50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared

You learn something new every day. And you don't even have to attend a class to do so. You might learn something by accident, through a friend, in a book or on the internet. It could be a recipe, a new route to work, a word you never knew before, a fun fact, or a complex skill. We can keep learning throughout our lives. And as we do, our brain grows. It's a process called brain plasticity. But in order for that growth to occur, we have to exercise and train our brain. As if it were a muscle.

The Today I Learned community has 38 million members. It's a mind gym for anyone obsessed with gaining more knowledge about the world around them. Every day, people post the most interesting and intriguing facts they happened to stumble across. Bored Panda has gathered our personal favorites. From a student who got full marks for handing in a blank essay, to some lesser known truths about famous people, there's bound to be something here that you might want to share at the dinner table tonight. Don't forget to upvote your favorites, and let us know what you learned today.

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50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared In 1972 Canada had a contest to complete the saying "As Canadian as..." The winner was Heather Scott who answered "As Canadian as possible under the circumstances."

cwood1973 , Daniel Joseph Petty/Pexels Report

Final score:

172points

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Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 1 month ago

As Canadian as an angry goose harassing a sorry moose.

86points

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50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared In Japan, only 100% fruit juice can display a realistic cut fruit on the label, 95% may display a whole but unsliced fruit. 5% or less, it is forbidden to display a realistic fruit on the label.

bodhi-r , David Pursehouse/Flickr Report

Final score:

163points

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leendadll 1 month ago

They also have strict requirements about fast food looking like the adverts.. none of the US-style thick fancy burgers that are actually smaller and sloppy.

67points

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50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared L Ron Hubbards Grandson is a renowned Slam Poet and activist against Scientology.

Nincruel , Joshua Santos/Pexels Report

Final score:

161points

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Robin Roper 1 month ago

Good for him!

84points

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In 2019, Eimi Haga handed a blank piece of paper to her professor and hoped for the best. The first year student had been asked to write an essay about a visit to the Ninja Museum of Igaryu. She was studying ninja history. Something she became hooked on after watching an animated TV show as a child.

The night before her essay was due, the 19-year-old spent hours soaking soy beans, crushing them and squeezing them in a cloth. Haga then took another two hours to mix the soybean extract with the right amount of water. Only after she had finished all of this, did she quickly jot down her essay, without giving much thought to the content.

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared In 2019 a Japanese University student studying ninja history turned in an essay written in invisible ink. The words only became visible when the paper was heated over a gas stove. Her professor without even revealing the whole essay gave her an A.

Ill_Definition8074 , Peter Olexa/Pexels Report

Final score:

156points

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Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 1 month ago

Gross fact, a man can use his sperm as an invisible ink.

32points

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50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared After a boy in the 1930s found what looked like a "great lump of coal", his family used it as a doorstop for a decade until his dad had "a little look at it." This led to the realization it was the world's largest black sapphire. After being faceted, the Black Star of Queensland is 733 carats.

tyrion2024 , greyloch/Pexels Report

Final score:

141points

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"Disembodied voice" 1 month ago

See! That's why you should let me bring more rocks home

102points

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50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared A Coca-Cola secretary offered to sell Coca-Cola trade secrets to Pepsi. Pepsi responded by notifying Coca-Cola, and the secretary was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

Brendawg324 , Olena Bohovyk/Pexels Report

Final score:

137points

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Thomas Grant 1 month ago

Says something when someone gets a longer sentance for trying to sell a recipe than some people get for some s*xual offences...

106points

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“I wasn't really worried about getting a bad score for my essay,” Haga later told the BBC. It might seem like the student was cooking instead of paying attention to her homework. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. She’d managed to pull off the ultimate student ninja move, using a technique known as "aburidashi".

The essay was written in invisible ink, and the words only appeared when the paper was heated. Before handing it to her professor, she left a note in normal ink telling him to heat the paper. "When the professor said in class that he would give a high mark for creativity, I decided that I would make my essay stand out from others," she said.

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys wrote their first single "Surfin'" for a high school music class and received an F for it. In 2018 the high school retroactively changed his grade to an A.

thedubiousstylus , Diana ✨/Pexels Report

Final score:

134points

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Toothless Feline 1 month ago

Too little, too late…

88points

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50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared Sir Ben Kingsley was born Krishna Bhanji but changed his name and noticed an immediate uptick in job offers, from "We don't quite know how to place you" to "When can you start?"

innergamedude , FilmFestOslo/Flickr Report

Final score:

128points

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D. Pitbull 1 month ago

Still happens today... any name sounding "non-white" seems to get automatically chucked in the 'we'll look at that later' bin unless the role is specifically for that population (East Asian character: "Okay, we will look at East Asian names) Even worse with Voice Acting... I have quite literally zero Non-North American accent (I can't speak any Asian languages, at all) - yet... I've heard more than one casting director/assistant say "Yeah, we just heard a bit of... something..." Or... how my demos got a 500% increase in 'listened to' count within days of me changing my profile name to a 'stage name'. Or how I get shortlisted for LOTS of stuff... but they see my picture and... oh, gosh darnit, wouldn't you know, you're not quite right for this (Yes, I know lots of people experience this, it's just a little 'convenient' feeling).

