When browsing the internet, not only do we rarely learn anything, but we often also forget things. Think of our long-gone attention spans that social media has cut to the brim, and ask yourself when was the last time you scrolled through something seriously beneficial.

While you wonder, let me tell you there’s the internet’s beloved corner of Reddit which makes karma, or rather our brain levels, even because it actually teaches us something. We’re talking about the ‘Today I Learned’ online group that celebrates curiosity by sharing some of the most interesting and lesser-known things, facts, and bits of knowledge we all appreciate.

Today is the day for the newest TIL batch, so pull your seat closer and enjoy the ride without guilt. When you’re done, be sure to check our previous TIL features here, here, and here and be sure to share them with your friends!

#1

TIL A company in the 90’s made pencils with the anti-drug slogan “Too Cool to Do Drugs” but had to recall them because, when sharpened, they read “Do Drugs”

Image credits: duralyon

#2

TIL George Lucas not only gave his blessing to make Spaceballs, he also handed the movie over to his effects company, Industrial Light and Magic, to provide the space effects and postproduction

Image credits: Bl4ckb100d

#3

TIL Quentin Tarantino directed an episode of CSI in 2005 after word of him being a fan of the show got back to the show’s producers.

Image credits: DjOverEZ

#4

TIL The professional bowler Chris Barnes once beat a robot optimized to throw strikes

Image credits: Hrtzy

#5

TIL the boy whose exorcism was the inspiration behind The Exorcist grew up to be a NASA engineer. His work contributed to the Apollo mission in the ’60s.

Image credits: Adisaisa

#6

TIL, despite its vastness, it only takes 39-40 digits of pi to calculate the size of the observable universe to an accuracy of 1 hydrogen atom. Because of this, NASA uses only 15 digits of pi in even their highest accuracy calculations.

Image credits: zyonker

#7

TIL of Lauren Stratford (Wilson) who wrote a book claiming that she was in a Satanic cult in which she sacrificed her own child. After magazine reporters exposed her as never having a child, she changed her name and claimed to be a holocaust survivor, and was exposed again by the same magazine.

Image credits: ButtholeBanquets

#8

TIL that SNL called Phil Hartman “The Glue” because his professionalism and comedy skills held together so many sketches

Image credits: JeremyZenith

#9

TIL Consumers lose $3 billion a year in unspent gift cards, with starbucks itself having $140 million in unused gift cards.

Image credits: spankacrocodile

#10

TIL of the Fontana delle Tette in Treviso, North Italy, a XVI century topless statue of a woman sprinkling water from each nipple. During celebrations, it spouts red and white wine, free to drink.

Image credits: kinbeat

#11

TIL that the Ignalina nuclear power plant located in eastern Lithuania is identical to the Chernobyl plant in Pripyat. The plant remained operational until 2009 and was used as the set for the HBO Chernobyl miniseries.

Image credits: _r0b_the_b0b_

#12

TIL Tom Dolan, despite having both exercise induced asthma and a narrow trachea giving him access to only about 20 percent of the air an average person breath—was at one time considered the best swimmer in the world and is a two time Olympic gold medalist and world record holder.

#13

TIL US President John Adam’s beloved daughter Nabby developed breast cancer and underwent a complete mastectomy without anesthesia while strapped to a chair.

Image credits: howsadley

#14

TIL that in 1961, Thomas Monaghan got half-ownership of “Domino’s”, now one of the largest pizza companies in the world. All he had to give in return was his used Volkswagen Beetle car.

#15

TIL that Pres. George HW Bush vomited on the lap of Japanese PM Kiichi Miyazawa during a 1992 state banquet. The incident caused a wave of late night TV jokes & ridicule, even coining Busshu-suru meaning “to do the Bush thing or bushing it”. It was also spoofed in the film “Hot Shots! Part Deux.”

