The world is full of fascinating tidbits just waiting to be discovered, and it’s never too late to learn something new. Therefore, websites like Reddit’s ‘Today I Learned‘ (TIL) community provide an endless source of mind-blowing facts you may not have come across before.

For instance, did you know that Channel 5 was the only major UK television channel that did not broadcast Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, opting to air The Emoji Movie instead? Or perhaps you have heard that Snoop Dogg was excommunicated by the Rastafari Council following his attempt to rebrand as Rastafarian “Snoop Lion”? These examples, along with many more facts from ‘Today I Learned’, serve as a reminder that knowledge never stands still, and we can always learn more about the world around us.

With that being said, if you’d love to see more interesting facts, then make sure to check out the previous posts here on Bored Panda (here, here, here, here, here, and here).

#1

TIL: One in four American cowboys were black.

Image credits: 4m2r0s

#2

TIL – Walter Orthmann, a 100 year old, set the Guinness World Record for working at the same company for 84 years and nine days.

Image credits: PhonedVenus21345678

#3

TIL The aardwolf knows not to destory its food sources. Aardwolves eat part of a termite mound, leaves it, and return a few months later when the colony has rebuilt so it can have another meal. An aardwolf keeps track of mounds it attacked and can eat 250,000 termites in a single night.

Image credits: jamescookenotthatone

#4

TIL in 1996, a 21-year-old man burst into a New Zealand radio station, took the manager hostage and demanded that Kermit the Frog’s rendition of Rainbow Connection be played.

Image credits: tom275bo

#5

TIL that Channel 5 was the only major UK television channel not to broadcast Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral – they aired The Emoji Movie instead.

Image credits: Yoshi2010

#6

TIL The Spanish Inquisition would write to you, giving 30 days notice before arriving and these were read out during Sunday Mass. Although these edicts were eventually phased out, you originally always expected the Spanish Inquisition.

Image credits: Apprehensive_Bug_826

#7

TIL of “The Paradox of Choice.” Research indicates that when we are given too many options to choose from, we tend to end up less satisfied than if we had fewer options to choose from. Increased choice leads to higher expectations, followed by regret and self-blame.

#8

TIL that “Firehawks” a collection of three Australian bird species, are the only animals besides humans known to use fire to hunt. They will pick up burning sticks from fires and carry them in their beaks and talons before dropping it in unburnt vegetation setting the ground ablaze driving prey out.

Image credits: TodAllen-99

#9

TIL Anne Frank wrote four dirty jokes in her diary, which she later papered over so they weren’t discovered by researchers until 2018.

Image credits: Smolesworthy

#10

TIL During pregnancy, if the mother suffers organ damage, the baby in the womb sends stem cells to repair the damaged organ.

Image credits: Rifletree

#11

TIL that the Philippines is 1 out 2 countries in the world that still doesn’t allow divorce. It also has the 10th highest number of child brides globally, with 100,000 women married before their 15th birthday.

Image credits: War_Hymn

#12

TIL that Snoop Dogg was excommunicated by the Rastafari Council after his attempt to rebrand as Rastafarian “Snoop Lion”.

Image credits: Such-Track5369

#13

TIL – The miscarriage rate is higher than people perceive. On average 12.5% of women who know they are pregnant have a miscarriage within the first 23 weeks of pregnancy.

Image credits: iambeno

#14

TIL about the “Old Man of the Lake,” a 30-foot tall, 450 year old tree stump, most likely a hemlock, that has been bobbing vertically in Oregon’s Crater Lake since at least 1896. Moving freely, it can be virtually anywhere on the lake, so boat captains commonly communicate its position for safety.

#15

TIL a special law in the UK was created to ensure that the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital will forever be able to collect royalties from stage performances, audiobooks, book releases, etc. of Peter Pan in the UK. This is the only work with an ‘exception’ to copyright laws.

#16

TIL that a woman named Jo Cameron has a rare genetic mutation that makes her unable to feel pain or anxiety. Despite numerous injuries throughout her life, Jo has never needed painkillers.