55points

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50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared Japanese war criminal Hitoshi Imamura, believing that his sentence of 10 years imprisonment was too light, built a replica prison in his garden where he stayed until his death in 1968.

Puzzleheaded_Eye_276 , National Museum of the U.S. Navy/Flickr Report

Final score:

126points

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Savahax 1 month ago

That honour only a few men poses. Not surprised it's from a Japanese man

34points

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Her creativity paid off, earning her 100% without the professor even reading all of the essay. "I didn't hesitate to give the report full marks - even though I didn't read it to the very end because I thought I should leave some part of the paper unheated, in case the media would somehow find this and take a picture," said her professor, Yuji Yamada.

The student made world headlines with her magical essay, and put handwriting in the spotlight again. Her ninja move was so intriguing that she was featured on the "Today I Learned" subreddit.

#10

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared Mark Ruffalo woke from a dream that told him he had a brain tumor. He got a CT scan the following day confirming he had a benign tumor behind his left ear. The tumor was removed, and he is deaf in that ear as a result of the surgery.

jchillin2 , Gage Skidmore/Flickr Report

Final score:

113points

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Isaac Harvey 1 month ago

All that gamma radiation must have transcended into the real world.

49points

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#11

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared A man missing nearly 30 years was found alive and living just 80 miles away from where he disappeared after he helped solve his own disappearance by telling a social worker he had a flashback and remembered his name. He had reportedly suffered major memory loss due to a head injury.

tyrion2024 , Lukas Rychvalsky/Pexels Report

Final score:

113points

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Hiram's Friend 1 month ago

That's his story and he's sticking to it!

48points

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#12

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared Early TV remotes worked with a spring-loaded hammer striking a solid aluminum rod in the device, which then rings out at an ultrasonic frequency, requiring no batteries.

antesocial , Alan Levine/Flickr Report

Final score:

113points

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SkyBlueandBlack 1 month ago

They were called clickers.

60points

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If we were to ask you to grab a (normal) pen and notebook right now, would you be able to? Possibly not. In a world where technology reigns supreme, it might have been a while since you wrote anything by hand. But did you know that it’s actually one of the best ways to learn? Researchers say there are several benefits to closing your laptop or ipad and putting pen to paper.

#13

The oral history of the Klamath indigenous people describes the eruption of a volcano and subsequent creation of Crater Lake in Oregon, events that geologists date to almost 8,000 years ago.

MaximinusRats Report

Final score:

109points

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UncleJohn3000 1 month ago

I've been there. The lake is so large that you can't see the far edge of the volcano's caldera. And the water was cold-cold.

33points

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#14

Microsoft Solitaire was developed by a bored summer intern named Wes Cherry. He received no royalties for his work despite it being among the most used Windows applications of all time.

Bad-Umpire10 Report

Final score:

105points

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Blah Blah Blah 1 month ago

Booo to you Microsoft

97points

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#15

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared That P.T. Barnum noticed people were lingering too long at his exhibits so he posted signs indicating "This Way to the Egress". Not knowing that "Egress" was another word for "Exit", people followed the signs to what they assumed was a fascinating exhibit and ended up outside.

Agnesactomithat , Pixabay/Pexels Report

Final score:

103points

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Tucker Cahooter 1 month ago

Lucky they didn't sue him for emotional distress due to failure to see the Egress

31points

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Whether we write or type, we have to use our hands to get words to appear on a page. But because handwriting is more complex, it supports learning more. A study published earlier this year found that “the precisely controlled hand movements when using a pen contribute extensively to the brain’s connectivity patterns that promote learning.”

Psychologist and co-author of the study Audrey van der Meer explained that handwriting is worlds apart from typing. "We don't see that [synchronized activity] in typewriting at all." She added that writing by hand is a "neurobiologically richer process" and that this in itself has cognitive benefits.

#16

Switzerland has accidentally invaded neighboring Liechtenstein several times. On one such occasion, the Liechtensteiners reportedly offered drinks to the Swiss soldiers, who declined and quickly departed.

ILoveTabascoSauce Report

Final score:

97points

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"Disembodied voice" 1 month ago

They also accidentally bombed Liechtenstein, but nobody was hurt and all was forgiven.

39points

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#17

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared Tolkien and CS Lewis hated Disney, with Tolkien branding Walt's movies as “disgusting” and “hopelessly corrupted” and calling him a "cheat"

TechnicalBean , Kenrick Mills/Unsplash Report

Final score:

93points

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Kira Okah 1 month ago

They hated that it was slapstick, low brow, and cutesying fairy tales. They loved the use of shadow, the movement of the animals, the actual talent behind it all, and that the scary bits were aptly scary; but thought that the cutesying of mythological creatures and adapting fairy stories without telling the entirety of their complex narrative was abhorrent.

81points

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#18

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared Just 2 months after 9/11, another commercial airliner, American Airlines Flight 587, crashed into a NYC neighborhood in Queens after a critical mechanical/piloting failure just minutes after take off. 265 people were killed and several homes were completely destroyed.

