Every once in a while, it can be nice to feed your brain some new information, just as a snack. Whether for your own satisfaction or just some fun trivia to have on hand, it never hurts to learn more about the world that you live in.
So here are some not-so-well-known facts from the “Today I Learned” internet group to tickle your brain. Make sure you are comfortable, perhaps get a pen and some paper to jot down the ones that seem most interesting, and be sure to upvote your favorite facts as you scroll through. And when you are done, share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
#1
TIL of Triboulet: a Royal jester for King Francis of France who was sentenced to death for mocking the King and Queen. King Francis allowed him to choose his method of death, to which Triboulet responded “… I ask to die from old age.” He was spared and instead banished.
Image source: Json1134, Sarah Bernhardt
#2
TIL that the loudness of a howler monkey is relative to the size of its testicles. Researchers found that the smaller the testicles, the louder the monkey.
Image source: ParadoxicalState, Costa Rica Wildlife
#3
TIL fairy dust was added to Peter Pan so that children wouldn’t hurt themselves trying to fly when they got home from seeing the play.
Image source: FLEXXMAN33, Francis Donkin Bedford
#4
TIL Spock was originally supposed to be a Martian, but Gene Roddenberry changed his home to the fictional Vulcan because he feared humans will already land on Mars during the show‘s runtime and make it look outdated
Image source: Romboteryx, NBC
#5
TIL elephant trunks are strong enough to lift and hold 770lbs yet precise enough to crack peanut shells without breaking the seeds
Image source: FewGuide5, Venkat Ragavan
#6
TIL that in France, bars can’t have a Happy Hour without also making non-alcoholic drinks cheaper
Image source: IB_zerbasteln, Ana Benet
#7
TIL in 2005, a sheep jumped off a cliff in Turkey and 1500 sheep followed one by one. 450 sheep died and the rest survived by landing on the soft big pile of sheep.
Image source: sanandrios, Pixabay
#8
TIL that the British sitcom Mr. Bean only consists of 15 episodes over a span of 6 years
Image source: SteO153, wikipedia
#9
TIL Jaws directly contributed to a surge in shark hunting, and consequently a drop in shark populations. Peter Benchley regretted writing Jaws, “Knowing what I know now, I could never write that book today. Sharks don’t target human beings, and they certainly don’t hold grudges.”
Image source: godumbledorkk, Universal Pictures
#10
TIL that the makers of Donkey Kong Country wanted the Kongs to be voiced by actual gorillas and spent hours recording some at a zoo, only to realize that gorillas are actually very quiet. Finding themselves without sounds to work with, they had a programmer do gorilla impressions instead.
Image source: ShabtaiBenOron, unknown
#11
TIL that the Japanese have a word “Busshu-suru” which translates as “To do the Bush thing” meaning “to vomit” referring to the time when George H.W. Bush’ vomited in Japan’s prime minister’s lap.
Image source: AerotyneInternationa, CNN
#12
TIL that it took Erno Rubik, inventor of the Rubiks Cube, one month to solve his own invention.
Image source: External-Zebra-3250, Rosana Prada
#13
TIL ant corpses release a chemical when they die. A scientist once recreated this chemical and put it on a live ant. Its ant friends kept bringing it to the graveyard no matter how much it struggled to return.
Image source: ParadoxicalState, Egor Kamelev
#14
TIL: A comedian formed the Union of Conscientiously Work-Shy Elements in Denmark as a joke, but he was unexpected elected with 23k votes and won a seat. His promises were better Christmas presents, the right to impotency, more renaissance furniture at IKEA, more bread for ducks, and better weather.
Image source: Flares117, Simon Wedege
#15
TIL: We domesticated the silk moth 5000 years ago for sericulture. They lost their ability to fly, lack fear of predators, & have lost native color pigments since camouflage is not useful as they only live in captivity. They’re entirely dependent on humans for survival, including finding a mate.
Image source: poleco1, Bombycoidea
#16
TIL that the reason you get chills from a fever isn’t because you’re physically cold. It’s the brain setting your body temp higher to fight the infection and tricking your body into thinking the temperature is wrong so the chills can help increase heat.
Image source: tropicalrainforest, Polina Tankilevitch
#17
TIL that for centuries, numerous African populations were purported to be illiterate by European academics. In fact, they’d been using Ajami for literature and communication. Ajami adapts the Arabic script for many African languages, like Roman script is used for European ones…
Image source: TheAfternoonStandard, Fallou Ngom
#18
TIL the smoot is a unit of measure named for Oliver R. Smoot, an MIT student who as a fraternity pledge was forced to measure the Harvard Bridge using himself as a ruler. A smoot is equal to five feet, seven inches.