Image credits: KodyBerns99

#17

TIL the eunuchs of the last Chinese emperor wore their severed testicles and penises in jars around their necks when working.

Image credits: Arthur_Boo_Radley

#18

TIL: Tracy Chapman sued Nicki Minaj for copyright infringement. According to the complaint, Chapman repeatedly refused to give Minaj permission to sample one of her songs, but Minaj did it anyway. Minaj settled and agreed to pay Chapman $450K.

Image credits: theotherbogart

#19

TIL hippos have a reflex mechanism that allows them to pop up, take a breath, and go back down without waking up so they can sleep underwater.

Image credits: HeavyResonance

#20

TIL that in Uruguay, up until 2017, if you caught your spouse in bed with someone else, it was within your rights to beat or kill either of them.

#21

TIL in 2019 a Brazilian drug trafficker serving a 73 yr sentence tried to escape from prison by disguising himself as his teenage daughter who was visiting. His plan was to leave her behind in his place but his nervousness as he approached the exit tipped off the guards.He hung himself 3 days later.

Image credits: GoodSamaritan_

#22

TIL Simeon Stylites lived on top of columns for 37 years. Simeon did this as a form of asceticism because when he lived in a cave people kept making pilgrimages to him and asking him religious questions. Ultimately his column life drew in even bigger crowds who would climb ladders to talk to him.

Image credits: jamescookenotthatone

#23

TIL: James Blunt gave Weird Al Yankovic permission to parody his single “You’re Beautiful.” But after Yankovic recorded “You’re Pitiful,” Blunt’s record label refused to let it be commercially released. Yankovic didn’t include it on his album. Instead, he released it as a free digital download.

#24

TIL Alf Clausen was the sole composer on The Simpsons from 1990 to 2017. Clausen would write the music for an episode during the week and record with his 35-piece orchestra on Fridays. One week Clausen had to write 57 musical cues.

Image credits: jamescookenotthatone

#25

TIL that a 2019 Union College study found that joining a fraternity in college lowered a student’s GPA by 0.25 points, but also increased their future income by 36%.

Image credits: derstherower

#26

TIL The Arabian Oryx became extinct in the wild by the early 1970s, but was saved in zoos and private reserves, and was reintroduced into the wild starting in 1980. In 2011, it was the first animal to revert to vulnerable status on the IUCN Red List after previously being listed as extinct

#27

TIL three Germans had been infected with rabies after an organ donation, as the donor was bitten by a dog and was undiagnosed.

Image credits: kraven420

#28

TIL A Canadian man ordered Brylcreem, a hair styling product from a Canadian e-commerce site in 2012 and received the package in 2020.

#29

TIL Earth is the only known place in our solar system where fire occurs, and no known exoplanets have enough oxygen to allow fire to exist.

#30

TIL As a child, Walt Disney’s mom convinced his dad, Elias, to buy him a set of colored pencils and some drawing paper. Elias did not approve, believing the boy should spend time engaged in hard, manual labor. Even after Walt became famous, Elias never considered animation a real job.

#31

TIL Margaret Knight (1838-1914) invented a machine to mass produce flat-bottomed paper bags and, after winning a lawsuit against a fraudster who copied her design, the patent was issued in 1871. Her first invention was when she was 12 years old (and began working in a factory). She had 87 patents.

#32

TIL that Hawaii was a sovereign self-governing kingdom all the way up until 1893, totally unassociated with the U.S., until a coup d’état that year by 13 businessmen and 162 U.S. troops, with the openly stated goal of annexing the islands. (They succeeded.)

#33

TIL Beethoven’s 3rd Symphony was initially his tribute to Napoleon, whom he admired. But when Napoleon crowned himself emperor in 1804, Beethoven angrily declared that Napoleon had become a tyrant, and he erased Bonaparte’s name from the score’s title page.

#34

TIL The first person clinically diagnosed with Autism is still alive. Donald Grey Triplett who is 89 years old.

#35

TIL On average, the United States has only eight public toilets per 100,000 people.

Image credits: mankls3

#36

TIL Jethro Tull’s album Thick as a Brick was created as satire, a jab at the 10+ minute songs from prog rock bands at the time. It’s now considered one of the best prog-rock albums of all time.