SylemNova , max lewandowski/Pexels Report

Final score:

90points

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Mary 1 month ago

its not as commonly known because it was overshadowed by 9/11.

62points

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Cognitive neuroscientist Marieke Longcamp agrees, saying that handwriting is one of the most complex motor skills our brains are capable of. While van der Meer adds that when you type something, you're not actually processing all the information the way you would when you write it down by hand.

You might think taking notes by hand in a meeting or class is tedious, and time-consuming. But that's exactly why it works. Van der Meer explains that because it takes longer, you're forced to process the information. You might write key words or phrases and use drawings or arrows to work through ideas. "You make the information your own," she told NPR, and that helps it stick in the brain.

#19

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared "Tiffany Problem", where a historical or realistic fact is deemed anachronistic or unrealistic due to modern associations. Named after the name Tiffany, which is often considered a modern name but has medieval origins.

Zealousideal_Art2159 , frank minjarez/Pexels Report

Final score:

85points

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Andy Frobig 1 month ago

Tiffany and Co. was founded in 1837, and Charles Tiffany didn't make his name up

20points

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#20

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared While great apes can learn hundreds of sign-language words, they never ask questions.

AlexCoventry , Ishara Kasthuriarachchi/Pexels Report

Final score:

84points

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"Disembodied voice" 1 month ago

I mean, have you seen what we do to people that ask questions?

77points

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#21

In 1973 a British couple survived 117 days lost at sea on an inflatable raft after their boat sank when it was struck by a whale. They survived by "almost continually" bailing water out of their raft, while collecting rainwater & killing turtles, birds and fish with their bare hands for food.

tyrion2024 Report

Final score:

81points

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Robin Roper 1 month ago

As a teen, I read "Staying Alive" By Maurice and Madalyn Bailey. This book fascinated me and to this day, one of my favorite genres is "true adventure" and survivor books.

37points

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#22

Japan received its first female fighter pilot in 2018. She was inspired as a child by Top Gun but could not become a combat aviator until the JSDF began accepting female candidates in 2015.

Candle-Jolly Report

Final score:

81points

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Andy Frobig 1 month ago

I've read that the first woman fighter pilot was one of Kemal Atatürk's adopted daughters, in the Turkish Air Force in the 1930s

19points

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#23

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared The Double Rainbow guy was a prolific uploader and created thousands of videos. He also scheduled 15 years of uploads in advanced before he died, leaving his channel still active now 4 years after his death.

2SP00KY4ME , Sami Aksu/Pexels Report

Final score:

80points

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Isaac Harvey 1 month ago (edited)

For those who are curious, I think his YouTube channel is Yosemitebear62, but I'm not 100% certain. Edit: a link to his channel is in a reply to this comment.

23points

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#24

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared Male peacocks make fake mating sounds to make him seem more popular so females will mate with him.

MetsFan37 , Anand Dandekar/Pexels Report

Final score:

80points

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Savahax 1 month ago

Me too! 😁

50points

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#25

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared 'Zombie fires' are fires that burned during the summer, stay underground all winter long and pop up above the surface again in the spring.

manbrasucks , Alexandre P. Junior/Pexels Report

Final score:

79points

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Fishpanda (fish/panda/it) 1 month ago

Groundhog fires, if they see their shadow, go underground again and then we have a prophecy.

36points

The Darkest Timeline 1 month ago

That’s what caused the massive Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak fire near Las Vegas, NM a few years ago. It’s the largest fire in the history of the state and did a lot of damage. Apparently, they did a prescribed burn in the fall that never completely went out, got covered by snow then started the fire in the Spring. It was very bad; lots of structures lost and, of course, the environmental impact will linger for a long time.

11points

bElLa sTairZz 1 month ago

why were they leaving a burning off fire burning T.T

1point

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Riley Quinn 1 month ago

Zombie fires, also known as holdover or overwintering fires, are more common in colder areas with dense vegetation and peat soils that heat up and smolder like in the Artic, sub-Artic, and the Pacific Northwest. And surprise, surprise, zombie fires are on an uptick.

8points

Donna Crowe 1 month ago

What do we call the one in Centralia, PA that's been burning since 1962? It stays underground.

5points

SkyBlueandBlack 1 month ago

A coal seam fire. And it's gonna keep burning for another 200+ years.

15points

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UncleJohn3000 1 month ago (edited)

Tree stumps, too. The fire can smolder its way along the root and in a few cases has gone under houses.

4points

Cpt. Christan "Panda Bombero" 1 month ago

As a Firefighter, this seriously sucks.

1point

Teresa Spanics 1 month ago

That is a problem we have here in Canada when there has been a forest fire in the mountains. To put a stop to them, the ground has to be soaked all the way down to bedrock.

0points

Miryaa 1 month ago

Tire fire...

0points

April Pickett 1 month ago

TIL.....

0points

ZuriLovesYou 1 month ago

How does a fire go underground?

0points

bElLa sTairZz 1 month ago

burns gases or minerals usually

2points

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G Bono 1 month ago (edited)

There's a fire that's been burning in Arlington/Kearny NJ for 40+ years. They put some sort of scents to it so people don't have the constant smell of smoke. As kids, we would laugh and say its "oh, it's roast beef day."

