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The world is full of fascinating tidbits just waiting to be discovered, and it's never too late to learn something new. Therefore, websites like Reddit's 'Today I Learned' (TIL) community provide an endless source of mind-blowing facts you may not have come across before.
For instance, did you know that Channel 5 was the only major UK television channel that did not broadcast Queen Elizabeth II's funeral, opting to air The Emoji Movie instead? Or perhaps you have heard that Snoop Dogg was excommunicated by the Rastafari Council following his attempt to rebrand as Rastafarian "Snoop Lion"? These examples, along with many more facts from 'Today I Learned', serve as a reminder that knowledge never stands still, and we can always learn more about the world around us.
With that being said, if you'd love to see more interesting facts, then make sure to check out the previous posts here on Bored Panda (here, here, here, here, here, and here).
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
TIL: One in four American cowboys were black.
Jrog 1 year ago (edited)
And most of the rest were mexicans or latino. Cowboys were among the lowest rung on society, they were basically nomad farmhands. The mythos of the american cowboy stems mostly from popular theatrical and movie performances of late XIX and early XX century, when cowboys were already a thing of the past and they were seen as a relic of the heroic age of the West
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#2
TIL The Arabian Oryx became extinct in the wild by the early 1970s, but was saved in zoos and private reserves, and was reintroduced into the wild starting in 1980. In 2011, it was the first animal to revert to vulnerable status on the IUCN Red List after previously being listed as extinct
#3
TIL The aardwolf knows not to destory its food sources. Aardwolves eat part of a termite mound, leaves it, and return a few months later when the colony has rebuilt so it can have another meal. An aardwolf keeps track of mounds it attacked and can eat 250,000 termites in a single night.
In our quest to find the secrets of self-improvement when it comes to learning, Bored Panda reached out to Barbara Oakley, Ph.D. You might know Dr. Oakley as the author of books such as “Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential” or even “Uncommon Sense Teaching: Practical Insights in Brain Science to Help Students Learn”. In an interview below, Dr. Oakley highlights the importance of adapting to individual learning styles, retaining knowledge long-term, maintaining motivation, and incorporating learning into daily routines.
#4
TIL of "The Paradox of Choice." Research indicates that when we are given too many options to choose from, we tend to end up less satisfied than if we had fewer options to choose from. Increased choice leads to higher expectations, followed by regret and self-blame.
#5
TIL - Walter Orthmann, a 100 year old, set the Guinness World Record for working at the same company for 84 years and nine days.
#6
TIL Margaret Knight (1838-1914) invented a machine to mass produce flat-bottomed paper bags and, after winning a lawsuit against a fraudster who copied her design, the patent was issued in 1871. Her first invention was when she was 12 years old (and began working in a factory). She had 87 patents.
Dr. Oakley emphasizes that catering to different learning styles can enhance the learning process. She advises, "use techniques such as mind maps for visual learners, podcasts for auditory learners, hands-on activities for kinesthetic learners, and detailed note-taking for reading/writing learners."
#7
TIL: Tracy Chapman sued Nicki Minaj for copyright infringement. According to the complaint, Chapman repeatedly refused to give Minaj permission to sample one of her songs, but Minaj did it anyway. Minaj settled and agreed to pay Chapman $450K.
RowdieAngel 1 year ago
good. Tracy Chapman helped break down doors for artists like Minaj. Treat her with the respect she has more than earned
#8
TIL During pregnancy, if the mother suffers organ damage, the baby in the womb sends stem cells to repair the damaged organ.
#9
TIL that “Firehawks” a collection of three Australian bird species, are the only animals besides humans known to use fire to hunt. They will pick up burning sticks from fires and carry them in their beaks and talons before dropping it in unburnt vegetation setting the ground ablaze driving prey out.
As part of her recommendations for retaining knowledge effectively, Dr. Oakley suggests employing strategies that help "strengthen memory recall and build connections between concepts." She suggests using methods like spaced repetition, retrieval practice, active learning, and interleaving.