Image credits: carl2k1

#16

TIL: As far back as 1872, despite practically no women being allowed to vote, Victoria Woodhull of the Equal Rights Party became the first woman nominated for a US Presidential election. Frederick Douglass, a black abolitionist, was even chosen as her running mate

Image credits: That_Charming_Otter

#17

TIL The only children to survive the Titanic without a parent were two brothers aged 2 and 4. Their father kidnapped them from his ex-wife and boarded the ship with a fake name. The father didn’t survive and for weeks the boys were known as the Titanic Orphans until their mother was found.

Image credits: triviafrenzy

#18

TIL French secret service agents bombed the Greenpeace ship “Rainbow Warrior in order to stop Greenpeace from disrupting underwater nuclear testing in 1985.

Image credits: treebob07

#19

TIL When Emperor Nero got his mistress pregnant, he divorced and banished his wife Octavia. When this led to a public outcry, he instead had her executed.

Image credits: HeStoleMyBalloons

#20

TIL Episodes Five and Ten of 1960s Doctor Who story The Daleks’ Master Plan were long considered missing until they were found in the basement of a Mormon church in Wandsworth. Nobody has found out how they got there.

Image credits: MellotronSymphony

#21

TIL that “American cheese” is a combination of cheddar, Colby, washed curd, or granular cheeses. By federal law, it must be labeled “process American cheese” if made of more than one cheese or “process American cheese food” if it’s at least 51% cheese but contains other specific dairy ingredients.

Image credits: PikesPique

#22

TIL that when Yoshitaro Shibasaki and his team completed their 1907 ascent of Mount Tsurugi — thought to be the final unclimbed mountain remaining in the Japanese archipelago — they found an ancient sword at the summit that was later determined to have been left there more than 1000 years earlier.

Image credits: murdered-by-swords

#23

TIL traditional grass lawns originated as a status symbol for the wealthy. Neatly cut lawns used solely for aesthetics became a status symbol as it demonstrated that the owner could afford to maintain grass that didn’t serve purposes of food production.

Image credits: vinsclortho

#24

TIL that during World War II, the United States published a spy manual urging middle managers in enemy territory to sabotage their employers by bringing up irrelevant issues, promoting bad workers, haggling over petty details, and holding unnecessary meetings.

Image credits: PikesPique

#25

TIL that the surgeon August Bier tested on his own assistant a form of anesthesia consisting of injecting cocaine directly into the spine, and to check how effective it was, he stuck a needle in his leg, hit him in the shins with a hammer, ripped off his pubic hair and even squeezed his testicles.

Image credits: ShabtaiBenOron

#26

TIL that there are around 50-60 blue faience hippopotamus statuettes that survived from Ancient Egypt. Due to the danger hippos posed in the wild, they often snapped off the legs of hippopotamus statuettes before placing them in tombs, so the hippos wouldn’t be able to eat the soul of the deceased.

Image credits: AndiamoAllie

#27

TIL Story Musgrave is the most formally educated astronaut with seven academic degrees and only astronaut to have flown on all five space shuttles.

#28

TIL that Sigmund Freud was a Cocaine Addict, and he personally prescribed it to his wife and friends

Image credits: benp242

#29

TIL that dandelions are edible and are actually really nutritious and can be eaten raw

Image credits: Madarathequincy

#30

TIL that a 2019 study showed that evening primrose plants can “hear” the sound of a buzzing bee nearby and produce sweeter nectar in response to it.

Image credits: godsenfrik

#31

TIL in 1983, NFL Chiefs running back Joe Delaney sacrificed his life in an attempt to save three children from drowning. His number is unofficially retired by the team and a statue was put up in his hometown.

Image credits: solojones1138

#32

TIL that the Capitol was designed to have George Washington’s tomb on public display. Both houses passed bills saying he should be buried there, and his wife consented, but due to various delays it took until 1830 for it to be viable. After an attempted theft of his head, the project was cancelled.

Image credits: derstherower

#33

TIL that Hormel Foods keeps a file of hatemail they’ve received from American soldiers who had to eat the notorious food product while at war overseas

Image credits: BrokenEye3

#34

TIL that the United States has offered to purchase Greenland from Denmark twice, once in 1946 and again in 2019 due to its strategic location in the Arctic, the U.S. also occupied the island during WW2 from 1940-45 after the fall of Denmark and constructed Thule Air Base.

