It’s the holiday season, and we understand that your brain might already be on vacation mode, pandas. But it’s still a great time to learn some fun facts!
Below, you’ll find a new batch of interesting information that’s recently been shared in the Today I Learned subreddit. From how long it takes to make a jellybean to which university has banned rock music, you’re sure to find something on this list that you’ve never heard before. So enjoy scrolling through, and don’t forget to upvote the facts you’ll be sure to remember the next time you need to strike up a conversation at a party!
TIL Van Gogh’s sister in law was behind Van Gogh’s posthumous success and fame, She dedicated her life to spreading his art and legacy after his death, She preserved and published his letters, organized and exhibited his paintings, wrote and translated articles and books about him.
TIL the “ALS Icebucket Challenge” actually raised enough money to create treatments for the disease (that work). It wasn’t just a social media trend that went nowhere.
TIL in 1943, a US bomber over Germany was hit by explosive ordnance directly in the fuel tanks 11 times, but none exploded. After the shells were cut open, all were found to have no explosives in them, and one contained a note in Czech saying “This is all we can do for you now”.
TIL that monkeys in Ethiopia have managed to “domesticate” wild wolves by helping them hunt small rodents. The wolves now coexist with (even baby!) monkeys without ever attacking them, instead going for smaller, harder-to-catch prey!
TIL an orangutan named Fu Manchu figured out how to escape his enclosure at a zoo by picking the lock on a door. He did it repeatedly for weeks as zoo staff was stumped about how and tried every measure to prevent it only to finally catch Fu Manchu in the act using a piece of wire he kept hidden.
TIL in 2019, basketball player DJ Cooper was suspended for two years after using his girlfriend’s urine to attempt to cheat a drug test. The test “discovered” that he was pregnant.
TIL – Rammstein once played a concert in Hamburg, Germany and the physics department of the local university picked it up on their seismograph. They did not register the sound, but literally the shaking ground.
TIL: In about six weeks a transplanted liver section will grow into a normal-sized, fully functioning liver in a recipient, while the donor’s remaining liver will regenerate to replace the transplanted section.
TIL There was a study in Africa that showed that cows with large eye painted on their butts would not be attacked by ambush predators.
TIL that the Nike logo was designed for 35$ but the company gifted the designer stock that is now worth millions because she held it all without selling.
TIL a New Zealand woman was detained in Kazakhstan because they did not believe New Zealand was a real country. When they asked her to show the country on a map, their map did not include New Zealand.
TIL – One of the 8 Hawaiian islands, Ni’ihau, is known as The Forbidden Island. It’s privately owned, you can’t visit without an invitation, there were 84 residents in the 2020 census, and they live primitively, like their ancestors.
TIL: There are virtually zero commercial planes that fly over Tibet, one of the reasons being that in the event of depressurization/engine failure, planes cannot descend to 10,000 feet because the Tibetan Plateau has an average elevation of 14,370 feet.
TIL after getting LASIK surgery, Horace Grant continued to wear his signature goggles without the prescription in order to remain a positive influence so kids who needed glasses would think it’s cool.
TIL the largest air force in the world is the US Air Force. The second largest air force in the world is the US Navy.
TIL Abercrombie & Fitch’s “Appearance/Look Policy” required staff to buy the company’s clothes. After losing a lawsuit, they agreed “not to force workers to buy its clothes” and to reimburse former employees for purchases made during the period cited.
TIL that following the success of the 90s hit film, “the Bodyguard”, Kevin Costner contacted his longtime friend, Princess Diana, to star in a sequel. She agreed. The first draft arrived the day before her death in 1997. Following her passing, the film was scrapped.
TIL: While many animals run faster than humans, the strength and positioning of our butts (gluteal muscles) gave humans the endurance to keep running and chasing prey when other animals had to stop.
TIL The Hollywood sign was rebuilt after a successful campaign in 1978 by Alice Cooper. He was one of 9 donators to replace each letter. He bought the first “O” in memory of Groucho Marx.
TIL: Many choking deaths happen in bathrooms. It turns out that people who start choking often feel embarrassed and rush to the bathroom for privacy, only to end up dying alone, often next to a toilet.
TIL when Greece won its independence in 1822, Athens was reduced to a small village of 4,000 inhabitants that had faded into irrelevance over centuries. It was selected as the capital for historical and sentimental reasons. The city is now the largest in Greece with over 3 million inhabitants
TIL about ‘The Campaign for North Africa’ – a board game published in 1978 that is estimated to take 62 days to play. The game includes 1,600 counters and the level of detail is such that Italian troops require additional water supplies in order to boil pasta.
