‘Today I Learned’: 40 Surprising Facts That Could Shift Your Perspective On Everyday Things

The internet is full of little nuggets of knowledge waiting to surprise you, and few places deliver them as reliably as the Today I Learned (TIL) community. This online hub has become a go-to spot for people sharing intriguing, obscure, and sometimes downright bizarre facts they’ve just discovered.

#1

Image source: watchful_tiger, Cent Collins/Unsplash (not the actual photo)

TIL the old Danish criteria for common law marriage was that” If anyone has a mistress in his home for three winters and obviously sleeps with her, and she commands lock and key and obviously eats and drinks with him, then she shall be his wife and rightful lady of the house.”

#2

Image source: bnrshrnkr, Getty Images/Unsplash (not the actual photo)

TIL that, in the first printed attestation of orangutans in western sources, Malays claimed the ape could talk but preferred not to “lest he be compelled to labour”

#3

Image source: ShabtaiBenOron, BBC News

TIL that when his son Xinzhen was abducted by a child trafficker in 1997, Guo Gangtang spent 24 years, his life savings and 10 motorbikes on a search for him across China. They were finally reunited in 2021 and his efforts helped the Chinese authorities find over 100 more abducted children.

#4

Image source:  bnrshrnkr, CBS 8 San Diego

TIL that Ken Allen, an orangutan at the San Diego Zoo, became famous for his many successful escapes. During his escapes, he would peacefully stroll around the zoo looking at other animals. He never acted aggressively toward patrons, but would throw rocks at Otis, another orangutan he “despised”

#5

Image source:  MrMojoFomo, CAKE

TIL that in 1999, 11-year old Mitchell Schop wrote to his favorite band, Cake, and asked if they would play his Bar Mitzvah. After Schop sang his favorite song of theirs to the band over the phone, Cake agreed and made Schop’s party the first stop on their 1999 world tour

#6

Image source: EastSignal, Channel 82/Unsplash (not the actual photo)

TIL in 1976, Jaime Sin was appointed a Cardinal in the Catholic Church, being formally known as “Cardinal Sin”. He would greet guests to his home with “Welcome to the house of Sin”.

#7

Image source: mubukugrappa, 60 Minutes Australia

TIL that Australian convicted criminal, gang member and author Mark Brandon “Chopper” Read refused a liver transplant, saying, “I’m 55-years-old; I’m not going to put my name down against some 10-year-old kid.”

#8

Image source: Overall-Register9758, MFC 1858

TIL that although intensely private, Joe DiMaggio allowed a children’s hospital to use his name and image on condition that they never turn away a child because of inability to pay. The deal was struck with a promise and a handshake.

#9

Image source: tyrion2024, Artist Istanbul/Unsplash (not the actual photo)

TIL after a woman put $40 into a lottery vending machine with the intention of buying multiple cheaper tickets, “some rude person” bumped into her & caused her to accidentally select a $30 ticket. She was annoyed until she started scratching that ticket & realized she’d won the $10 million jackpot.

#10

Image source: Prior-Student4664, WCCO – CBS Minnesota

TIL that a sunfish in a Japanese aquarium became so lonely after the aquarium closed to visitors for renovations that it stopped eating. Only after staff placed photos of people’s faces near its tank did the sunfish perk up and start eating again

#11

Image source:  AlmostMidnight_, Getty Images/Unsplash (not the actual photo)

TIL there’s a philosophy that believes humans shouldn’t procreate and should eventually go extinct and it’s called antinatalism

#12

Image source: dtdowntime, Alex Stone/Unsplash

TIL that Jeremy Clarkson’s mother, Shirley Clarkson, designed and created the very first Paddington Bear toy in the early 1970s, prototypes that she made for Jeremy and his sister later became a licensed product that funded his education and helped launch his TV career

#13

Image source: SuvenPan

TIL 15-year-old Shyam Lal in India decided to take his spade and dig a pond to quench the thirst of people and cattles. Fellow villagers laughed at him. Lal identified a spot in the forest in and kept digging — for 27 years. The result was a one-acre 15-feet deep pond.

#14

Image source: lnfinity, Allison Saeng/Unsplash

TIL Humans are not the only species that has discovered agriculture. Ants have been practicing agriculture for at least 50 million years. The domestication of plant, fungus, and animal species by ants is well documented.

#15

Image source: lemelisk42, Planet Volumes/Unsplash

TIL Ireland’s population peaked in the census of 1841 with over 8 million people. It never recovered from the long lasting effects of the potato famine. Was at 4 million for half a century. Today, it’s at 7.2 million, having not fully recovered almost 2 centuries post famine

#16

Image source:  tyrion2024, Brett Wharton/Unsplash (not the actual photo)

TIL in the 1980s, a woman bought a ring at a car boot sale for £10 & proceeded to wear it regularly under the assumption it was a piece of costume jewelry. However when she had it appraised decades later, it was identified as a real 26-carat diamond ring from the 1800s, which she then sold for £656K

#17

Image source: TheMadhopper, marechaldefrance

TIL at the luxurious French brothel One-Two-Two there were themed rooms. One of the rooms, the Orient Express was a replica of a train car. It had sound effects and shook and bounced like a real train in motion. You could even have an intrusive conductor barge into the room and join in.