Image credits: ngtstkr

#37

TIL that same-sex behavior has been recorded in more than 1000 species in animal kingdom ranging from beetles to penguins. This was earlier often seen as an example of Darwin’s paradox as these behaviors are non-reproductive and don’t contribute to the advancement of species in the traditional sense.

Image credits: Major_Marquis1

#38

TIL Jimmy Carter signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, the single largest expansion of protected lands in history which more than doubled the size of the National Parks System.

#39

TIL Morocco was the first country to recognize the United States as an independent sovereign nation.

Image credits: nowuff

#40

TIL that the wealthiest athlete in human history, was an ancient Roman charioteer from what is now Portugal, named Gaius Appuleius Diocles. His combined earnings were the equivalent of fifteen billion dollars.

Image credits: AHorseNamedPhil

#41

TIL that Slash, guitarist of Guns N’ Roses, helped fund the dinosaur exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

#42

TIL: The 62 books in the mainline Goosebumps series were published in only 53 months. RL Stine published more than a book a month for almost five years.

Image credits: The_Good_Count

#43

TIL Elvis Presley craved the Fool’s Gold Loaf, which consists of a hollowed-out loaf of French bread filled with one 1-lb. jar each of creamy peanut and grape jelly and a pound of fried bacon. It packs ~8,000 calories. He and friends once flew from Memphis to Denver to eat 30 of them.

Image credits: grandmamimma

#44

TIL that when he was 18 years old and Crown Prince, Frederick the Great was forced by his father to watch the beheading of his close companion (and possible lover) Hans von Katte after the two attempted to escape together to England.

#45

TIL that of the two 1988 films starring Tom Cruise, one of them (Rain Man) won the Oscar for Best Picture, while the other (Cocktail) won the Razzie for Worst Picture.

Image credits: HeyThereCharlie

#46

TIL A newborn baby is 75% water at birth. A slightly higher water content than bananas, but slightly less than potatoes.

#47

TIL A High School Teacher who coerced teens into posing for explicit photos was caught because a Janitor cleaning his office saw a CD labeled “300” thinking it was the Zack Snyder film. He played it and discovered the photos.

#48

TIL a scientist hired his family to refine radium in their basement for 20 years, with the waste buried in the backyard. The property was declared a Superfund site and cost $70M to clean up. His body was exhumed for testing and had the largest amount of radioactive material ever detected in a human.

#49

TIL A 30 year-old woman from New Zealand died in 2013 due to cardiac arrhythmia that was linked to her habit of drinking up to 2.6 gallons of Coca-Cola daily

#50

TIL that Marry Mallon (‘Typhoid Mary’) lived in forced quarantine for the last twenty years of her life in an Island just off of New York (‘North Brother Island’)

#51

TIL William Bligh was not only overthrown as Governor of New South Wales in Australia’s only military coup but was previously overthrown as Captain in the famous mutiny on the HMS Bounty.

#52

TIL of Khalid bin Mohsen Shaari, a Saudi who was the heaviest man alive at 1,340 lb. When Saudi King Abdullah heard of this, Khalid was ordered to a medical center in Riyadh. In about four years, Khalid would weigh 150 lb.

Image credits: R4G

#53

TIL In October 1809 Friedrich Staps attempted to assassinate Napoleon but was captured. Napoleon himself interrogated the would be assassin. On the possibility of being pardoned Staps said, ‘I would notwithstanding seize the first opportunity of taking your life.’ and he was executed on the 17th.

#54

TIL Benzodiazepines were originally marketed in the 1960s for the relief of anxiety, stress and insomnia and became very popular with women of the time. The gendered cultural meanings of Valium, a well-known benzodiazepine, was cemented in the 1966 Rolling Stones’ song “Mother’s Little Helper”.

#55

TIL that over 30% of pediatric scald burns are from accidents involving instant ramen, according to a 10 year retrospective study at the University of Chicago Burn Center.

