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The rise of the knowledge economy, the growing desire to learn, and the proliferation of educational platforms are opening up new opportunities for personal and professional growth.
In the US, for example, 73% of adults say the phrase "I think of myself as a lifelong learner" applies "very well" to them and another 20% say it applies "somewhat well."
So to keep your curiosity burning, we decided it's about time to throw in a few more recent posts from the subreddit 'Today I Learned.' This online community with 35 million members keeps sharing interesting facts and pictures that continually expand our horizons and challenge our perspectives.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
3,200-year-old tablet shows that ancient Egyptians took attendance at work and recorded absences. One type of reason cited for missing work was "wife or daughter bleeding" referring to menstruation because men were needed at home during this time to help with the housework.
Nae who and where 8 months ago
Why we don't have this nowadays is just baffling....especially since some women have severe pain and can barely move for days to a week on end during their mensuration.
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#2
In World War I, a homing pigeon named Cher Ami was shot by the Germans, but managed to keep flying and carry the message of help. Thanks to this, 194 American soldiers were saved.
#3
Jumbo the elephant was not named such because of his size. Instead, Jumbo the word, meaning exceptionally large, was only introduced into the english language because of Jumbo the elephant. He was so big and so well known that his name became synonymous with size.
#4
“I Have a Dream” speech was a last-minute decision. Dr. King planned to give an entirely different speech, until a legendary gospel singer behind the podium yelled, “Tell them about the dream, Martin!”
#5
Since the year 2000, 5 new elements have been added to the periodic table. The 7th row of the periodic table is finally filled.
#6
In Japan there is a group of prominent female housewife stock traders known as Mrs. Watanabe who are so proficient at what they do that many traders look to them for reference on which stocks are doing well.
Lunaofthenest (She/they) 8 months ago
Women are often underestimated, it's nice to see that isn't always the case.
#7
During the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty that founded NATO, the Portuguese delegate gave a speech in English with such a heavy accent that the translator just repeated it without the accent and nobody realised.
Andy Frobig 8 months ago
That's ok, a couple of nights ago I saw a show where an Australian speaker got English subtitles
#8
The Bajau, a group of people in South East Asia who evolved to have spleens 50 percent larger than normal. This allows them to spend eight hours a day underwater, catching octopus by hand.
Emily M 8 months ago
Because I needed to know how a spleen helped with fishing: "Competitive breath-hold divers have only two options to increase their time underwater – through training, they can try to boost their lung capacity or increase their red blood cell count.......The spleen holds oxygenated red blood cells, so presumably an enlarged spleen – those of the sea nomads, or Bajau people, are about 50 percent larger than the spleens of unrelated, non-diving neighboring groups – injects more blood cells into the circulation and makes more oxygen available for basic body functions during prolonged dives." - https://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/news/enlarged-spleen-key-diving-endurance-sea-nomads
#9
Tim Curry was one of the top choices to play the Joker in the 1989 “Batman” film, but the role went to Jack Nicholson instead. Curry later voiced the Joker in the 1992 animated series, but was quickly replaced by Mark Hamill as his voice was deemed “too scary”.
columbokateUK 8 months ago
I love Tim Curry! So sad about his health affecting his profession. I miss seeing him in new things. (He had a stroke years ago). He is both hilarious in comedy and terrifying in horror. A truely great actor.
#10
30 scientists and staff of the Pavlovsk Experimental Station starved to death guarding the institute's edible seeds and plants during the siege of Leningrad.
Nae who and where 8 months ago
It was a sacrifice they were willing to give in order to protect the seed genetics they had cultivated. This is a truly fascinating true story of rilvarly, multiple scientists hopes for ending starvation and the ultimate sacrifice to protect the plants genes.
#11
Danny DeVito's short stature is the result of Multiple Epiphyseal Dysplasia (Fairbank's disease), a rare genetic disorder that affects bone growth. He met Rhea Perlman when she went to see a friend in the play The Shrinking Bride, which featured DeVito, and they moved in together 2 weeks later.
#12
The writer of 'Crime and Punishment', Dostoevsky, was sentenced to death by firing squad for political reasons. Moments before he was to be shot, a cart delivered a letter from the Tsar commuting the sentence to four years of exile in Siberia.
#13
The oldest known writing in the world, Sumerian Cuneiform, is over 5000 years old and only 5-10% of all recovered tablets have been translated.
