The day can be gloomy, hard, long, or totally irrelevant, but if you can learn something on that day, even the simplest fact, then your day is complete. And there’s no better place to do that than our beloved corner of Reddit, the ‘Today I Learned’ community that has people sharing interesting things they learned on the internet.
And keeping in mind what a vast place this world wide web actually is, there’s always something new to discover! Some things are totally useless yet eyebrow-raising, others are seriously game-changing, so there’s a little for everyone to get their brain cells in shape.
Scroll down, upvote your favorites, and be sure to check our previous TIL posts here, here, and here.
#1
TIL, The Netherlands gives Canada 20,000 tulips every year as a thank you for protecting the Dutch royal family in ww2
Image source: Jasian1001, Andrew Scheer
#2
TIL that Sea Urchins are called Sea Urchins because Hedgehogs used to be called Urchins until about the 15th century. Sea Urchins are Ocean Hedgehogs.
Image source: theonewithBacon, Nhobgood
#3
TIL the self-absorption paradox asserts that the more self-aware we are, the less likely we are to make social mistakes, but the more likely we are to torture ourselves over past mistakes. High self-awareness leads to more psychological distress.
Image source: SonOfQuora, Anna Shvets
#4
TIL that tigers are nearly invisible to their prey, who see orange as green. Tigers are orange because mammals can’t produce green fur, and orange was the next best thing.
Image source: Iwantmorelife, Bernard Spragg
#5
TIL of the Ovitz family, not only the largest family of dwarfs ever recorded but also the largest family (12 people ranging from a 15-month-old baby to a 58-year-old woman) to enter Auschwitz and survive intact.
Image source: lighted_is_lit, imdb
#6
TIL Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989. He was frustrated with the fact that he had to go and ask his coworkers what data was on their computer so he can add it to his computer which led to him creating an application that became the world wide Web.
Image source: somnifacientsawyer, ITU Pictures
#7
TIL that Tupac Shakur renamed his publishing company name from “Ghetto Gospel Music” to “Joshua’s Dream” after meeting with 11-year old Joshua Torres with muscular dystrophy who died 45 minutes after Tupac left his bedside
Image source: Sno0pyBo0, ballislife
#8
TIL, that Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Queen’s tribute for Elvis, took Freddie Mercury 10 minutes to write while taking a bath
Image source: Darkness4923
#9
TIL that in India, there is a species of giant squirrel that have multicoloured fur, with with varying shades of orange, maroon and purple. Their bodies measure 36in from head to tail – double the size of their grey relatives – and they can leap 20ft between trees.
Image source: Alolan_Teddiursa, VinodBhattu
#10
TIL two high school students found that despite advertising claims that “the blackcurrants in Ribena have four times the vitamin C of oranges,” the drink contained almost no trace of vitamin C and one orange juice brand had over three times more. The company were taken to court and fined NZ$217,500.
Image source: Str33twise84, Melaneas
#11
TIL that cigarette filters were designed with color-changing chemicals to give the illusion that they filter out toxins. In reality, the filters have little to no health benefits.
Image source: gnulynnux, Akroti
#12
TIL there is a herd of wild zebras in central California that can be seen off of Route 1 near San Simeon.
Image source: Platographer, Linda Tanner
#13
TIL about a New Jersey history professor who was telling a story to his class about how a ranger saved his life in a canyon at night in Texas in 1940. The ranger had managed to track him down and coincidentally walked in to the classroom right as the professor was telling the story.
Image source: CanadianW, Laird Funeral Home
#14
TIL – Ben and Jerry’s has a physical graveyard that they retire old flavors to, and you can actually go visit it.
Image source: Chr0nos1, Jimmy Emerson, DVM
#15
TIL some people suffer a “weekend migraine” or “let-down headache” on weekends (or other break from a 9-to-5 weekday job) due to a decrease in stress.
Image source: tense_n_nervous
#16
TIL of Tullimonstrum Gregarium, aka the Tully Monster. An animal so strange, that despite having thousands of fossils, we don’t know whether it was a vertebrate or an invertebrate. To add to the strangeness, fossils of this creature have only been found in one fossil site in the world.
