20 Random Fun Facts From “Today I Learned” Online Community
The “Today I Learned” online community continues to be a treasure trove of amazing facts that leave people astonished and eager to explore the world’s wonders.
The online community has become a hub for curious minds to share astonishing and mind-boggling facts from around the world. With millions of members from diverse backgrounds, TIL has created a platform where individuals can learn something new every day. Check out some of the most fascinating facts shared by them in the gallery below.
More info: Reddit
#1
Image source: ylenias, TaurusEmerald
TIL that Walmart tried and failed to establish itself in Germany in the early 2000s. One of the speculated reasons for its failure is that Germans found certain team-building activities and the forced greeting and smiling at customers unnerving.
#2
Image source: Flares117, https://pixabay.com/fr/photos/antilia-b%C3%A2timent-mumbai-inde-4878391/
TIL: Antilia is one of the most expensive private residences in the world, costing over $1 billion. The billionaire had his entire family live in the 27 story home which requires 600 servants and has 168 car garage, 9 elevators, a theatre, pool, ballroom, and snow room. It was built on an orphanage.
#3
Image source: rugrats1989, gcaptain
TIL that only $2 was budgeted toward safety training for the crew of MV Sewol, the South Korean passenger ferry which sank in 2014 killing 306 people. This was used to pay for a paper certificate.
#4
Image source: nerdy_subha, LloydJack16
TIL In Scotland, two students went to an art exhibition and left a pineapple on a table to see if it would become art. When they returned four days later, the pineapple was still there and had been covered with a glass display case
#5
Image source: LadyWarrior73, chinoproduct
TIL that in the 17th century, when coffee had made its way to Europe, some people reacted to it with suspicion or fear, calling it the “bitter invention of Satan.” In 1615, the clergy in Venice asked Pope Clement VIII to intervene. He found the drink so satisfying that he gave it papal approval.
#6
Image source: Anadyne, 949whom
TIL that STAR WARS released a Christmas music album in 1980 and the producers wanted a better lead singer for the track “R2-D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas” so they asked the 17 year old kid who was sweeping floors at the studio, and he nailed it. His name was Jon Bon Jovi.
#7
Image source: Milt_Torfelson, thestranger
TIL orcas cultural fads. In the 1980s one such fad was wearing dead salmon as hats. It spread to three separate Pacific pods before suddenly going out of style.
#8
Image source: Fan387, Tasnim News Agency
TIL that International Shooting Union barred women from shooting with men in 1993, after Zhang Shan won the gold medal in Skeet Shooting in 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
#9
TIL The Ninja Turtles are a parody of Daredevil (Marvel). Daredevil and the turtles were both created in the same radioactive material accident, and Daredevil fights ‘The Hand’ while the turtles fight ‘The Foot’, and Daredevil’s sensei is called ‘Stick’, while the turtles’ is called ‘Splinter’
#10
Image source: Moodfoo, buzzfeednews
TIL 200,000 to 600,000 pets were estimated to have been left behind in the evacuations from hurricane Katrina, as people were not allowed to take pets with them and pets were not allowed in sheltering places.
#11
Image source: ZizZizZiz, 2nd Chance for Strays
TIL the earliest known name for a pet was Nedjem, a cat owned by Puimre high priest of Amun in the 15th Century BC. Nedjem translates to ‘the sweet one’, meaning the very first named pet was a Sweetie.
#12
Image source: triviafrenzy, LittleT889
TIL of the 1850 shipwreck of the Jenny Lind on a South Pacific coral reef. 28 people survived for 37 days on a tiny patch of sand because a passenger created a water distillation system from salvaged cookware capable of making 25 gallons a day of freshwater.
#13
Image source: Tall_Cow2299, Nick Hobgood
TIL that all clownfish are born as males. One female lives with a group of males but only mates with one of them. When she dies her mate will become female. This change is irreversible.