Dragons Exist 8 months ago
Keep in mind humanity is 200k years old, meaning most of human history was lost before written language and we only have cave paintings
#14
Six Tongan castaways were able to keep a fire burning continuously for more than 12 of the 15 months they spent marooned on a deserted island in 1965 after one of the boys named Stephen (who would go on to become an engineer), had managed to use two sticks to start one.
#15
Japanese man Yasuo Takamatsu lost his wife in the 2011 earthquake and has not stopped looking for her body for more than 10 years and has dived more than 800 times in the ocean to retrieve her.
Kristal 8 months ago
I hope he does stop to live his life. It's quite tragic, for the loss of his wife and his life. Ten years at sea, the body is most likely unidentifiable, if there's any soft tissue left. It's quite probable her body is no longer in one piece if in the ocean after 10 years. I know losing the one you love most is one of the worst types of grief one goes through, but I highly doubt his wife would want him to waste his life looking for her.
#16
1 out of 3 Americans live in just four states. California, Texas, Florida, and New York.
#17
Broccoli only became available in grocery stores in the UK and Ireland in the late 1970s.
Na Schi 8 months ago (edited)
Okay, as strange/surprising as this sounds the Reddit tidbit seems to be backed up by an Wikepedia article about the "Culture of England": [...]Courgettes became widely available in the late 1960s and broccoli first appeared in supermarkets in the late 1970s, initially as a seasonal item. [...] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_England ... But when doing a little bit more googling the vegetable seems frist to be introduced way earlier (maybe in the midst of the 18th century). ((Edited: spelling - changed "Cultre of England" to "Culture of England"))
#18
George Washington had to borrow money to travel to New York City for his presidential inauguration. Despite owning 60,000 acres and 300 slaves he had very little cash and part of the reason he took the job was the salary.
General Anaesthesia 8 months ago (edited)
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." - US Declaration of Independence. George Washington was not a signatory.
DeShotz 8 months ago
Why would he sign it? He was not a member of the Continental Congress. At the time, he was the general appointed by them to fight the war.
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Eat Dirt Crow 8 months ago
Here's another today I learned about George Washington. He died from having three different "doctors" pull a pint of blood each after he caught a fever. He had come home late to a party that he was hosting and refused to change out of his wet clothes.
Christina Keenan 8 months ago
Apparently he was soldiering on while congress was congressing...
John Dilligaf 8 months ago
"Land rich but cash poor" wasn't an unusual condition during those times.
TennesseeHomesteadUSA 8 months ago
His farm suffered during the years of the revolution while he was away.
Lavern Defazio 8 months ago
Sounds very similar to " billionaire" Cheeto man unable to pay. Had to hit up a loan shark for money.
David 8 months ago
He did not own 300 slaves, he much fewer than that, most of the slaves were Martha's, his wife was the primary slave owner. And during his lifetime, he freed almost all of his slaves, and left provisions in his will for the rest. However he left Martha in possession of her slaves, because he was a public supporter of married women retaining ownership of their property rather than it transferring to their husband.
Khall Khall 8 months ago
Not sure about this one. A lot of landowners lived on credit in the past. When rents or crop sales only happen seasonally or sometimes yearly...credit is how you get by.
#19
Flamma, one of the most successful gladiators in his time under the Roman Empire, through great skill & bravery was awarded his freedom four times but refused each time & instead chose to remain a gladiator. He fought 34 times, won 21 of them, fought to a draw 9 times, & won reprieve 4 times.
#20
Original script to Rocky V, Rocky is so beaten from his fight with Tommy that he places his head on Adrian’s lap while on the way to the hospital and dies. Stallone apparently wept when he wrote that scene.
#21
During WW1 in Britain the selling of fresh bread was banned and all bread had to be sold stale so people would eat less of it.
Norm Gilmore 8 months ago
Was ready to call bull on this one but there you go. https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/first-world-war/home-front-stories/the-fresh-bread-ban/#:~:text=This%20regulation%20made%20it%20illegal,Bread%20Order%20during%20the%20war.
#22
In the 1920's, a man was given 1 year to live by doctors, if he moved to a warm climate. He built a house in Bartow, FL with a lot of unique features and designs, and would go on to live to the 1970's. It has become known as "The Wonderhouse" and become a local tourist attraction.
#23
Batman was created almost at the same time as the Black Bat, a pulp fiction hero so similar that the publishers considered suing each other. They eventually found an agreement: the Black Bat wouldn't appear in comics, and in exchange, Batman wouldn't appear in pulp magazines.