#56

Today I learned that genuine wasabi is rare and likely not even served in most high-end sushi restaurants. Apparently the real deal is difficult to grow as it’s quite picky and takes approx. three years to mature.

#57

TIL that Bothie the Polar Dog is the only dog to travel to both the South and North Poles. No other dog is expected to match Bothie’s achievement of visiting both poles after the Antarctic Treaty of 1994, which has subsequently forbidden dogs from the Antarctic continent.

#58

TIL: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers drained Niagra Falls in 1969. It ended up attracting more visitors than any other feat attempted at the falls. The engineers wanted to find a way to remove the unseemly boulders that had piled up at its base since 1931, cutting the height of the falls in half…

#59

TIL In 2012, a solar Coronal Mass Ejection that might have taken the world 4 to 10 years to recover from missed Earth by about 9 days.

#60

TIL Whale falls are a major source of nutrients for the ocean’s bathyal or abyssal zones. The remains of an estimated 690,000 whales are being broken down on the ocean floor, with the bodies being picked clean, the skeletons dissolved, and ultimately a reef formed.

#61

TIL the earliest known account of Christianity from a non-Christian source is a letter (112 AD) of Pliny the Younger to Emperor Trajan, asking for advice on dealing with a new and ‘extravagant superstition’ that had spread to several cities in Northern Turkey.

#62

TIL of Caratacus who held off the Romans for ten years, using hit and run tactics. Finally he was betrayed and taken prisoner by the Romans, but gave such an eloquent speech, that Emperor Claudius set him free.

#63

TIL Thomas Jefferson was so impressed by macaroni and cheese during a visit to Paris that he wrote down the recipe and instructions on pasta extrusion, imported a pasta maker, macaroni, Parmesan, and made it at his home. He served it at a state dinner in 1802.

Additional fun fact: people did not like the macaroni and cheese at his dinner in 1802. Manasseh Cutler, a friend of Jefferson, wrote:

“Dined at the President’s – … Dinner not as elegant as when we dined before. [Among other dishes] a pie called macaroni, which appeared to be a rich crust filled with the strillions of onions, or shallots, which I took it to be, tasted very strong, and not agreeable. Mr. Lewis told me there were none in it; it was an Italian dish, and what appeared like onions was made of flour and butter, with a particularly strong liquor mixed with them.”

#64

TIL: Thanks to poor internal communication at NASA, information about a spacesuit water leak wasn’t properly communicated. Later, Astronaut Luca Parmitano almost drowned on a July, 2013 ISS space walk, his helmet filling with several liters of water before they could get him back inside.

#65

TIL that the late president of Nintendo Hiroshi Yamauchi owned the Seattle Mariners baseball team. He had never been to a baseball game before buying the team, and despite owning the Mariners for over 20 years, never attended a single one of their games.

#66

TIL of Columbia, the personification of the United States for over 200 years, and was even the alternate name for the United States. She is the reason for the District of Columbia, British Columbia, etc. She was replaced by Lady Liberty, and was gradually forgotten after WWI.

#67

TIL that Liza Minelli, daughter of Judy Garland, the actress who played Dorothy in the 1939 MGM film, “Wizard of Oz,” was once married to Jack Haley, Jr., son of Jack Haley, the actor who played the Tin Man in the same film. He was Minnelli’s 2nd husband.

#68

TIL That the saying “cried all the way to the bank” is popularly attributed to Liberace, who famously wrote the phrase in a telegram after winning a libel suit against a reporter who had insinuated that Liberace was homosexual.

#69

TIL the world’s longest constitution was the Constitution of Alabama from 1901-2022. At 388,882 words, it was 51 times longer than the U.S. Constitution and 12 times longer than the average U.S. state constitution.

#70

TIL that it takes only 15 mins. of exposure to noise in a nightclub, without protection, to damage hearing.

#71

TIL in 1956-1957, the chinese communist party (ccp) launched a campaign called “hundred flowers movement” where they encouraged chinese citizens to give their opinions about the communist party. it failed. then mao zedong, conducted an ideological crackdown to those who criticized the party.

#72

TIL A casino can just kick you out if you win too much even if you are not cheating or doing anything wrong.