When it comes to maintaining motivation and focus during learning, particularly with complex subjects, Dr. Oakley recommends "breaking subjects into smaller parts, setting achievable goals, using various learning techniques, taking breaks, and relating the material to personal interests or career goals."
#10
TIL The Spanish Inquisition would write to you, giving 30 days notice before arriving and these were read out during Sunday Mass. Although these edicts were eventually phased out, you originally always expected the Spanish Inquisition.
#11
TIL of Khalid bin Mohsen Shaari, a Saudi who was the heaviest man alive at 1,340 lb. When Saudi King Abdullah heard of this, Khalid was ordered to a medical center in Riyadh. In about four years, Khalid would weigh 150 lb.
#12
TIL a special law in the UK was created to ensure that the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital will forever be able to collect royalties from stage performances, audiobooks, book releases, etc. of Peter Pan in the UK. This is the only work with an 'exception' to copyright laws.
Incorporating learning into daily routines can lead to significant improvements in personal and professional life. Dr. Oakley shares examples like a marketing professional learning programming, which could lead to better collaboration and career advancement, or someone who learns meditation, resulting in "reduced stress and increased productivity."
#13
TIL that Slash, guitarist of Guns N' Roses, helped fund the dinosaur exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.
MagicJacket 1 year ago
♫ Welcome to the museum, we got great displays. Lots of extinct animals in the jungle where they graze ♫
#14
TIL in 1996, a 21-year-old man burst into a New Zealand radio station, took the manager hostage and demanded that Kermit the Frog's rendition of Rainbow Connection be played.
#15
TIL hippos have a reflex mechanism that allows them to pop up, take a breath, and go back down without waking up so they can sleep underwater.
Dr. Oakley concluded by saying she believes that continual learning can "unlock countless opportunities for growth and success." She encourages everyone to explore different learning styles, use effective methods for knowledge retention, and maintain motivation throughout their learning journey.
#16
TIL about the “Old Man of the Lake,” a 30-foot tall, 450 year old tree stump, most likely a hemlock, that has been bobbing vertically in Oregon's Crater Lake since at least 1896. Moving freely, it can be virtually anywhere on the lake, so boat captains commonly communicate its position for safety.
Debbie 1 year ago (edited)
From wikipedia: "In 1988, submarine explorations were conducted in the lake, and the scientists decided to tie the Old Man off the eastern side of Wizard Island to neutralize the navigational hazard until their research work was complete. Upon immobilizing the log, the weather went from clear to stormy. After it started snowing in August, they released the Old Man. Soon after, the weather cleared up, encouraging superstitions."
#17
TIL Anne Frank wrote four dirty jokes in her diary, which she later papered over so they weren’t discovered by researchers until 2018.
I'm a Jimmy 1 year ago
One of her jokes read: "Do you know why the German girls of the armed forces are in the Netherlands? As a mattress for the soldiers." Another one: "A man comes home at night and notices that another man shared the bed with his wife that evening. He searches the whole house, and finally also looks in the bedroom closet. There is a totally naked man, and when that one man asked what the other was doing there, the man in the closet answered: 'You can believe it or not but I am waiting for the tram.' "
#18
TIL The first person clinically diagnosed with Autism is still alive. Donald Grey Triplett who is 89 years old.
#19
TIL that same-sex behavior has been recorded in more than 1000 species in animal kingdom ranging from beetles to penguins. This was earlier often seen as an example of Darwin's paradox as these behaviors are non-reproductive and don't contribute to the advancement of species in the traditional sense.
Antoinette Maldari 1 year ago
And, they're not beaten, left behind or killed for it by their herd/group/pack. Animals being civil. We should learn from animals.
Alisa LaVine 1 year ago
We are a species of animal. Just the worst kind. Self awareness isn't necessarily a good thing.
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Kathryn Baylis 1 year ago
In a way they DO “contribute to the advancement of species”, though not in a traditional sense. They often adopt the unwanted young of traditional mating pairs, often one or more of a multiple birth, or the abandoned runt of the litter. Those are the young who would be neglected and left to die. By nurturing those abandoned babies, the “non-traditional” couple advances the species by increasing their numbers, and potentially raising them to adulthood, when they can choose to mate and make babies of their own, unless they were born to seek a same-sex mate—-in which case, they have learned how to adopt and raise abandoned young.