TIL frankincense and myrrh are the dried sap of trees, also known as resin.
TIL that the Milky Way Galaxy is being pulled toward a mysterious area in space called “The Great Attractor” at about 6000km/s. Whatever it is, we can’t see it from Earth because it’s obscured the hub of our galaxy.
TIL the director of Captain Phillips didn’t allow Tom Hanks and Actors playing somali pirates to meet before filming the movie, so that the pirates can terroize Tom and his crew and create a realistic tension and hostility between them.
TIL America had over 50,000 pay toilets in 1970 but by 1980, there were almost none. Four teenagers formed the Committee to End Pay Toilets in America. Chicago became the first major American city to ban pay toilets altogether in March of 1973.
TIL the longest prison sentence ever given was 141,078 years, given to a Thai woman in 1989. She was released 4 years later.
TIL Emperor Justinian II (685-695 and 705-711) was overthrown in a rebellion and had his nose cut off to prevent him from ever ruling again. However, he managed to return to power in 705 with a prosthetic gold nose and took his revenge on those who had deposed him.
TIL that Thomas Cornell was convicted and sent to the gallows for the 1673 murder of his mother, due in part to “spectral evidence” presented by his uncle, who said her ghost paid him a visit and told him that Thomas did it.
TIL that the Soviet spacecraft Luna 1 was intended to be the first craft to land on the moon. It missed the moon by nearly 6000km and ended up becoming the first spacecraft to enter orbit around the sun between the orbits of Earth and Mars.
TIL that despite being commonly ranked as one of the worst Christmas films ever made, the 1985 film “Santa Claus: The Movie” is immensely popular in the UK. One of the film actors, John Lithgow, said in 2019 that he wishes he had a nickel for every Englishman who’s told him it’s their favorite film.
TIL that in a survey of 500 law firm workers, over 50% confirmed that legal TV shows had influenced their career choice & 57% of those felt that the TV series that impacted them was a “realistic depiction of a legal career.” 30% identified Suits as their show, 22% said Law and Order.
TIL Liechtenstein has been accidentally attacked or invaded by Switzerland 5 times since 1968. In 1968, chairs were broken by artillery. In 1976 soldiers were offered drinks by the locals. In 1985 a forest fire was started. Switzerland apologised or compensated for the damage each time.
TIL in the last years of his life, J.R.R Tolkien, a devout catholic, resisted the liturgical changes implemented after the Second Vatican Council, especially the use of English for the liturgy. He continued to make the responses in Latin, loudly, ignoring the rest of the congregation.
TIL that although it’s commonly believed that we can feel stares, studies on the Psychic Staring Effect have repeatedly produced results no better than random chance.
TIL – The severed head of Mata Hari was embalmed and kept in the Museum of Anatomy in Paris. In 2000, archivists discovered that it had disappeared.
TIL: To stop cannibalism among poultry in the 1940s thought to be due to natural instinct, “Anti-Pix” sunglasses were developed to prevent birds from seeing “raw flesh or blood” due to their rose color. They worked!
TIL while filming the scene in 1983’s “A Christmas Story” where Ralphie is dressed as a sheriff, a prop man gave actor Peter Billingsley real Red Man chewing tobacco. Peter, who was 12, didn’t know the difference and ingested it. Production then had to be shut down until Billingsley recovered.
TIL Japan has several “Nose Tombs” which contain tens of thousands of severed noses from Korea.
TIL director Michel Gondry found Jim Carrey’s emotional state after a breakup “so beautiful, so broken” that he asked him to stay that way for one year to fit his character in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
TIL that Mao Zedong gave out a box of mangoes gifted to him by Pakistan. A cult formed in China for the unfamiliar fruit. Replicas were made and publicly displayed. One man said that the fruit didn’t look like anything special, and was shamefully paraded around his town and then publicly executed.
TIL America was almost named “Amerige” meaning “Land of Amerigo”, but was changed to the feminine form America, following the naming convention of Asia and Europe.
TIL it’s not possible to watch every film ever nominated for Best Picture. Only 2/3 of 1928’s The Patriot still exists, and the only complete prints of 1931’s East Lynne and 1934’s The White Parade are in the UCLA film archive
TIL that for several years Mick Jagger believed he was the father of Liv Tyler.
Note: this post originally had 70 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
