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“Today I Learned”: 40 Interesting Things About The World That People Didn’t Know Until Recently (New Pics)
We’ve got both good news and bad news, dear Pandas. Learning never ever ends. But, on the flip side—learning never ends! The world is far more interesting and changes at a much faster pace for us to forget about ever learning something new the moment we finish school or college. Education is a lifelong pursuit, and staying hungry for knowledge helps you appreciate everything to the fullest. The daily grind can’t get to you if you’re always curious!
The 'Today I Learned’ online community is a mammoth of cool, interesting, and uncomfortable facts that people from all around the globe learned only recently. They’re the kind of historical, scientific, and other insights that you probably wouldn’t ever hear at school. We’ve collected some of the best new facts people decided to share on r/todayilearned, so put on your thinking caps and scroll down to check them out. Oh, and don’t worry, there won’t be a test! Who needs grades when the best reward is reigniting your passion for learning?
The TIL community is probably one of the most interesting corners of the internet. We’re huge fans of them here at Bored Panda! Once you’re done absorbing all of the knowledge in this post, you may want to take a peek at our most recent posts about the subreddit here, here, and here.
Bored Panda reached out to Lenore Skenazy for her insights about what issues there are with the current education system, as well as why grades aren’t the most important thing in the world. She kindly explained why school, by itself, won’t give your kids everything they need to succeed in life, and why they need far more free time than they have now.
Skenazy is the president of Let Grow, a nonprofit promoting childhood independence and resilience, and the founder of the Free-Range Kids movement. She also writes for Reason.com. Read on for our full interview with her.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
TIL, in 1997, a Russian poacher, Vladimir Markov, shot and wounded a tiger, and stole part of a boar it had been eating. 12 hours later, the tiger tracked down the poacher at his cabin and ate him.
Skenazy, the president of Let Grow and the founder of the Free-Range Kids movement, was kind enough to share her thoughts about school and the education system with Bored Panda.
“School keeps becoming a bigger part of kids’ lives—and that’s a problem. A generation or two ago, says Boston College Psychology Prof. Peter Gray, the school DAY was shorter, the school YEAR was shorter and the hours outside of school—the afternoons, weekends, and summers— were a lot more free,” she shared.
“Kids goofed around, played, explored. Now, with jam-packed schedules filled with adult-run activities, even those out-of-school hours are a lot LIKE school… except instead of learning fractions kids are learning lacrosse, or chess.”
RELATED:
#2
TIL after being scolded by a woman who felt that his shoes were too expensive for kids, Shaq forwent a $40 million deal with Reebok & signed one with Walmart. He then brought in designers from Reebok so that his Walmart shoes would look costlier than the $20 price. Over 400 million pairs were sold
#3
TIL in 2017, a woman named Chau Smith ran seven marathons in seven consecutive days on seven continents in celebration of her 70th birthday.
Skenazy noted that in his book, Free to Learn, Gray explains why this lack of freedom is a problem.
“In the name of education, we have increasingly deprived children of the time and freedom they need to educate themselves through their own means. And in the name of safety, we have deprived children of the freedom they need to develop the understanding, courage, and confidence required to face life’s dangers and challenges with equanimity,” Gray writes.
And the problem is getting worse. “We are in a crisis that continues to grow more serious with every passing year… [We have] lost sight of children’s competence. We have created a world in which children must suppress their natural instincts to take charge of their own education and, instead, mindlessly follow paths to nowhere laid out for them by adults. We have created a world that is literally driving many young people crazy and leaving many others unable to develop the confidence and skills required for adult responsibility.”
#4
TIL nine women, called "The 9 Nanas," kept a decades-long secret that even their husbands knew nothing about. For 30 years, they gathered at 4 a.m. to bake cakes, send care packages to people, anonymously pay bills and buy clothes for those in need.
R.A. Haley 2 years ago
My wife could do almost anything without me finding out. It's called trust.