RandomEpiBioPerson 1 year ago
There also been a study done with flies where there showed to be at least some sort of correlation with a generation having larger homosexual population of one sex, and in the same generation, a higher fertility rate in the opposing sex. Not sure if they ever found any actual cause or actual relation to those correlating, but I still thought it was interesting.
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PurpleUnicorn 1 year ago
There is a pair of male penguins in the aquarium in Dingle, they often act as foster parents. And I read about another pair somewhere else who stole an egg from a neighbouring nest to raise.
Nikole 1 year ago
The children’s book written about those two male penguins who took the egg (“And Tango Makes Three”) was banned in certain places here in the land of the free.
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Fgeywyde 1 year ago
Actually, one theory is that homosexuality in penguins actually does serve a benefit: if there is an extra egg (either because one penguin lays two or some die), then heterosexual couples would not care for it since they make their own. However, gay penguin couples will take available eggs and care for them.
Claire Kaplan 1 year ago
This is literally called the Gay Uncle hypothesis!
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EarthGrowl 1 year ago
Anthropologist have already figured out having gay family members was Highly beneficial for a family group. Adult but non-reproducing members in a group greatly increased the group's ability to gather resources without the burden of extra young. The existence of a gay uncle could absolutely prevent the extinction of that family's genetics. Gay people are not a flaw in the Divine Plan they are an integral part of the Divine Plan. Humanity probably wouldn't have flourished and thrived without our gay family members.
Karen Philpott 1 year ago
People who say it "isn't natural", have never been out in the natural world, watching animals. But then again fear and ignorance are best kept behind closed minds.
Nelly Panda 1 year ago
Just because something is uncommon (not the majority) doesn’t make it abnormal.
Amanda Rose 1 year ago
I read an article a couple of years ago that stated a number of around 1,800 species (so far).
Karen Taylor 1 year ago
Isn't there a zoo somewhere with a gay penguins that have formed a partnership, their "handlers" give them orphaned chicks to raise which they have done successfully. Wonderful all round.
Bubbles and sparks 1 year ago
And yet only humans make a problem out of it... I guess a lot of people could learn a thing or two about how things work perfectly without being judgemental. The same goes for the Bonobo monkeys... they are as promiscuous as heck, yet the females are not seen as wh*res and the men are not seen as conquerors, they just live and enjoy having s*x for fun, not necessarily for reproduction, plus they don't give a f***k about gender either. I like them ☺️
Adrian 1 year ago
It doesn't matter that it's non-reproductive as others in the species will reproduce. As for advancement, I'm hetero but have some gay and lesbian friends who are some of the smartest, most accomplished people I know.
Adrian 1 year ago
It's the religious cranks that are the problem and Darwin was conflicted about this, too.
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Ken Beattie 1 year ago
Could argue that the urge to propagate the species is so strong that it doesn't matter that the beetles or penguins are same sex. Heck Do penguins even understand the concept of "girl penguin", "boy penguin"?
Max Fox 1 year ago
There are many ways in which this can contribute. Alternative explanation is that it is linked to a trait that is very helpful, but in certain conditions it results in the person bearing the gene version to be gay. The Latter seems more likely, since sexuality is a continuum, not a discrete distribution.
Ghostshaper 1 year ago
Joan Roughgarden from Stanford has written about this, now John Roughgarden.
dan martyr 1 year ago
Penguins get up to all sorts apparently! https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2012/jun/09/sex-depravity-penguins-scott-antarctic
FlatEarf2.0 1 year ago
First I want to say stop making this about humans can animals not have their minute, people always gotta make it about themselves. Secondly, a lot of the animals that do this can't always tell the difference
Sheila steven 1 year ago
Yes but this information is very unclear one thousand animal species might display homosexual behavior but how many animals in that species. The information doesn’t specify any of that. So there could be one homosexual hippo (for example) that is the result of a defect, but that doesn’t mean that hippos as a species show homosexual behavior if one hippo does it.