#35

TIL in 1962 boxer Emile Griffith fought Welterweight Champion Benny Paret. At the weigh-in, Paret infuriated Griffith, a bisexual man, by touching his buttocks and making a homophobic slur. Griffith won the bout by knockout; Paret never recovered consciousness and died in the hospital 10 days later.

#36

TIL that the title “Triple Ace in a Day” refers to pilots who shot down 15 enemy aircraft in a single day. There have only been 5 such pilots, all of whom flew for the German Luftwaffe in WWII.

#37

TIL a bankrupted con-artist from Oregon was able to purchase a bank license and opened a offshore bank in Grenada by claiming to own a 4 pound ruby worth $20 million dollars and a appraisal document proving its worth. The ruby was owned by a man in California who didn’t know the scammer.

#38

TIL the original version of The Game of Life had a suicide square

#39

TIL that the largest pyramid in the world is located in Mexico, not in Egypt. The Great Pyramid of Tepanapa has a base four times the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

#40

TIL that in 1983, Hasbro executives travelled to to the Tokyo Toy Show to look for new toys they could release in the United States. After finding a series of transforming robot toys, they teamed with Marvel Comics to create a comic book and animated series–“Transformers”–to sell the toys.

#41

TIL that the packaging colour for air-dropped humanitarian ration packs had to be changed from yellow to salmon after someone realised that the same shade of yellow was also used for air-dropped cluster bombs.

#42

TIL about the Ibadan forest of horror, in which peoples bodyparts were harvested to be sold for ritual sacrifice.

#43

TIL Roughly 2.5 billion people watched princess Diana’s funeral in 1997. At its height the queue to reach the book of condolences took 6.5 hours. The queen gave her first live broadcast in 50 years

#44

TIL Baseball player Al “The Hebrew Hammer” Rosen was an amateur boxer and known for challenging anyone who insulted his heritage, or used anti-Semitic slurs, to fight. His stated preferred method for dealing with anti-Semitism was to ‘Flatten them’.

#45

TIL that the first documented mention of adults playing cricket came from 1611, when two men were fined 12d each for failing to attend church on Easter Sunday because they were playing cricket.

#46

TIL that the highest-ranking US military officer of Vietnamese descent is the only survivor of a family whose killer was photographed being shot in the head in a Pulitzer-winning photograph.

#47

TIL There is no difference between “saltwater” taffy and regular taffy. It is simply a marketing gimmick in coastal regions with origins in Atlantic City

#48

TIL That “Barker’s Beauties,” the models on The Price is Right, did not have contracts, but were were rehired on a week-to-week basis to keep their salaries low.

#49

TIL of the ancient Greek athlete Theagenes. After his death, a rival athlete who held a grudge would beat his statue. The statue fell on his rival, killing him. It was then put on trial, convicted of murder and was exiled by being thrown into the sea.

#50

TIL that cigars have beetle larvae. Under the right temperature and humidity, they can hatch and infest whole cigar boxes.

Image credits: Pumpkinskydie

#51

TIL in 2009 British people rebelled against the ongoing trend of X Factor victors winning Christmas number one by purchasing copies of Rage Against the Machine

Image credits: Eireconnection

#52

TIL about Louis Remme, who rode on horseback nonstop from Sacramento to Portland in 1855, racing against the ship-borne news of a bank run that would prevent him from withdrawing his own money

Image credits: arothmanmusic

#53

TIL about corn sweat, where corn plants release water into the air. One acre of corn can release 3,000-4,000 gallons of water per day, and can raise the humidity level up to 10%.

Image credits: ClassyBroadMSP

#54

TIL Gunslinger effect, The quantum physicist Niels Bohr deducted that in a gun dual, the person who draws first loses.

Image credits: Jamieflamefame

Source: boredpanda.com