#5
TIL Mr. Snuffleupagus from 'Sesame Street' was originally a friend of Big Bird's that everyone else thought was imaginary, and it was decided that he should be seen by other people to encourage children to talk about any abuse they might have suffered.
#6
TIL about Tommy Manville, the heir to the Johns-Manville fortune. The terms of his family trust granted him $250,000 "when he married." As a result he got married 13 times, giving the women a cut of the proceeds before quickly divorcing them.
Skenazy, the president of Let Grow, told Bored Panda that she’s seen this tragedy unfold herself. “Clever, normal kids turned into caged animals who despair they are no good, and their lives pointless. The answer? It’s so simple and so overlooked: Kids need more free time and free play—exactly what you loved most as a kid. Time spent making up games, practicing free throws, jumping rope, poking around in the woods—all of that is not wasted time. It’s a time when all of a kid’s senses are engaged and growing: Observation, participation, empathy, curiosity."
According to the childhood independence and resilience expert, “kids learn what they love, who they are, and how much they can do.”
“It’s hard to see when you’re swimming in it, but kids learn so much from life, from friends, from siblings, from doing things on their own that they can NOT learn from an adult, even the most loving parent or gifted teacher. Give them back some free time, during the school day and after, and they will start to blossom,” Skenazy explained to Bored Panda.
#7
TIL of Vitalis of Gaza, a monk who paid prostitutes his daily wages to dissuade them from the profession. The women he served later carried him to his grave, processing him with candles and lanterns. The Catholic Church venerates him as the Patron Saint of Prostitutes and Day Laborers.
#8
TIL: 2nd POTUS Adams never owned a slave and declined on principle to use slave labor
#9
TIL about the Asoh defense, a term for just taking the blame when you're at fault. It’s named after a Japanese pilot named Kohei Asoh, who crash-landed a full-passenger jet in the San Francisco Bay. When asked what happened, he said: “As you Americans say, I f**ked up.”
Amanda Rose 2 years ago
And the crash resulted in zero injuries to the passengers! JAL_flight...b7f95b.jpg 
The expert shared some practical advice and resources on how to create more freedom for kids. “One way to do this is to have your child’s school start Peter Gray’s brainchild: A Let Grow Play Club. Schools stay open before or after school for mixed-ages, no-tech, free play. An adult supervises but does not organize the games or solve the spats.”
She continued: “This way, kids get BOTH kinds of education they need: Classroom education AND the lessons learned on the playground, about creativity, empathy, and curiosity. Without some time for truly free play and exploration, kids cannot thrive. With some freedom, there’s no stopping them!”
Meanwhile, Bored Panda was interested to get Skenazy’s opinion on how parents can help their children avoid feeling pressured when it comes to getting ‘perfect’ grades, while also maintaining healthy studying habits.
#10
Today I learned taking photos instead of actually viewing the scene causes your brain to outsource the memory; this causes you to not retain the information as detailed as you normally would. This is called the photo-taking impairment effect.
#11
TIL that van Gogh's rendering of the stars in Café Terrace at Night is so precise that the painting can be dated within a day or two of its creation.
Nitka Tsar 2 years ago
I would have never thought the stars in that painting being accurate. Cool
Jordi Sharpe 2 years ago
♥️ That man had a beautiful soul and a heart far too large for this world.
#12
TIL during a tour of Germany in 1958, Jewish Comedian Groucho Marx climbed a pile of rubble that marked the site of Adolf Hitler's bunker, the site of Hitler's death, and performed a two-minute Charleston.
“Quick! What was Einstein’s grade point average? How well did Dolly Parton score on her SATs? How many AP classes did Rachmaninoff take? Those questions are absurd. And so is the idea that a child is only as bright or talented as his grades and school performance,” Skenazy told us.
“There are so many aspects to a person and yet so few are reflected in their report card. Creativity, kindness, a sense of humor, loyalty, wackiness—those aren’t measurable and so we forget they are even more valuable than an A+ on the spelling test."