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#26

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared Iceberg Lettuce has a water content of 96%. This results in it having essentially no nutritional value and only trace amounts of vitamins and minerals.

UndyingCorn , Doğan Alpaslan Demir/Pexels Report

Final score:

78points

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Robin Roper 1 month ago

Many vegetables and fruits have very high water content. For lettuces, the vitamins are in the dark leaves; iceberg has very little dark green thus, low in vitamins; still it has a decent amount of Vitamin A, Vitamin K, and folate. It's a place to start to get someone who doesn't want to eat vegetables to give something a try.

45points

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#27

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared Medieval European cuisine used to be more complex and flavorful. However, once spice became cheap and readily available to the poor, the elites started taking spices out of European cooking as they didn't want to be associated with the poor. This trend had lasting effects on European cuisine.

Flares117 , Shantanu Pal/Pexels Report

Final score:

78points

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Andy Frobig 1 month ago

Europeans originally went looking for spices to make rotten food tolerable. It makes sense that serving bland food would show you can afford fresh ingredients

29points

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#28

Polio is one of only two diseases currently the subject of a global eradication program, the other being Guinea worm disease. So far, the only diseases completely eradicated by humankind are smallpox, declared eradicated in 1980, and rinderpest, declared eradicated in 2011.

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Final score:

78points

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Elchinero 1 month ago

An anti-vaxer alert

34points

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#29

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared In 1958, Burma-Shave offered a "free trip to Mars" for sending in 900 empty jars. A grocery store manager, Arliss French, took it literally and collected all 900. To save face, Burma-Shave sent him, fully dressed as an astronaut, to Moers, Germany (of which they felt was pronounced Mars).

candlebo , Kari Nesler/Flickr Report

Final score:

76points

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Isaac Harvey 1 month ago

So... the Wish version of Mars?

67points

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#30

The first Sony Walkman had two headphone jacks so you could share it with someone else as they thought it would be considered rude to listen by yourself. This feature was removed as no one used it.

TheOSU87 Report

Final score:

76points

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Savahax 1 month ago

I remember how many times I sat with someone each listening to 1 side of the headphones though..

83points

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#31

After a lawyer complained that Cleveland Browns fans were throwing paper airplanes, their lawyer responded "Attached is a letter that we received on November 19, 1974. I feel that you should be aware that some asshole is signing your name to stupid letters."

MajesticBread9147 Report

Final score:

74points

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Moltar 1 month ago

uncensored! ahh my freakin eyes!

56points

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#32

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared In 2012, a California high school student was directed to urinate in a bucket in a supply room closet after a teacher mistakenly believed that bathroom breaks were not permitted. In 2017, a court ordered the school district to pay the student $1.25 million.

Forward-Answer-4407 , Aaron Mello/Pexels Report

Final score:

70points

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Isaac Harvey 1 month ago

$1 million for a minute of abnormality? Is there a way to replicate those conditions?

42points

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#33

Matt Damon wanted The Bourne Conspiracy video game to be a puzzle game, and refused to lend his voice talent to the game when it was turned into a shooter.

guydebordwarrior Report

Final score:

69points

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Savahax 1 month ago

TIL I like Matt Damon 👍🏻

52points

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#34

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared According to a 2016 study, having a first-class section on an airplane quadruples the chances of an air rage incident. Furthermore, loading economy passengers through first class doubles the chances again.

theotherbogart , Pew Nguyen/Pexels Report

Final score:

68points

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Mark Savoie 1 month ago

Correlation/causation

24points

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#35

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared Due to their long association with humans, dogs have evolved the ability to thrive on a starch-rich diet, which would be inadequate for other canid species.

MaroonTrucker28 , Johann/Pexels Report

Final score:

67points

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Emma London 1 month ago

Unlike cats, who were domesticated for killing mice, meaning that they provided their own food and adaptation to live off the same food that humans ate was not needed.

32points

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#36

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared The Notre Dame fire disaster was made worse because a guard was sent to investigate, but to the wrong location where he found no fire. The alarm system was not designed to automatically notify the fire brigade.

ChupdiChachi , Jarod Barton/Pexels Report

Final score:

67points

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Tucker Cahooter 1 month ago

He mistakenly went to the cathedral next door

26points

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#37

No child with type I diabetes survived until adulthood before 1922.

TheHabro Report

Final score:

65points

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Midwest Mike 1 month ago

AND YET!!! INSULIN SHOULD BE FREE!!!! Having been an Insulin Dependent Human being since 9 years old. I in the U.S.A.....the Weathest Country in the World...I live paycheck to paycheck on something THAT SHOULD BE FREE!!!!! or at least low cost.... https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/55/insulin-should-be-free-yes-free/

136points

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#38

Before the breakup, AT&T didn't allow customers to use phones made by other companies, claiming using them would degrade the network.

BadenBaden1981 Report

Final score:

61points

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Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 1 month ago

They also wouldn't sell phones. Customers had to rent them.