Image source: xSparkyBoomManx, Nobu Tamura
#17
TIL Harrison Ford was frozen in The Empire Strikes Back because, unlike Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill, Ford had only signed on for two films. After the success of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Lucas didn’t think Ford would return for the 3rd Star Wars film, but left him frozen just in case.
Image source: wjbc
#18
TIL that the vampires were not inspired by bats. Bloodsucking bats were only discovered in Latin America in the 16th century, while the earliests vampires stories were from 12th century Europe.
Image source: Ptcruz, George Hodan
#19
TIL the longest surgery ever recorded was performed in 2001 by a team of 20 doctors; it took 103 hours (more than four days) to complete.
Image source: electricmaster23, Vidal Balielo Jr.
#20
TIL that due to the fact that they spend the majority of their lives on sea ice, polar bears are classified as marine mammals, like dolphins, seals, and whales.
Image source: derstherower, Alan Wilson
#21
TIL the most powerful commercial radio station ever was WLW (700KHz AM), which during certain times in the 1930s broadcasted 500kW radiated power. At night, it covered half the globe. Neighbors within the vicinity of the transmitter heard the audio in their pots, pans, and mattresses.
Image source: PlatinumAero, Joanna Poe
#22
TIL Purkinje Effect. Which states that as the lights dim, our eyes get more sensitive towards blue end of the spectrum. This is the reason why in movie theaters, chairs are usually red. In low light, red is the first color the human eye loses sight of, hence enhancing our viewing experience.
Image source: mandlebrot235813, prateekvjoshi
#23
TIL that Vermont ambulances stock maple syrup for ‘oral glucose’ administration.
Image source: Jxntb733, Jxntb733
#24
TIL Due to casino distributions, every Seminole Indian child born is a multi millionaire when they turn 18 years old.
Image source: joecooool418, picryl
#25
TIL about two Irish boys aged 13 and 10 who in 1985 ended up in New York after sneaking onto a train and a ferry in Dublin, a train to Heathrow, and a flight to JFK, all without being caught.
Image source: katdicko, 3219702288063048
#26
TIL that the Concorde airplane flew so fast, if you left London (or Paris) in the evening flying west towards New York, to the passengers in the plane, the sun would actually appear to begin rising again shortly after reaching cruising speed. The plane flew faster than the Earth’s rotation.
Image source: PlatinumAer0, Eduard Marmet
#27
TIL In the original ending to “Pretty Woman”, Richard Gere’s character throws Julia Roberts character out of his limo in a dirty alley and tosses $3,000 on top of her
Image source: New_Particular7075
#28
TIL it took 4 people only 4 days to replicate a typical 2.5 tonne Block of the Great Pyramid, using the same tools found in an abandoned ancient quarry (copper chisels, wooden mallets, etc.)
Image source: BetaKeyTakeaway, Mgiganteus1
#29
TIL there’s a mineral element (Promethium) so rare that it’s estimated there are 500-600 grams of it in the Earth’s crust
Image source: Soft-Problem, Lanthanum-138
#30
TIL Titan is the only moon in the solar system with a thick atmosphere and the only world other than Earth that has surface liquid in the form of lakes, rivers and oceans
Image source: svetambara, NASA
#31
TIL Procter & Gamble argued for years that Pringles were NOT potato chips, but Britain’s Supreme Court of Judicature ultimately determined that they were — requiring Procter & Gamble to pay $160 million in taxes.
Image source: sisyphushaditsoeasy, goiwara
#32
TIL Cyprus was going to host the first particle accelerator in the Middle East, but ministers chose to spend the money on hosting the Miss Universe pageant instead.
Image source: mrcchapman, Miss Universe
#33
TIL that the Sun is 99.86% of all mass in our solar system. Every other planet, asteroid, and comet only adds up to 7/50th of a single percent.
#34
TIL Krabby Patty is a veggie burger, as he series’ creator, Stephen Hillenburg, expressly stated that the patties do not contain any meat.
Image source: Super_ACF
#35
TIL that despite not existing for the past 30 years, the Soviet Union still holds the most Olympic gold medals for wrestling.
Image source: disc2k, The U.S. National Archives
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