According to the childhood independence expert, parents ought to literally tell their kids that they should do their best at school, but it’s not the only thing that matters.
#13
TIL a mannequin in a California funhouse was revealed to be a real body when the arm fell off in 1976. It was the corpse of a man named Elmer McCurdy, an outlaw shot dead by sheriffs 65 years earlier.
R.A. Haley 2 years ago
It was discovered during shooting of an episode of "The Six Million Dollar Man". Google it, it's a strange story.
#14
TIL brussels sprouts used to have a bitter taste until breeders in the 90s started to cross-pollinate different varieties in order to remove the chemicals that caused the bitterness. The result of their work has lead to brussels sprouts' recent culinary popularity
Stephanie Did It 2 years ago
I'm still reluctant to try them because I remember the awful taste.
#15
TIL in 1831 the Swedish Navy planted over 300,000 oak trees with the intention of harvesting them for ships 150 years later. They remain unharvested today.
Annik Perrot 2 years ago
France did the same in the late 17th century. Some of them now have been harvested... to rebuild Notre-Dame.
“Just as you have to do your job as best you can, whether you love it or not, kids are tasked with the job of school. So they should try to do their best, but how they perform isn’t a reflection of their worth as a person or even their intelligence!” she told Bored Panda.
“For the record, Thomas ‘Lightbulb’ Edison was doing so poorly in school, his mom took him out and home schooled him. The point? Don’t make school and grades so important that you—and your kids!—forget how many more dimensions there are to childhood. Let them find things they DO love to do, so if they’re not a ‘great student,’ or they flunk a test, or they hate math, they have another thing they find joy and competence in.”
Skenazy stressed the fact that, in the end, “grades do NOT matter.” What does matter is learning.
“And that can and does take place outside the classroom as much as inside. School is a place you do your best, but it’s not the only place that matters. The world is a lot bigger (and older!) than just school.”
#16
TIL: Pac-Man grossed $1 billion in quarters in its first year of release. In the following year, 1982, it earned $6 billion in quarters, which was more than the combined amount of money spent in Vegas casinos and US movie theaters that year.
#17
TIL There are only between 150-300 kidnappings of children by strangers each year in the US. The other 200,000 kidnappings each year are by relatives.
R.A. Haley 2 years ago
So much for stranger danger. Create a handy rhyme from "uncle", go ahead.
#18
TIL about Ted's bottle. Ted d’Auvergne, a New Zealand WW2 soldier was at the pub and late for his embarkation train. He asked the publican to set aside his 2nd bottle of beer to drink when he came home. Ted was killed but the promise was kept and that bottle of beer is still there.
Stephanie Did It 2 years ago
This image belongs to the previous post. I wanna see Ted's bottle.
We don’t want to sound overly dramatic, but to us, there is no Reddit without r/todayilearned. Created all the way back in late 2008, the subreddit has grown into a powerhouse of a community that few can rival.
At the time of writing, the ‘Today I Learned’ community was home to over 30 million members. This number continues to grow. Constantly.
The secret behind the success of the TIL project is brilliant in its simplicity. It’s hard to beat interesting, weird, and niche facts (well, unless you’ve got funny cat pics to share!). Meanwhile, the community members are encouraged to actively participate. No fact is too small to share! So long as it’s backed up by sources, of course.
#19
TIL in 2010, Washington D.C. held a mock election and invited hackers to test its online voting system. They managed to elect Master Control Program from "Tron" as mayor, Skynet from "Terminator" to Congress, and Bender from "Futurama" to the school board. It took D.C. officials two days to notice.
R.A. Haley 2 years ago (edited)
I'm sure that applies to today as well, not quite sure how... :p
#20
TIL for 50+ years, Australian children in the outback attended school via shortwave radio and sent homework via air mail due to the distance between homes. "Schools of the Air" were many children's first social experience outside their families; its quality equaled or surpassed traditional schools'.