42points

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#39

Senior citizen Emerich Juettner eluded the US Secret Service for 10 years while he used just enough poorly created counterfeit $1 bills (one version misspelled Washington) to support himself & his dog. He only used fake $1 bills one at a time & never to the same place twice. He'd serve 4 months.

tyrion2024 Report

Final score:

61points

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Stephanie Did It 1 month ago

Per Wikipedia, he only used his funny money a dollar at a time, and never in the same place twice so that his victims never suffered the loss of more than a dollar. Hence, Juettner was sentenced to one year and one day in prison, plus a one-dollar fine that elicited laughter from those inside the courtroom. No mention is made of his serving only 4 months of his sentence, at least from that source.

51points

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#40

When Elton John married his wife Renate Blauel in 1984, Rod Stewart sent a wedding telegram that read "You may still be standing but we're all on the f**king floor".

EssexGuyUpNorth Report

Final score:

60points

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Dzessa Golden 1 month ago

Meaning…?

18points

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#41

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared George Washington was unusually tall (6'2") and quite strong, and never wore a powdered wig.

penkster , Library of Congress/Unsplash Report

Final score:

59points

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Tabitha 1 month ago

The tall gene ran in his family and he had the benefit of being rich and eating a healthy diet. My Slovene grandparents came to the US in 1909-1910. They were both barely 5 feet tall (grandma was about 4’10” and grandpa was around 5’2”). Their son, my father, ended up being 6 feet 1 inch tall, and their daughter, my aunt, was 5 feet 6 inches tall (tall for a woman in the 1930s). The tall gene was always there, but it just wasn’t being fed while my grandparents were living as Eastern European peasants back when Slovenia was part of Austria-Hungary under the Hapsburgs monarchy.

33points

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#42

Following Michael Jackson's death, his sister discovered two hard disks at her brother's home that contained more than 100 unreleased songs, many of which were unregistered. In 2010, Sony signed a deal with Jackson's estate to release 10 posthumous albums, but only 3 were ever released.

9oRo Report

Final score:

58points

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martymcmatrix 1 month ago

Three-hee...🕴🏽

65points

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See Also on Bored Panda

Dutch Swimmer Goes Viral For Super Revealing Trunks During 2024 Olympics: “Is This Legal?”

Thrill-Seeking Diver Jumps Down Extreme Waterslide, Ignoring The Strict Ban For Women

#43

The end of the Stone Age to the present represents only around 0.7% of human history.

PoopMobile9000 Report

Final score:

56points

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Kira Okah 1 month ago

The evolution of Homo sapiens has evidence dating to nearly 300,000 years ago, from a fossil of remains discovered at the site of Jebel Irhoud in Morocco.

23points

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#44

A 2022 study proposed that Bruce Lee may have died from hyponatraemia - a low concentration of sodium in blood, which is caused by excessive water intake. At the time of his death, Lee had reportedly been existing on a near-liquid diet of mostly juices.

waitingforthesun92 Report

Final score:

55points

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Kira Okah 1 month ago

Well, he died of cerebral edema (liquid in the brain), hyponatraemia is a known cause of cerebral edema.

47points

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#45

A basketball player, Boban Janković, frustrated with his fifth foul, slammed his head into a padded concrete post, leaving him unable to walk for the rest of his life.

Henwoows Report

Final score:

55points

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Savahax 1 month ago

Here's the video https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-wjfxCmXdo&pp=ygUPQm9iYW4gSmFua292acSH

16points

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#46

In 1952 a doctor in France released a deadly virus to kill rabbits on his estate, which then killed 90% of France's rabbits within two years.

barrycl Report

Final score:

53points

POST

Kira Okah 1 month ago (edited)

Is this about Myxo? Just checked OP, yeah, it's Myxo. Myxomatosis, a natural mild illness of the Brazilian and Brush rabbits of the Americas, it was widely used as a biological European rabbit control in the 1950s, to devastating results. It's very widely studied because of this. Because it can be spread by contact and by fleas, an infected rabbit can spread it across, well, a whole country, hundreds of millions of rabbits. In places where it was released (or spread to, rabbits don't follow country borders), over 90% population death occurred, and the survivors are all immune to it - and also carriers, which is why in countries with Myxo, you shouldn't mix wild rabbits and domestic rabbits (domestic rabbits are domesticated European rabbits and they will suffer immensely before dying). Erm...another thing that I did a paper on after seeing some sick rabbits in a rescue centre, they were mixing wild and domestic rabbits in the same enclosure.

51points

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#47

Costa Concordia, the cruise ship that sank in 2012, resulting in the death of 32 people, had been carrying a large amount of mafia-owned cocaine when it sank and traces of it were found in Captain Francesco Schettino's hair samples.

9oRo Report

Final score:

53points

POST

Kira Okah 1 month ago

Likely knowledge of the d***s was not known to the captain, or any of the senior officers, but it would have taken the complicity of at least one crew member. The particular mafia group that hid the d***s aboard is known for hiding d***s aboard cruise ships without senior officer knowledge. Note: traces in hair samples /= traces in the hair strands themselves - the strands and his urine tested negative, n evidence that he had taken any d***s.

