#52
TIL Walt Disney tried to join WW1 so he can fight the Germans but was rejected because he was to young so he forged the date of birth on his birth certificate, and joined the Red Cross to become an ambulance driver.
Image credits: Movie_Advance_101
#53
TIL in order to promote Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, Ubisoft funded the exhumation, DNA testing, and facial reconstruction of famous 18th century pirate Amaro Pargo#54
TIL about Picher, a mining town in Oklahoma that was left so badly contaminated and unstable by decades of unrestricted lead and zinc mining that it was evacuated and declared uninhabitable by the EPA
Image credits: AnselaJonla
#55
TIL because pendulum clocks are unreliable at sea, the first attempt at a marine chronometer was undertaken in 1673 utilizing a balance wheel and spring for regulation instead of a pendulum. This opened the way for the first modern pocket watches and wristwatches.#56
TIL that several A-list actors turned down the role of Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry because of excessive violence. Burt Lancaster and Paul Newman turned it down because they both disagreed with the character's seemingly right-wing politics, Newman recommended Clint Eastwood for the role instead.
Image credits: Geo_NL
#57
TIL The US Government passed the Stolen Valor Act in 2005. The Act made it illegal to wear or falsely claim to have received any military medal or decoration without authorization, including the Medal of Honor. However, the Act was later ruled unconstitutional by the Ninth Circuit Court.#58
TIL of a vaudeville group that tried to sue a pair of newspapers for libel, after the papers ran scathing reviews of their act in 1898. The judge ruled in favor of the newspaper after the group performed their act in court
Image credits: szekeres81
#59
TIL that Long Island is a "terminal moraine", which is the pile of debris that glaciers pushed along as they advanced south during previous ice ages. You can see two set of hills that formed from glacier movement.#60
TIL that the US exports more bull semen to Iran than any other country. In 2018 alone, the amount of semen exported from the US was more than the combined total of the next seven other countries exporting semen to Iran.
Image credits: KimCureAll
#61
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.
Image credits: KazamaSmokers
#62
TIL that after being ejected from a game, NY Mets manager Bobby Valentine disguised himself with sunglasses and a fake mustache, and made his way back to the dugout. The game's TV announcers spotted him, and MLB fined him for it.
Image credits: IGottaHandItToMe
#63
TIL Rosemary Kennedy, sister of JFK and RFK, had a forced lobotomy arranged by her father when she was just 23, leaving her incapacitated for the rest of her life.
Image credits: photoalbumguy
#64
TIL that author Lee Child was inspired to name his character Jack Reacher after a shopping trip. An old lady asked for his help in reaching for a can of pears; Child's wife, when seeing this, commented that if his writing career didn't work out, he could 'always get a job as a reacher'.
Image credits: AbathaCrispy
#65
TIL a hurricane caused Tim Duncan to take up basketball. He grew up in the US Virgin Islands, and trained to be an Olympic swimmer like his big sister... until Hurricane Hugo destroyed the island's only Olympic pool. He was too afraid of sharks to swim in the ocean, so he tried basketball instead
Image credits: howmuchbanana
#66
TIL: Kenan Thompson is the longest tenured SNL member ever
Image credits: JustHereToHangOut
#67
TIL Joaquin Phoenix's older brother, River Phoenix, who starred as a kid in Stand By Me among other movies, died of an overdose while attending a concert with Joaquin on Halloween in L.A. at age 23, in 1993
Image credits: photoalbumguy
#68
TIL about Andrzej Bargiel, a Polish ski mountaineer who became the first person to ski down from the summit of K2, the world's second-highest mountain. He climbed without supplementary oxygen and skied down in about 7 hours.
Image credits: qasqaldag
#69
TIL: In 1958 Great Lakes freighter Carl D. Bradley sank with the loss of 33 lives. Over the objections of witnesses who survived the sinking, the Coast Guard concluded the ship did not break in two, shielding its owners from liability. In 1997 the shipwreck was discovered in 2 sections 90 feet apart
Image credits: Fifth_Down
#70
TIL about Crater of Diamond State Park in Pike County, Arkansas. The park has a 37.5-acre plowed field, the world's only diamond-bearing site accessible to the public. Diamonds have continuously been discovered in the field since 1906, including one of the world's only colorless, flawless diamonds.
Image credits: MorsesTheHorse
#71
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.
Image credits: icakie
#72
TIL if you could accelerate continually at just 1g you could travel to the other side of the known universe within your lifetime.
Image credits: dob_bobbs
#73
TIL that a tree in Glastonbury, England, is said to flower on Christmas day—and people were disappointed that it did not obey the switch to the Gregorian calendar in 1752.
Image credits: TheLittleLauren
#74
TIL X-Men movie director Bryan Singer banned Comic Books on set because he worried that bringing comics on set might get in the way of the "three-dimensional characters" he was trying to portray on screen.
Image credits: Gullible_Ad3378
#75
TIL about Henneguya salminicola, the first known animal that doesn't use oxygen to breathe. It is an 8-millimeter white parasite that infects the flesh of Chinook salmon
Image credits: JoyPaul66
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