#24
Harambe was 17 years old and had not reached breeding maturity when he was shot.
#25
United States is Ranked 2nd by Total Number of Spanish Speakers, Beating Out Spain.
Quint Bates 8 months ago
Considering the U.S has almost 7X the amount of people, and a lot of immigrants from other countries like Mexico who speak it as a first language.Throw in all the Americans learning Spanish as a second language, and I'm not surprised.
#26
When Chi Chi, a giant panda at the London Zoo, was taken to Moscow to breed with a male giant panda, she refused his attempts to mate with her and made a full sexual self-presentation to a zookeeper.
Debby Keir 8 months ago
But no pandas were harmed in the writing of this post - zookeepers however.....
#27
Prior to the announcement of the Mach3 razor blade in the late 90s, Gillette built plywood walls around the production lines in its factory in Boston, in order to keep it a secret from many of its own employees.
Michael None 8 months ago
Then sent me one of the handles as a present for my 18th birthday, which I assumed was a marketing ploy to get me to buy more razors. I bought a safety razor instead and I've used it my whole life, I'm 40 now. Imagine how much money I saved.
#28
Frequent and constant use of earphones increases the bacterial growth in the ear.
#29
The French monarchy fell five times and was restored four times in the span of a century, from 1771 to 1871.
#30
Aside from being an actor and an activist, Marlon Brando was also an inventor with 4 patents to his name. One of them were pool shoes that that would increase friction as you walk on the bottom of the pool to give you a better workout, and another invention being a single-tuning conga drum.
Nae who and where 8 months ago
Who else is doing the conga in their mind?....I can't be the only one.....right? Lol
#31
Animals lacking teeth to grind their food (eg. birds, fish) have a specialized stomach containing rocks to replace that function.
Ian Webling 8 months ago
For the sake of completeness: they have to eat the stones themselves - their stomachs do not naturally contain rocks.
#32
200 people had summited Mount Everest by 1987, whereas by 2013 it had been summited 6,871 times by 4,042 different people.
#33
France sent the first cat into space in 1963. Félicette was a stray cat from the streets of Paris and was one of 14 cats trained for spaceflight. She survived her trip but was euthanised 2 months later.
#34
The word 'Rizz' was Oxford's word of the year for 2023, beating the words Swiftie, situationship and de-influencing.
#35
Actor Gerard Butler paid for bee venom injections twice and ended up in hospital both times.
What do you think ?
Quint Bates 8 months ago
These are my favorite types of posts. Better than all the celebrity BS or Amazon shopping links.
Becky Samuel 8 months ago
Or the "My boyfriend locked me in a car trunk for 15 hours in 100 degree heat and then threw paint over me and paraded me through the streets while his friends pelted me with rotten fruit. AITA"
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TennesseeHomesteadUSA 8 months ago
BP is adding trackers ! The count goes up month by month on my tracker tracker... Several dozen on this page alone. The ads were bad enough. Now Google, FB, Twit, InMobi, Internal Ad Science, Yahoo, ChartBeat, Hotjar and comScore are all tracking you. But NOT tracking me... They're tracking and warehousing EVERY last thing you do on BP. How's it feel ? Am in IT security. One of the worst tracking sites I have seen. Used to be very few trackers here. More being added monthly... Loads of stuff about you being sold. They'll censor this post... I have to report this site as a threat,
Luna 8 months ago
This is because of the use of cookies. Use incognito browsing, or a different browser like Duck Duck Go.
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Quint Bates 8 months ago
These are my favorite types of posts. Better than all the celebrity BS or Amazon shopping links.
Becky Samuel 8 months ago
Or the "My boyfriend locked me in a car trunk for 15 hours in 100 degree heat and then threw paint over me and paraded me through the streets while his friends pelted me with rotten fruit. AITA"
Load More Replies... TennesseeHomesteadUSA 8 months ago
BP is adding trackers ! The count goes up month by month on my tracker tracker... Several dozen on this page alone. The ads were bad enough. Now Google, FB, Twit, InMobi, Internal Ad Science, Yahoo, ChartBeat, Hotjar and comScore are all tracking you. But NOT tracking me... They're tracking and warehousing EVERY last thing you do on BP. How's it feel ? Am in IT security. One of the worst tracking sites I have seen. Used to be very few trackers here. More being added monthly... Loads of stuff about you being sold. They'll censor this post... I have to report this site as a threat,
Luna 8 months ago
This is because of the use of cookies. Use incognito browsing, or a different browser like Duck Duck Go.
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