25 “Today I Learned” Facts That Prove We’ve Still Got A Lot To Discover

Some of us are just born to voraciously consume knowledge. We were raised on encyclopedias and Trivial Pursuit, and our need for fun facts never seems to diminish. If you feel the demand of that insatiable appetite for useless information, then this list may suffice to temporarily sate you.

#1

Image source: Forward-Answer-4407, kval

TIL in 2012, two elementary school students in the state of Washington were severely sunburned on field day and brought to the hospital by their mom after they were not allowed to apply sunscreen due to not having a doctor’s note. The school district’s sunscreen policy was based on statewide law.

#2

Image source:  Forward-Answer-4407, American Lung Association

TIL a man who developed ‘popcorn lung’ after years of inhaling the smell of artificial butter flavoring from daily consumption of microwave popcorn sued Gilster-Mary Lee Corp. and King Soopers for failing to warn on labels that the flavoring diacetyl was dangerous. In 2012, he was awarded $7,217,961

#3

Image source:  afeeney, Citroen

TIL that during WWII, the French carmaker Citroen was forced to make vehicles for German forces. The president of Citroen, Pierre-Jules Boulanger, first sabotaged this by slowing workers. He then redesigned the dipstick to show there was plenty of oil, leading to frequent breakdowns.

#4

Image source: AlternativeBurner, EyeEm/Freepik (not the actual photo)

TIL 17-year-old female pitcher Jackie Mitchell struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in succession during an exhibition match. As a consequence, the baseball commisioner terminated her contract and Ruth later trash talked about women in baseball to a newspaper.

#5

Image source: FannyFiasco, Jeannette

TIL the last living veteran of the 1853 Crimean War died in 2004: Timothy, a Greek tortoise captured from a Portuguese ship, served as a mascot throughout the war

#6

Image source: jfdonohoe, azerbaijan_stockers/Freepik (not the actual photo)

TIL that people who experience “vicarioius embarassment” (feeling embarrased just observing someone else in an embarassing situation) have the same physical reactions in their nervous system as if they are the subject of the embarassing situation

#7

Image source: tyrion2024, EyeEm/Freepik (not the actual photo)

TIL In 1945 the adult literacy rate in South Korea was estimated at 22%. In 1970, adult literacy was 87.6%. By the late 1980s, sources estimated it at around 93%.

#8

Image source: rampantradius, EyeEM/ Freepik (not the actual photo)

TIL Barefoot Doctors in China were farmers, folk healers, or young grads who received minimal medical training and brought healthcare, hygiene, and family planning to rural villages where urban-trained doctors wouldn’t go. They greatly reduced infectious disease and infant mortality in rural China.

#9

Image source: LookAtThatBacon, Mobilefolk

TIL a Canadian engineer once built a Mjölnir replica that only the “worthy” could lift: it sensed the iron ring commonly worn by Canadian engineers (presented in a ceremony called the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer), triggering an electromagnetic release so ring-wearers could pick it up.

#10

Image source: tyrion2024, BBC

TIL in 2008 Hugh Laurie made a single, off-hand comment claiming that a perk of being a celebrity was having a special lifetime, unlimited Burger King Crown Card (enabling him to eat there for free). He actually didn’t have one, but after his comment caused a huge public response, BK gave him one.

#11

Image source: thebestdaysofmyflerm, Freepik (not the actual photo)

TIL that after a rural Ohio county reported nearly 70 cases of leukemia in the mid 90s, it was discovered that a local high school had been built on an Army depot used as a dump for chemical waste.

#12

Image source: tyrion2024, inkdrop/Freepik (not the actual photo)

TIL the UK passport office declined to issue a 6-yr-old British girl a passport because the child’s name Khaleesi was under WB trademark. After the story was reported on & it was determined that a birth name cannot be trademarked & that trademarks are for goods & services, the decision was reversed.

#13

Image source: tyrion2024, Vanity Fair

TIL Wes Anderson uses a flat-fee salary system in which the actors that appear in his films are all paid the same rate. He began this practice on Rushmore after Bill Murray offered to take the same pay as the then-unknown 18-year-old Jason Schwartzman as long as he could leave for a golf tournament.

#14

Image source: Upstairs_Drive_5602, Jason Lawrence/Flickr

TIL that UPS founder James E. Casey wanted yellow vehicles, but a partner said they’d be hard to keep clean. They chose Pullman Brown instead – a colour that hides dirt, mud, and grime, and is still used on UPS trucks today.

#15

Image source: tyrion2024, EyeEm/Freepik (not the actual photo)

TIL in 2014 a 27-year-old man fell asleep in a hammock while camping in Kentucky. In the morning, his friends saw him get up & sleepwalk off a 60-foot cliff. However, a rhododendron bush actually broke his fall, therefore he had no life-threatening injuries. He didn’t even know he was a sleepwalker.

#16

Image source: WavesAndSaves, Cernettes

TIL of Les Horribles Cernettes. A parody pop group made up of CERN employees, they performed primarily at events for physicists. In 1992 a colleague asked for a photo to upload to his invention “the World Wide Web”. They scanned a photo for him, and it was the first photo uploaded to the internet.

#17

Image source: Megdatronica, wirestock/Freepik

TIL there is 14-thousand-year-old rock art in the middle of the Sahara desert. The paintings show crocodiles, giraffes, and hippos, from a time when the Sahara was lush grassland and forest, and was able to support these animals.

#18

Image source: jon-in-tha-hood, EyeEm/ Freepik

TIL there was no film copyright law in Turkey until 1986, leading to films like “3 Giant Men” which featured Captain America and Mexican wrestler El Santo fighting against a chain-smoking Spider-Man villain, all to the ripped soundtracks of the James Bond movies.

#19

Image source: Flaxmoore, EyeEm/Freepik

TIL the lost city of Petra was rediscovered by a Swiss explorer who took it upon himself to learn perfect Arabic, local customs, and gained the trust of the Bedouins to learn the location of the gorge leading to the city.

#20

Image source: FalconPUNNCH, wosunan/Freepik (not the actual photo)

TIL in 2017 Japan arrested a 74 year old man who had committed over 250 burglaries dressed as a ninja. He avoided most surveillance, but was seen “navigating tight spaces and running on walls”

#21

Image source: NoHandBananaNo, aleksandarlittlewolf/Freepik (not the actual photo)

TIL that Rabies can make wild animals behave in a way that seems tame, friendly or even affectionate towards humans. Animals with Rabies don’t always seem rabid.

#22

Image source: zahrul3, bublikhaus/Freepik (not the actual photo)

TIL there are dogs specifically trained to sniff out USB drives and other electric storage medium, most notably in the arrest of Jared Fogle (guy from Subway) for CP

#23

Image source: VegemiteSucks, Joseph Karl Stieler

TIL Beethoven’s late quartets, now widely considered to be among the greatest musical compositions of all time, were so ahead of their time that initial reviews deem them indecipherable, uncorrected horrors, with one musician saying “we know there is something there, but we do not know what it is.”

#24

Image source: Exeltv0406, Official George Carlin

TIL that George Carlin was a court-martialed Air Force Vet, Grammy-winning comedian, children’s TV actor, and the 1st host of SNL. His arrest for performing the routine “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” placed him at the center of a landmark Supreme Court case, FCC v. Pacifica Foundation

#25

Image source:  AnonymousTimewaster, EyeEm/Freepik (not the actual photo)

TIL that in 2022, 90% of complaints about Dublin Airport were from one person, who made over 23,000 complaints in one year.