#14
Image source: GarysCrispLettuce, hindustantimes
In 2001, a New York couple got married on the deck of the Titanic, in a submarine. They faced criticism that their stunt was in “bad taste.”
#15
Image source: Ainsley-Sorsby, biblio
TIL of socialite Ida Wood: in 1907 she emptied her 1 million dollar bank account(21 million in today’s money), declared she was “tired of everything” and shut herself in a hotel room along with her sisters. She stepped out of the room for the first time 24 years later
#16
Image source: SappyGilmore, elperiodico
TIL that while filming The Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger went into a LA restaurant in battle-damaged Terminator makeup. He asked for a table in character and since no one knew who the Terminator was yet, the host and everyone in the restaurant started freaking out, screaming, and quickly left
#17
Image source: W1ngedSentinel, classicfm
TIL that the choir in the title sequence of Mr Bean is singing ‘Ecce homo qui est faba’, which translates to ‘Behold the man who is a bean.’ in Latin.
#18
Image source: customlord, U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships
TIL after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the USS West Virginia battleship was salvaged six months later. During the salvage operation, a calendar was discovered in an airtight room indicating three sailors survived for another 16 days after the event.
#19
Image source: Radient-Rabbit, Greyson Orlando
TIL in 2013, Italian surgeons split new residents into two laparoscopic surgery training groups. They found that the group that was ordered to play the Nintendo Wii for 1 hour a day/5days a week performed better on test surgeries than their non-gaming counterparts.
#20
Image source: Moto_Rouge, Pierre Blaché
TIL Paris has more than 44000 restaurants, with an approximate population of 2.14 million residents, that’s 48 people for every restaurant.
#21
Image source: Unfair_Programmer_42, wikimedia
TIL of Ida & Isidor Straus, a couple aboard the Titanic the night it sank. Isidor had a chance to join his wife on a life boat, but stayed behind to give his place away to a child. Ida, refusing to leave her husband behind, too left the life boat. They died together arm in arm when the ship sank.
#22
Image source: fiureddit, Ashley Christiano
TIL octopus have nine brains – one mini-brain in each arm and another in the center of their bodies. Each arm can independently taste, touch and perform basic movements, but all arms can work together when prompted by the central brain.
#23
Image source: ProbablyABore, desmoinesregister
TIL that they stopped putting missing children on milk cartons because the threat was largely overblown, was mostly ineffective, had no requirements for what missing meant, was emotionally disturbing to families, and was done mostly for the tax credits.
#24
Image source: Babatikidido1212, Sultanalipassu
TIL there are 20 mountains over 23,000 ft in the world that have never been climbed.
#25
Image source: PlopCopTopPopMopStop, kieutruongphoto
TIL That Historians Believe Cats Domesticated Themselves
#26
Image source: ArcTan_Pete, Shakespeare Memes
TIL that ‘Nothing’ was a Shakespearean nickname for the Vulva… ‘Much ado about Nothing’ could just as easily have been called ‘A lot of fuss about Fannies’
#27
TIL that Austrian actress Eva von Berne was presumed to be dead for 70+ years because a PR consultant at MGM accidentally reported her death in 1930. 96-year-old von Berne said in 2006: “It was fortunate that the world thought that I died. So I did not have to deal with autograph hunters.”
#28
Image source: archarbor, telegraph
TIL that in 2002, Chumbawamba accepted $100k from General Motors for the rights to use one of their songs in a Pontiac commercial. The band then donated it to a corporate watchdog group that used the money to launch an information campaign against GM.
#29
Image source: Blade_982, Brandenads
TIL that playing Tetris after a traumatic event can help prevent post-traumatic stress symptoms.
#30
Image source: ZenithTSF, Social Security Administration
TIL there was a briefly popular social movement in the early 1930s called the “Technocracy Movement.” Technocrats proposed replacing politicians and businessmen with scientists and engineers who had the expertise to manage the economy.
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