25points

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#48

Hippos can defecate into rivers so much that their feces builds up and kills fish through hypoxia, or lack of oxygen. In the Mara River, about 4,000 hippos poop out more than 9 tons of dung each day. Hippo feces also leaves behind chemicals such as ammonium and sulfide, which is harmful to fish.

XiGoldenGod Report

Final score:

52points

POST

Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 1 month ago

There are around 400 hippos living wild in South America, descendants of hippos that were kept in Pablo Escobars private zoo and later let loose.

47points

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#49

If your SSN was issued before 2011 it reveals where you lived when you got your number. The first 3 digits correspond to a specific state.

frumpi Report

Final score:

48points

POST

Midwest Mike 1 month ago

and if you are "THE OLD" in the United States....you may be like myself that LITERALLY your Social Security Number was listed as and printed on your "College ID" because....hey this is normal and will never be weird or a problem. So I by age 19 learned my Social Security Number number by age 19 since it was used even for my College Food ID....nope...was never going to be a horror show in the future....!!!!

15points

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#50

The burial sites in Medina and Mecca for the Prophet Muhammad's family members were destroyed to make room for the Hajj pilgrimages.

GabbotheClown Report

Final score:

38points

POST

Andy 1 month ago (edited)

In many cases it was also due to the rise of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia. Preserving or celebrating structures and sites related to Muhammad, his family and the founders of Islam were seen as heretical and idolatrous in their eyes.

27points

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#51

Since its invention in 1959, the MOSFET transistor has become the most produced artificial object in history with over 13 sextillion manufactured.

rezikiel Report

Final score:

21points

POST

Justin Tyme 1 month ago

"Sextillion" sounds like some kind of really fun party.

6points

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#52

More than 86% of psychologists have themselves sought therapy (average of 221 sessions), and 62% identify as depressed, themselves.

quarky_uk Report

Final score:

20points

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Robin Roper 1 month ago

Of course. A standard recommendation in the training to become a therapist is to "heal thyself" first and to maintain a therapeutic relationship for yourself. Anyone who spent as much time and energy helping others through their trauma and struggles could escape the blowback onto themselves. No one would consider it odd that a cardiologist would see a cardiologist would they?

31points

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#53

On Dec 16, 1962 John Paul Scott escaped Alcatraz and swam to Fort Point beneath the Golden Gate Bridge where he was found hypothermic and exhausted. It is the only verified case of an inmate escaping and reaching shore by swimming. He was then returned to Alcatraz.

dissoluti0nn Report

Final score:

19points

POST

Laughing Orc 1 month ago

John Mason also escaped Alcatraz, but then snuck back in with Stanley Goodspeed when General Hummel and his rogue military outfit occupied the Rock. I saw a movie about it.

12points

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#54

The reason The Simpsons are so crudely drawn in their first appearances on the Tracey Ullman Show was because Matt Groening had sent in basic sketches assuming they'd be cleaned up by the animators, but the animators just traced over his drawings.

haddock420 Report

Final score:

18points

POST

Andy Frobig 1 month ago

I loved the time all the family photos got burned, and they had to pose for replacements, and for the earliest ones they had to look like their Tracey Ullman versions

9points

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#55

Nauru, the third smallest country in the world (8sq miles) had a 10 year civil war in 1878 that saw the island's population fall from ~1500 to >1000, sparked by the introduction of firearms. It eventually ended when the German Empire intervened and confiscated >700 rifles.

KnightTrain Report

Final score:

18points

POST

Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 1 month ago

The country became safer when guns were taken away? Who'd have guessed that? I wonder if there could be a modern day application of this? For a country known for excessive gun deaths?

63points

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#56

Pascha is the largest brothel in Europe, having over 120 workers and serves 1000 daily customers. The workers rent a room for 180 Euros/day and negotiate in the halls. Each floor is themed with one for cheap services and another for Trans. It offers a money back guarantee for bad service.

Flares117 Report

Final score:

17points

POST

Savahax 1 month ago

It's in Köln, Germany obviously

9points

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#57

In 1959, thirty TV Westerns aired during prime time in the US; none had been canceled that season, while 14 new ones had appeared. In one week in March 1959, eight of the top ten shows were Westerns. In addition, an estimated $125 million in toys based on TV Westerns were sold that year.

tyrion2024 Report

Final score:

17points

POST

Kira Okah 1 month ago (edited)

Entertainment comes in popular waves before moving onto something else, like all popular trends. The current in thing in entertainment is superheroes.

11points

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#58

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared Pakistan accidentally took down Youtube for the entire globe in 2008 in an attempt to block it.

IAmHappyAndAwesome , freestocks.org/Pexels Report

Final score:

16points

POST

Savahax 1 month ago

"The Pakistani government had ordered a nationwide ban on YouTube due to content it deemed offensive (reportedly relating to the Danish cartoons of Prophet Muhammad). To enforce the ban, Pakistan Telecom (PTCL) created a false BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) route to reroute YouTube traffic away from Pakistan.However, instead of limiting the rerouting to Pakistan, this incorrect routing information propagated globally due to a misconfiguration. This led to a situation where many internet service providers (ISPs) around the world were rerouting YouTube traffic to a "black hole," effectively making YouTube inaccessible worldwide for about two hours.This incident highlighted the vulnerabilities in the BGP system, which plays a critical role in internet traffic routing."