Featherking 1 year ago
Go find the reports in their entirety. You can access most of them via internet. They very much give absolutely all possible information, since that’s a requirement for a scientific report. Go forth.
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RandomEpiBioPerson 1 year ago
Technically there are, just not natively. XD (aquariums/zoos with them)
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#20
TIL that Channel 5 was the only major UK television channel not to broadcast Queen Elizabeth II's funeral - they aired The Emoji Movie instead.
#21
TIL - The miscarriage rate is higher than people perceive. On average 12.5% of women who know they are pregnant have a miscarriage within the first 23 weeks of pregnancy.
#22
TIL: The 62 books in the mainline Goosebumps series were published in only 53 months. RL Stine published more than a book a month for almost five years.
#23
TIL that Hawaii was a sovereign self-governing kingdom all the way up until 1893, totally unassociated with the U.S., until a coup d'état that year by 13 businessmen and 162 U.S. troops, with the openly stated goal of annexing the islands. (They succeeded.)
#24
TIL As a child, Walt Disney's mom convinced his dad, Elias, to buy him a set of colored pencils and some drawing paper. Elias did not approve, believing the boy should spend time engaged in hard, manual labor. Even after Walt became famous, Elias never considered animation a real job.
#25
TIL that a woman named Jo Cameron has a rare genetic mutation that makes her unable to feel pain or anxiety. Despite numerous injuries throughout her life, Jo has never needed painkillers.
#26
TIL that the Philippines is 1 out 2 countries in the world that still doesn't allow divorce. It also has the 10th highest number of child brides globally, with 100,000 women married before their 15th birthday.
#27
TIL: James Blunt gave Weird Al Yankovic permission to parody his single "You're Beautiful." But after Yankovic recorded "You're Pitiful," Blunt's record label refused to let it be commercially released. Yankovic didn't include it on his album. Instead, he released it as a free digital download.
#28
TIL Simeon Stylites lived on top of columns for 37 years. Simeon did this as a form of asceticism because when he lived in a cave people kept making pilgrimages to him and asking him religious questions. Ultimately his column life drew in even bigger crowds who would climb ladders to talk to him.
#29
TIL the eunuchs of the last Chinese emperor wore their severed testicles and penises in jars around their necks when working.
#30
TIL in 2019 a Brazilian drug trafficker serving a 73 yr sentence tried to escape from prison by disguising himself as his teenage daughter who was visiting. His plan was to leave her behind in his place but his nervousness as he approached the exit tipped off the guards.He hung himself 3 days later.
What do you think ?
Stardust she/her 1 year ago
TIL about how cool the flag of Antarctica is. imagesqtbn...sqpCAU.png 
Smiley MG 1 year ago
I get it. People want to believe a completely sentient being is helping from the inside, but i just pointed out a completely functioning brain is redirecting stemcells from something that is not capable of existence, and neither does the brain has any purpose for the brain at all without its help, towards the body that it needs to stay alive. People get angry over such small things nowadays.... Lol
Let’s All Just Try And Be Decent 1 year ago
So you did need medical intervention from a miscarriage. Were you able you access this easily in the states? Thank you for sharing to raise awareness
Load More Replies... Stardust she/her 1 year ago
TIL about how cool the flag of Antarctica is. imagesqtbn...sqpCAU.png
Smiley MG 1 year ago
I get it. People want to believe a completely sentient being is helping from the inside, but i just pointed out a completely functioning brain is redirecting stemcells from something that is not capable of existence, and neither does the brain has any purpose for the brain at all without its help, towards the body that it needs to stay alive. People get angry over such small things nowadays.... Lol
Let’s All Just Try And Be Decent 1 year ago
So you did need medical intervention from a miscarriage. Were you able you access this easily in the states? Thank you for sharing to raise awareness
Load More Replies... You May Like 127 General Knowledge Trivia You Should Know All The Answers To Netizens Point Out The 37 Biggest Movies They'll Never Re-Watch Again, Under Any Circumstances
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