Image source: IVLeague8
#19
TIL that in the 2022 World Cup, Qatar became the first host nation to lose its opening match, the first host nation to lose all three of its matches, the first host nation to be eliminated from the tournament in two matches and the first host nation to have 0 points at the end of the group stage
Image source: 9oRo, cartstanza
#20
TIL: In 2019, a lawyer and a software developer brute force copyrighted every possible melody and entered them into public domain to insulate musicians from ‘stolen melody’ lawsuits.
Image source: windingtime, TEDx Talks
#21
TIL a sheep farmer in France became a national hero, wrote a best seller book and ran for president after he took his tractor and drove it through a mcdonalds as a protest because he hated what the fast food restaurant was doing to farmers.
Image source: Berisha11, Claude Truong-Ngoc / Wikimedia Commons
#22
TIL people didn’t know TNT was explosive for 28 years and used it as yellow dye instead
Image source: frituurgarnituur, Wremmerswaal
#23
TIL about the Coastline Paradox which explains that’s its impossible to accurately measure the length of a country’s coastline and the more precise the measurement the greater the length becomes – to the point of infinity
Image source: xenglandx, Maksim
#24
TIL that with an estimated pay of $156,000,000 , Keanu Reeves is the highest paid actor in history for a single production since Matrix 2&3 were filmed back-to-back
Image source: cartstanza, Governo do Estado de São Paulo
#25
TIL that the myth of carrots improving your eyesight and helping you see in the dark was WWII propaganda
Image source: Jake52212, mali maeder
#26
TIL Hawaii is considered the bird extinction capital of the world – Since humans arrived, 95 of 142 bird species found nowhere else in the world have become extinct in Hawaii
Image source: iamayeshaerotica, Roberto Nickson
#27
TIL that when Andre the giant passed away there was no crematorium large enough in France so his body had to be flown to America
Image source: Kneenaw, https://www.flickr.com/photos/noticeofmeowery/86288815/in/set-72057594047839391
#28
TIL that court dwarfs were strategically positioned next to the king or queen during public appearances and ceremonies, which, due to their small stature, had the effect of visually enhancing the monarch’s presence. They were owned, traded, and delivered as gifts to kings and queens.
Image source: el_chupa_nibra, Giovanni Jean Brindesi
#29
TIL that, over the course of their lifetime, 1 in 10 Icelanders will publish a book.
Image source: Rafaeliki, Sumit Mathur
#30
TIL that in 1947 Canada raised the price of chocolate bars from 5¢ to 8¢ without much notice. Children protested against this 62.5% increase throughout the country, and approximately 200 stormed the legislature building of British Columbia.
Image source: –throwaway, Mx. Granger
#31
TIL, female elephants in Mozambique are rapidly evolving to not have tusks due to poachers.
Image source: Edith3333
#32
TIL: After an IVF mix up, 2 mothers gave birth to each other’s babies. Four months after giving birth, the California families swapped babies to return the children to their rightful parents.
Image source: diacewrb
#33
TIL that when U.S. General George S. Patton died in late 1945, the French government offered to bury him beside Napoleon in Paris out of gratitude for his role in the liberation of France and western Europe.
Image source: HawkeyeTen
#34
TIL there is an IQ floor (80 points) to serve in the US Armed Forces and this requirement was relaxed during the Vietnam war. These people died at 5 times the rate of other Americans in the war.
Image source: my_n3w_account
#35
TIL that Scotland has over 30,000 lochs but only 1 lake.
Image source: EssexGuyUpNorth, Callam Barnes
#36
TIL a territorial loophole created a de facto lawless piece of land between the Dutch and Belgian border. This area became known for hosting illegal raves, drug deals and prostitution. The loophole was closed in 2018 after a headless corpse was found there.
Image source: sanandrios
#37
TIL that the oxygen for emergency masks on planes does not come from tanks, but instead from a chemical reaction
Image source: belsamber
#38
TIL There existed a Roman Emperor whose face appears on just 2 ancient coins and we otherwise know absolutely nothing about
Image source: rezikiel
#39
Today I learned that President Glover Cleveland had a secret surgery removing a tumor in his mouth on a yacht because he worried that news of him having cancer would effect the stock market.
Image source: EntrepreneurOk1856, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
#40
TIL that Jim Carrey was paid $7 million for ”Dumb and Dumber”, while his co-star Jeff Daniels made just $50,000
Image source: cartstanza, New Line Cinema
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