13points

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#59

The reason why older Japanese paints have women with black lips is not to provide contrast, but because they actually represent black teeth which was a common custom of the time.

aditya_rs Report

Final score:

16points

POST

Lene 1 month ago

Iirc women would color their teeth black. They were not having rotting teeth. They had colored teeth. But I could be wrong

7points

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#60

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared After Kevin Costner declined the lead role in the film Tombstone to develop what turned into the film Wyatt Earp instead, he attempted to "blacklist" Tombstone & commandeered every Western costume in Hollywood. Yet it was more well-received & made more money than Wyatt Earp on a smaller budget.

tyrion2024 , Pete For America/Flickr Report

Final score:

15points

POST

Owen 1 month ago

I'm your huckleberry.

6points

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#61

There is a fancy restaurant in California where you can eat free if you are taller than the chef.

cplofnotes Report

Final score:

15points

POST

Isaac Harvey 1 month ago

*laughs nervously in short*

12points

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#62

In the 17th century, young upper-class men in Europe would travel across the continent in a rite of passage known as The Grand Tour.

charmer143 Report

Final score:

15points

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Laughing Orc 1 month ago

Typically they travelled as a party of 3 and took a film crew with them.

24points

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#63

Disney spends about $50M each year on fireworks, over $130k a night. The only consumer that tops this is the military.

Disc-Golf-Kid Report

Final score:

15points

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Cammy Mack 1 month ago

Maybe they should spend nothing on fireworks and pay to have better writing in their movies instead.

18points

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#64

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared Shoes discovered in Titanic wreckage are typically found in pairs because they were worn by victims when they died. The bodies disintegrated but the shoes remain due to tannic acid in leather

heylistenlady , José A. Martínez/Flickr Report

Final score:

14points

POST

Jaaawn 1 month ago

This isn't entirely true. As cameras have got better, 'pairs' of shoes have been found to be different shoes entirely.

6points

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#65

Randy Savage (aka Macho Man) died from a heart attack while driving with his wife; autopsy found his coronary artery 90% blocked.

atom644 Report

Final score:

14points

POST

Andy Frobig 1 month ago

Having eaten a few Slim Jims in my time, this tracks

5points

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#66

There is enough actinide metal (thorium and uranium) on Earth to sustain Breeder Reactors, which produce more fissile material than they consume, leading to enough fuel to satisfy the world's energy needs at 1983 levels for 5-billion years, making nuclear energy effectively renewable.

Plupsnup Report

Final score:

14points

POST

RaisedByCats 1 month ago

Shame about the waste

12points

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#67

In addition to ethical concerns, Ford's Theatre won't put on "Our American Cousin" (the show Lincoln was assasinated during) in part because it's a comedy that just isn't very funny.

Notmiefault Report

Final score:

13points

POST

Kira Okah 1 month ago

It's actually very funny. I mean, if it wasn't then it wouldn't have crossed the pond to America in the first place. Crossd the pond? It's a British play, with British humour about British classes. America has a different humour style and a different social makeup, so the jokes don't land in the same way as they do to a Brit. It is very funny, if you're British.

12points

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#68

The Brooklyn Bridge was inaugurated in 1883 and was considered an engineering marvel at the time. However, rumors of its weakness caused a public panic that led to the death of about 12 people. To restore confidence in the bridge's strength, P.T. Barnum marched 21 elephants and 17 camels across.

Left-Coffee3944 Report

Final score:

13points

POST

Rob D 1 month ago

How? Like was it the opening ceremony, and the rumor spread in the crowd, leading to panic? 12 cases of "weak bridge induced spontaneous death"?

4points

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#69

Drawing the time on a clock is a test used to check for signs of dementia.

stefeyboy Report

Final score:

13points

POST

LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 month ago

I feel like the skill of reading an analog clock is no longer commonly taught to children since digital clocks are pervasive and phones/devices with clocks on them are downright ubiquitous. I wonder if this test will lose its efficacy as current generations age :x

21points

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#70

Actor Peter Dante, famous for his appearance in Adam Sandler films, has not appeared in a Sandler film since 2013, following an incidence in which he called a hotel worker the N-word for not recognizing him.

CableBoyJerry Report

Final score:

12points

POST

Rob D 1 month ago

Getting a little disconcerting how many of Sandlers really close friends are absolute a*****eṣ.

12points

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#71

No-panties cafe in 1980s Japan. It's just like every cafe but the waitresses do not wear panties and wear short skirts.

Token_Thai_person Report

Final score:

11points

POST

Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 1 month ago

Japan has a very strange but seemingly accepted culture of perverts.

35points

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#72

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared Marlon Brando often refused to memorize his lines for movies like The Godfather. Instead, the crew used cue cards placed around the set, even on other actors. Brando claimed this approach made his performances feel more real and spontaneous, capturing the uncertainty of real conversations.