#73

TIL about Blackout Cake, sometimes called Brooklyn Blackout Cake, which is a chocolate cake filled with chocolate pudding and topped with chocolate cake crumbs. It was invented during WWII by a Brooklyn bakery, Ebinger’s, in recognition of the mandatory blackouts to protect the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

#74

TIL that Michael Cain only changed his name LEGALLY by deed poll in 2016 from his birth name of Maurice Joseph Micklewhite because he was tired of being stopped at passport control. Everyone knew him by his showbiz name but his legal documents had his birth name.

#75

TIL that for 15 years some of Canada’s largest grocery chains, including Loblaws, conspired to keep bread prices artificially high. During that time bread prices rose 96% compared to overall food inflation of only 45%.

#76

TIL the phrase “pulling out all the stops” is derived from pipe organs, which have many levers called ‘stops’ which allow the organist to control the volume and timbre of different pipes. Pulling out all the stops would result in the loudest, most comprehensive sound.

#77

TIL that the Cadbury Creme Egg began in 1963 as Fry’s Creme Egg, becoming the Cadbury Creme Egg in 1971. Creme Eggs are produced by Cadbury in the UK, Hershey in the US, and by Cadbury Adams in Canada. In 2016, UK sales of the Cadbury Egg dropped sharply after the recipe was changed to cut costs.

#78

TIL that Rickey Henderson was so proud of earning a million dollar signing bonus that he had the check framed instead of cashing it. He saved the envelopes of cash teams gave players for per diem expenses, allowing his kids to pick them out of a box when they did well in school.

#79

TIL there are an estimated 950 TRILLION invasive quagga mussels in Lake Michigan.

#80

TIL that barnacles were a major problem to old ships and that the 18th-century British Navy gained a great advantage by covering their ships’ hulls with copper to stop the barnacles from growing.

#81

TIL about Def Jam Rapstar, a 2010 rap karaoke game that caused its developers to be sued for 8 million dollars because it did not get the rights to the songs in the game.

#82

TIL that the fast food chain Popeyes isn’t named after the cartoon character, but Gene Hackman’s character from The French Connection.

#83

TIL that Fried Chicken was an expression first recorded in the 1830s, and frequently appears in American cookbooks of the 1860s and 1870s. Scottish frying techniques and African seasoning techniques were used together in the American South, and became increasingly popular after the Civil War.

#84

TIL in 1972 Don Rickles mocked mobster Joe Gallo onstage and after the show Gallo invited Rickles to Umbertos Clam House, to which he declined. A firefight erupted at Umbertos later that night, killing Gallo.

#85

TIL that in Chinese Folk Religion, a mortal human being could ascend into godhood not through the decisions of a clergy/church, but by the sheer number of people who believe that their extraordinary achievements led to apotheosis, which forced Confucian/Taoists clerics to canonize a person as a God.

#86

TIL that Walt Disney World began as “The Florida Project”. Dummy corporations were used, by Walt Disney Productions, to buy up 27,000 acres of land to avoid bursts of land speculation in the Orlando area. Early rumors assumed possible development by NASA, Ford, the Rockefellers, and Howard Hughes.

#87

TIL that Duck Sauce was created in America, after the Chinese started restaurants in the US, and realized that Americans would prefer a sweeter alternative to the Tianmian (Sweet Bean) Sauce traditionally served with Peking Duck.

#88

TIL Shel Silverstein wrote extensively for Playboy, frequented the Playboy mansion and slept with “hundreds, perhaps thousands of women”.

#89

TIL that Po Boy Sandwiches originated in New Orleans, and are derived from fried oyster sandwiches, called Oyster Loaves. A wide selection of fillings include roast beef, ham, shrimp, sausage, french fries and fried chicken. A “dressed” po’ boy has shredded lettuce, tomato, pickles, and mayo.

#90

TIL the musician and songwriter D’Angelo not only recorded a song, “Unshaken”, for Red Dead Redemption 2, he also served as a playtester during the videogame’s development due to his love of the series.
Source: boredpanda.com