#21
TIL a wanted fugitive performed plastic surgeries on his face using scissors, a box cutter and a needle with thread in order to avoid capture. Some of the surgeries were done in public restrooms. He evaded arrest for over 2 years
There are some limits on what info you can share. For instance, you shouldn’t post anything that’s supported by sources more recent than 2 months. Naturally, sources that are inaccurate or unverifiable aren’t allowed. Misleading claims, agenda-pushing, and personal opinions also don’t have a place on r/todayilearned.
The sub is all about interesting facts. So there’s a certain bar when it comes to quality that you have to reach. That’s what makes the community educational, not just entertaining. Combine the two together and you have a recipe for success on the internet!
#22
TIL that after Toyota recalled millions of cars for stuck accelerator pedals, a man was freed from prison after his Toyota caused an accident that killed 3.
Katy McMouse 2 years ago
This type of crash happened in my town. There were 3 older gentlemen driving a Toyota on one of the busiest streets in our city. Something happened and they ended up barreling through traffic at an insanely high speed. Somehow, these poor men avoided hitting other drivers until they finaly crashed. Witnesses said that the driver appeared to be trying to actively dodge other cars.The car basically disintegrated and the three friends died instantly, but the horror of what was happening must have been beyond belief. There was so little of the car left, they couldn't even prove what had happened, but the fact that it was one of the Toyota models affected, the consensus seems to be a stuck accelerator. The worst part? The car was new. It's been more than a couple of years, but I think the family is still fighting the manufacturer to accept responsibility. Those poor men were the closest of friends and their final moments together were agonizing.
#23
TIL that the US post office turns children’s letters to Santa into a giant gift registry that allows citizens to fulfill children’s Christmas wishes
Crease Almighty 2 years ago
Dear Santa, this year I would like you to pay the energy bill for my dad. please Santa.
#24
TIL Dogs have much more expressive faces than wolves. Dogs make an effort to make eye contact with humans and have notably high control over their eyebrows when compared to wolves. Looking into a dog's eyes has comparable results to a parent looking at their child.
Chucky Cheezburger 2 years ago
I know a dog who will smile like a human when he comes to greet us. With his lips pulled back and teeth bared, it looks aggressive and can kinda freak people out, but I think he is just imitating what people do. All he wants is lovin and the treats we give to all the dogs we meet.
Some time ago, Bored Panda spoke about education and the internet with Steven Wooding, a member of the Institute of Physics in the UK and part of the Omni Calculator Project. He pointed out that the internet is a tool and neutral in and of itself. It’s neither inherently good or evil. “Of course, it can be both,” he told us.
"The internet reflects the world around it, so everything you find in the world will also appear on the internet. I see it as a great shortcut to information (gone are the days of having to visit a library) that can speed up your learning and ability to do things," he told us during an interview, earlier.
According to the scientist, you should set aside specific times for studying and others for fun if you feel that you’ve got a hard time maintaining focus and keep on getting distracted by entertainment. Meanwhile, if you feel that you’re burned out from studying and learning new things, consider gamifying your entire approach to make it more fun.
"My little secret for avoiding apathy is giving myself little challenges, difficulties, or assumptions that I need to stick to during my tasks. This way, I can polish my skills, avoid burnout, and (as a bonus side effect) get better results over time. Try to be conscious of 'the burnout curve'—and adjust your life's challenges so that they always hit somewhere near the top of the curve,” Steven told Bored Panda before.
#25
TIL John von Newmann was a child prodigy who could divide 8-digit numbers in his head by age 6. By age 8, he was fluent in Ancient Greek, had mastered calculus and would amuse his parents' friends by reciting book pages after just glancing at them. He also developed the modern computer architecture.
#26
TIL that when Unsolved Mysteries aired a segment on missing child Nyleen Marshall, they were contacted by a man who thought he might have gone to school with Nyleen. This turned out not to be Nyleen, but a different missing child, Monica Bonilla, who had been abducted by her noncustodial parent.
crazy_stupid 2 years ago
Wonder how many missing people have been traced as a result of this and similar programmes
#27
TIL on the morning of July 26, 1184, Henry VI held court at the Petersberg Citadel. The weight of the assembled nobles caused the second story floor of the building to collapse. Most of the nobles fell into the latrine cesspit below the ground floor, where about 60 of them drowned in liquid s**t.
