41 Interesting Facts You Certainly Didn't Hear At School, Brought To You By The "Today I Learned" Community

No matter how old you are, you can always learn something new.

Filip

• Published in Facts
• December 3, 2022

As children, we all learned from anyone and everything we saw. There is no better motivation to find out about something than a child's curiosity.

But, as we grow up, that ability to memorize, learn, and also interest in everything around us diminishes slowly. Likely, we are not so proud of that fact, but during different circumstances, the end is always the same - ability and interest to learn new things and facts must decrease over time.

After graduating from high school or college, we often forget that the world is full of knowledge waiting to be found, explored, and shared with others. However, if you want to learn something new, you've come to the perfect place.

We have compiled a selection of amazing facts from the Today I Learned subreddit below, so we hope you're in the spirit to embrace your inner child and discover some interesting points you didn't know before. The internet's most adored place for learning, satisfying curiosity, and intelligence, is this very Reddit community.

Founded on December 28, 2008, the community has grown to be a place for daily information tidbits, and fascinating facts, including more than 29.8 million people. The best part is that TIL is practically an endless source of information, as you will see for yourself below.

1. "TIL cats were a common wedding gift among Vikings due to their association with the goddess of luck, Freyja."

"Men favored women who loved cats, believing that it increased the likelihood of a happy marriage."

2. "TIL Steve Jobs responded to an autograph request with a signed letter stating he doesn't write autographs."

3. "TIL Ancient Greece wasn't full of pure white marble everything."

"The statues and ruins we see today were actually painted in all kinds of vivid colors that were just stripped bare back to their original white marble by time."

4. "TIL that the first recorded labor strike took place in Ancient Egypt, in 1170 BCE, by tomb workers."

"After the grain supply was repeatedly late, workers stopped working and demanded prompt pay. Because it was the first of its kind, management did not know how to react, and largely caved to demands."

5. He had strong beliefs

6. Somehow it was expected of them

7. "TIL that the popular belief in the United States that Daylight Savings Time was enacted FOR the benefit of farmers is wrong."

"Farmers were actually some of the strongest opponents of its implementation."

8. "TIL during his bachelor's degree, Robert Andrews Millikan was asked to teach elementary physics course although he was studying classics."

"He accepts the offer, studies a physics book during a summer vacation and after 34 years he wins the Nobel Prize for Physics."

9. The only airline mentioned that has airplanes that have never crashed is Qantas

10. TIL that potato plants are poisonous.

"The part that we eat is the only edible part of the whole plant. It's also a member of the nightshade family."

11. "TIL that mushrooms are more closely related to humans than to plants."

12. "The Dancing Plague of 1518"

"TIL that in 1518, in the small French town of Strasbourg, a young woman named Frau Troffea started dancing uncontrollably in the street. Her dancing continued for days & on the 3rd day, her shoes were soaked with blood.

She attracted 30+ people to join her, which catalyzed the Dancing Plague of 1518."

13. "One such event happened in 1054"

"TIL that when a massive star goes supernova, it produces a flash of light so bright that it can equal the combined light of every other star in the galaxy. One such event happened in 1054, it was so bright the light was visible during the day for a month and was still visible for 2 years afterward."

14. "7000 years ago, bananas were not the seedless"

"TIL About 7000 years ago, bananas were not the seedless, fleshy fruits we know today. The flesh was pitted with black seeds and nearly inedible."

15. "I trust you are not in too much distress"

"TIL British Airways Flight 9 flew through a cloud of volcanic ash causing all four engines to stop. Captain Eric Moody told the passengers that, “We have a small problem.

All four engines have stopped. We are all doing our damnedest to get them going again.

I trust you are not in too much distress,”."

16. "TIL we've had electric cars since the late 1800s."

"Some early electric cars could go as fast as 25mph and lasted 50 miles without needing a recharge."

17. "TIL 27% of Americans 18 and older have cut off contact with a family member."

18. It's never too late.

19. When fate regulates it:

20. When you are so good at your field...

"TIL that Alan Turing, the mathematician renowned for his contributions to computer science and codebreaking, converted his savings into silver during WW2 and buried it, fearing German invasion. However, he was unable to break his own code describing where it was hidden, and never recovered it."

21. "TIL a Dunkin' Donuts marketing campaign in South Korea released coffee aromas while their commercials played on buses and increased sales by 29%."

22. "The border with Afghanistan is the greatest border time change in the world."

"TIL China has just one timezone (Beijing time) that covers the whole country. In the westernmost provinces, the sun may not rise until 10 am or set until midnight.

The border with Afghanistan is the greatest border time change in the world."

23. "TIL some triathletes pee while riding their bike to minimize wasted time."

24. "TIL about millionaire Wellington Burt"

"TIL about millionaire Wellington Burt, who died in 1919 and deliberately held back his enormous fortune. His will denied any inheritance until 21 years after the death of his last surviving grandchild.

The money sat in a trust for 92 years, until 12 descendants finally shared $110 million in 2011."

25. Awe or just fear?

"TIL when Stalin mispronounced a word while giving a speech, all subsequent speakers felt obliged to repeat the mistaken pronunciation in order to avoid the perception that they were correcting him."

26. "TIL newborn babies shouldn’t drink plain water because it can lead to brain swelling and even death."

27. William Sitgreaves Cox

"TIL about William Sitgreaves Cox a junior officer aboard the USS Chesapeake who was court-martialed for leaving his command when he assisted his wounded captain below decks. Since all other senior officers were wounded, he had become the commanding officer by default, unbeknownst to him."

28. "TIL Brad Pitt, while starring as Achilles in the movie Troy, ruptured his Achilles tendon on set."

29. "The Supreme Court declined to hear their case."

30. "TIL that 81% of people say that email is still their primary form of communication at work."

31. Only 17 out of 5000:

"TIL since 1850, more than 5,000 people have gone over Niagara Falls, either intentionally (as stunts or suicide attempts) or accidentally but only 17 are known to have survived."

32. "TIL no child has been harmed or ki***d by poisoned or dangerous Halloween candy."

33. "This resulted in a law banning children from flying"

34. "TIL That the most famous pirate in history: Blackbeard, was only active for 2 years. 1716-1718."

35. If he had known then, he would have been proud of himself:

36. When you act so well that people cannot tell what is acting and what is reality.

37. The mortality rate of BBL's:

38. Who would have thought

39. An interesting one

40. Eric Clapton's family relationships

"TIL Eric Clapton grew up thinking his mother was his sister, his grandmother was his mother, and his step-grandfather was his father."

41. "Her father believed that she was a vampire"

Well, we can say that we learned something today. We hope you found this post as interesting as we expected.

And if you want to learn more, you can visit the Today I learned subreddit community here. Also, if you have something interesting to share with us, you can do it in the comment section below.

Filip