#18

Image source: exophades, Curated Lifestyle/Unsplash (not the actual photo)

TIL that all diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, such as Creutzfeldt–Jakob and fatal insomnia, have a perfect 100% mortality rate. There are no cases of survival and these diseases are invariably fatal.

#19

Image source: Smaptimania, Scott’s Stash

TIL that in 2003 Hideo Kojima designed a Game Boy Advance game with a light sensor built into the cartridge. The player’s in-game weapon is charged by taking the game outside and playing it in natural sunlight, and game mechanics change when it’s dark out in your area

#20

Image source:  FissileAlarm, Getty Images/Unsplash (not the actual photo)

TIL People with social anxiety disorder have a different gut microbiome – transplanting their microbiome to mice causes the mice to suffer from increased social fear

#21

TIL house cats are considered to be “semi-domesticated”

Image source: wearing_moist_socks

#22

Image source:  tyrion2024, Dusan Kipic/Unsplash (not the actual photo)

TIL in 2014 Ben Affleck was banned for life from playing blackjack at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas after he was caught on camera counting cards at a high rollers table. He was told by security that he was “too good” and had been deemed an advantage blackjack player.

#23

Image source: loadnurmom

TIL that after featuring as the “childlike empress” in The Neverending Story, the 11 year old actress began receiving marriage proposals from adult men resulting in her hiatus from acting until she was an adult.

#24

Image source: tyrion2024, Victoria Nazaruk/Unsplash

TIL of the 85 known d***s that interact with grapefruit, 43 can have serious side-effects including sudden death, acute kidney failure, respiratory failure, gastrointestinal bleeding, and bone marrow suppression in people with weakened immune systems.

#25

Image source: a7xfan01, Sergey Pesterev/Unsplash (not the actual photo)

TIL that in 1906, a serial k**ler in Morocco was sentenced to death by immurement (being walled in).

#26

Image source: racc15, Usman Malik/Unsplash (not the actual photo)

TIL that in 2020, an Oregon man driving a stolen car crashed into a woman driving another stolen car

#27

TIL blood lost during a cycle isn’t blood that’s been “stored” over the month long cycle, it’s blood coming from blood vessels in the uterus. As the uterine lining pulls away, ‘tiny’ ruptures/tears are caused in the blood vessels, and heavy cycles are caused by enlarged vessels & hormone imbalance

Image source: Stargazingmyst

#28

TIL the first words ever spoken in a feature film were, “Wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain’t heard nothin’ yet!” — delivered by Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer (1927).

Image source:  a_splintered_mind

#29

TIL 2055 brown recluse spiders were removed from a house in Kansas. The spiders had four human roommates who had lived in their house for many years and were never bitten, despite frequent encounters with the spiders.

Image source: Gecko99

#30

Image source: Vegetable-Orange-965, Getty Images/Unsplash (not the actual photo)

TIL that there is a strategy for winning competitive debates called “spreading”, which involves making as many arguments as possible within a short time so that the opponent is unable to respond to them all. The technique has been described as unfair and as “sounding like a cattle auctioneer”.

#31

Image source: my4coins, Chris Karidi/Unsplash

TIL that French used to have and provide mobile military brothels to their soldiers between WW1 and as late as 2003.

#32

Image source: 49orth, Robina Weermeijer/Unsplash

TIL a human brain uses 12 watts to think while, if it could, an AI system doing the same processing could use 2.7 billion watts

#33

Image source: MothersMiIk, Alice Rhiannon

TIL at Animal Kingdom in Disney World balloons aren’t allowed so they created a “balloon daycare” where your balloon is stored and they’ll give you a report card about its day and its activities.

#34

Image source:  Ill_Definition8074, Encyclopædia Britannica

TIL Alleged spy Mata Hari was a famous exotic dancer who never appeared fully nude onstage. Although she would strip off most of her clothes, her jeweled breastplate would remain. This was because she was self-conscious about her small breasts.

#35

TIL. Astronauts left mirrors on the moon for scientists on earth to bounce lasers off.

Image source: moonLanding123

#36

TIL The original Jungle Gym was originally designed to help children comprehend the 4th dimension as a tesseract by an eccentric British mathematician.

Image source: Murderhands

#37

TIL Marottichal a village in India was rife with alcoholism and illicit gambling, but everything changed after one man taught the town to play chess. Miraculously, the game’s popularity flourished while drinking and gambling declined.

Image source: SuvenPan

#38

TIL Spanish entomologist Luis Méndez de Torres was the first to realize, in the late 1500s, the “king” bee was, in fact, a female. But he didn’t call it “queen,” but “mistress of the swarm.”

Image source: adiplotti

#39

TIL of the 1997Jarrell, Texas “Dead Man Walking” tornado, a slow-moving F5 twister that sat over a subdivision for three full minutes, subjecting it to 260+ mph winds. It erased everything, killed 27 people, plus hundreds of cattle, and blended their remains together unrecognizably.

Image source:  SirSignificant6576

#40

TIL Studies show patients suffering from kidney stones often passed the stones while riding the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Image source: bryson1995