Hotdogking 2 years ago
Well that’s a crappy way to go. (I’ll show myself out. And hopefully not the way they did)
#28
TIL that somewhere between 3% and 21% of the population have a genetic variation in an olfactory receptor gene (OR6A2) that makes cilantro taste very unpleasant. Those with the variant describe the taste of cilantro as "a combination of soap and vomit" or similar to the odor emitted by stinkbugs.
#29
TIL Longyearbyen, Norway is the world's northernmost settlement with a population greater than 1,000. There is a ban on cats, a monthly alcohol purchase limit, and a requirement to carry a rifle while outside for protection from polar bears.
Purple light 2 years ago
They probably want to protect their local wildlife, so that is why they have a ban on cats. I think polar bears can defend themselves from cats, but for nesting birds for exemple it is another story.
#30
TIL that the theme song from Mission Impossible get is its iconic beat of "long long short short" from the Morse code of "M" and "I", which is long long short short.
karl briggs 2 years ago
When I was at the zoo, I saw something like a frog tapping things out on a piece of wood. Turned out it was a morse toad. (Sorry) hahaha
#31
TIL that part of Icelandic Christmas lore is that a giant cat, the Yule Cat will kill you if you don't give or receive clothing on Christmas
#32
TIL that Charles Dickens was a great lover of cats, so much so that when one of his beloved cats, Bob, passed away, Dickens was so upset that his sister-in-law fashioned one of Bob's paws into a letter opener. Dickens kept this at his side as he wrote and he used it every morning to open his mail.
#33
TIL that the 1927 General Election in Liberia had a turnout of 1660%. The winner secured 240,000 votes, when the country had less than 15,000 eligible voters.
Kirsten Kerkhof 2 years ago
Trump is still trying to figure out how he can do the same, no doubt.
#34
TIL, for a scene in his movie Tenet, where a Boeing 747 plane crashes into (a fictional) Oslo Airport, they crashed an ACTUAL, REAL 747, because Christopher Nolan determined it would actually be cheaper than models or CGI.
#35
TIL After the release of OutKast's "Hey Ya" - which contains the line, "Shake it like a Polaroid picture!" - Polaroid had to remind the users of its cameras not to "shake" their photos when they were developing, as this can damage the image
Alan Christensen 2 years ago
I thought this was going to say Polaroid had to remind the public what a Polaroid picture was since their film business was nearly dead at the time.
#36
TIL that all Ashkenazi Jews are at most 30th cousins because of a genetic bottleneck about 700 years ago.
#37
TIL a reporter at a British newspaper received an anonymous tip telling him to “call the American Embassy in London for some big news” about 25 minutes before JFK was assassinated.
#38
TIL about Henry Cotton, an asylum director who believed that all insanity was caused by sepsis in other parts poisoning the brain, leading to widespread amputation of his patients' colons, teeth, reproductive organs, and even stomachs in order to "cure" them, with as many as 45% dying as a result
#39
TIL in a 2005 Empire article, Henry Cavill was dubbed “the unluckiest man in Hollywood” after losing roles in Bond and Harry Potter franchises.
#40
TIL 69 is the only number whose square (4761) and cube (328509) use every decimal digit from 0–9 exactly once.
What do you think ?
TheLadyMagic 2 years ago
They're actually only about 65 facts, because of a lot of facts are repeated, 2,3or 4 times
TheLadyMagic 2 years ago
TIL that this title is misleading. Well technically they're 107 facts numbered
TheLadyMagic 2 years ago
They're actually only about 65 facts, because of a lot of facts are repeated, 2,3or 4 times
TheLadyMagic 2 years ago
TIL that this title is misleading. Well technically they're 107 facts numbered
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