Ezekiel-25-17-guy , pingnews.com/Flickr Report

Final score:

9points

POST

Michael Danhauer 1 month ago

Brando is highly overrated and eccentric af. He was not easy to work with for almost everyone around him. There were a lot of actors from the golden age of Hollywood that were walking nightmares.

11points

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#73

50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared The third season of 'Finding Your Roots' was delayed after it was discovered the show heavily edited an episode featuring Ben Affleck. Affleck pressured the show to do so after he was shown one of his ancestors was a slave owner.

GentPc , Gage Skidmore/Flickr Report

Final score:

9points

POST

Savahax 1 month ago

He can't help it that one of his ancestors was a slave owner

29points

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#74

After assaulting two people, Monroe Isadore, a 107-year-old man from Arkansas, died in a shootout with a SWAT team.

The-Curiosity-Rover Report

Final score:

9points

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TribbleThinking 1 month ago

The chap didn't want to move from his home, and no one was listening.

6points

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#75

Neanderthals lived in a high-stress environment with high trauma rates, and about 80% died before the age of 40.

BizarroCullen Report

Final score:

9points

POST

Savahax 1 month ago

Yeah, no s**t. When you're spending your days dodging mammoths, wrestling cave bears, and trying not to fall off cliffs while chasing dinner, 40 starts looking like a pretty decent fůcking run

20points

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#76

Jeremy Harper, who in 2007 livestreamed himself counting to 1,000,000. It took him 89 days, during which he did not leave the house or shave. He spent an average of 16 hours a day counting.

AntonioLeeuwenhoek Report

Final score:

9points

POST

Tucker Cahooter 1 month ago

I'm guessing that there were also people who wasted 89 days watching him do it too

12points

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#77

Mohammad is the most popular boys' name in Berlin, Germany.

Critical-Working8446 Report

Final score:

7points

POST

Alex Kennedy 1 month ago

Yes, if you consider 25 different spellings of “Mohammed” all the same, but also don’t do that for other names, then a *whopping* 1% of baby boys in Berlin had the name “Mohammed”. It’s a madhouse! Those damn dusky hordes are going to replace us. (Sarcasm). https://amp.dw.com/en/baby-name-mohammed-afd-context/a-48624839

9points

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#78

Robert Hoagland vanished from Newtown, Connecticut, in 2013, with suspicions of foul play. in fact, he had actually resettled in Rock Hill, New York, under an assumed name, Richard King, which was not discovered until after his death in late 2022.

Ok_Writing_9320 Report

Final score:

5points

POST

Mike F 1 month ago

If only...

2points

#79

The average age for virginity loss in the USA is 17 years old.

paulbunyanshat Report

Final score:

4points

POST

LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 month ago

I'm perfectly average! \o/

4points

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#80

Medieval Peasants generally received anywhere from eight weeks to a half-year off. At the time, the Church considered frequent and mandatory holidays the key to keeping a working population from revolting.

Majorpain2006 Report

Final score:

-11points

POST

David 1 month ago (edited)

This is a well known falsehood that was fabricated by Sociologist Juliet B. Schor (who is hated by historians of the Medieval period for what they refer to as shoddy research, and poor understanding of historical documents) that historians have been trying to correct. This entire myth is based on one single data point from Medieval England, and not any other place. The one data point was looking at the villein (a feudal tenant farmer in England) and took amount of hours required under law for them to work for the Feudal Lord, to earn their tenant rights and rent (150 days of sun-up to down of labor). Schorr takes this one data point, and then claims this was the only labor they had to do, and then assumes all Peasants at the time in England did the same hours. It did not take into account any other professions, nor the other labor required by the villein, such as their own food, excess to trade to others, taking care of the animals, making goods for the home, etc. Her work is bad research, and

42points

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What do you think ?

Sand Ers 1 month ago

Why do I always start on these long lists right when I should be going to bed?

WindySwede 1 month ago

Same here now..

3points

Lord of the laserprinter. 1 month ago

Is it just me or has anybody else the problem of BP being “jumpy” and “crashy” and generally being a PITA on a mobile?

Cat Chat 1 month ago

You're not alone. On my phone, when trying to type in a comment/reply box, the keyboard glitches on/off the screen. It only happens on BP.

Philly Bob Squires 1 month ago

I can't get the app to work on my Galaxy S24. I can see my stats, my info etc but when I go to articles, it's just blank. my S23 did it as well. I uninstalled it and reinstalled it, cleared the cache etc. Nada. So I'm always on the desktop.

I’m on an iPad, and I’ve had it spontaneously reload a few times. Not more than once or twice a day. Enough to be slightly annoying, but not enough to interfere with readability.

CertifiedCatServant (he/him) 1 month ago

YES (I kid you not the page reloaded itself AS I was trying to reply to your comment) my phone has recently gotten very hot when on BP, and I have also noticed that pages are glitchy and that the web pages reload themselves frequently without input from me.

Jumping Jellyfishes 1 month ago

Articles like these are getting fewer and far between :(

Ira 1 month ago

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50 Lesser-Known Facts That The “Today I Learned” Community Recently Shared

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