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The ‘Today I Learned’ subreddit, otherwise known as TIL, brings together millions of curious people who enjoy sharing things they’ve recently discovered. From surprising historical tidbits to fascinating facts about science and nature, this community is a space where learning something new is part of the daily routine.
If you’re a regular at Bored Panda, you know how much we love bringing you these fun pieces of trivia. Keep scrolling to see what caught people’s attention this time, and don’t forget to upvote anything that piques your interest.
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#1
Princess Liu Chuyu of the song dynasty complained to her brother that it wasn’t fair that he had concubines while she only had a husband. He agreed and gave her a harem of 30 men.
#2
Disney once sued three day care centers in Florida for unauthorized use of their characters (5 foot high likenesses on murals on the buildings) who had to remove them. Universal in turn let the centers use Scooby Doo, Flintstones & other of their Hanna-Barbera characters.
#3
In an early version of his dictionary, Noah Webster defined "cat" with the entry: "The domestic cat needs no description. It is a deceitful animal, and when enraged, extremely spiteful."
#4
In the 1980s Alyssa Milano befriended Ryan White(A Boy Ostracized For Having Aids) who was a fan of her works.She went on to appear on The Phil Donahue Show alongside Milano to kiss him on the cheek to show that she could not contract the disease.
#5
In 2015, a Louisiana man was arrested for drunkenly riding a horse on a highway. When detained, he said, "The horse knows the way home" and the sheriff concluded it did not constitute DUI.
waarimelone 3 months ago (edited)
Valid. Horses can memorise and accurately follow familiar routes even without the rider guiding them. Which then [raises] the question: would it become a DUI if the horse was drunk instead of the rider? (Edit: Grammar)
#6
In 2005, a guy named Doug Heckman read the EULA before he installed some PC software. The agreement included a clause offering 'financial compensation' to licensees who actually read the license agreement. He emailed the company, referred to the clause and the company sent him a check for $1,000.
Joshua Russell 3 months ago
And this act of EULA reading was so notable that here we are learning about it 20 years later.
#7
Because of her mental illness history & how she presented early on, a woman catatonic for 20 yrs wasn't tested for an autoimmune disease until a doctor who was there when she was first admitted in 2000, came across her again in 2020. This led to her lupus diagnosis & treatment which woke her up.
#8
Turtles and tortoises have nerve endings in the shells. They can feel you touch their shells as well as pain when something hurts their shell.
#9
In 2008 an Australian special forces dog named Sarbi spent almost 14 months missing in action after disappearing during an ambush. Eventually an American soldier noticed her with a local man & confirmed she was a trained military dog by using voice commands. She was then reunited w/ her handlers.
#10
While Michelangelo was painting the Last Judgement, Papal MC Biagio de Cesana spied on his work. And complained that it was not worthy of the Sistine Chapel. In response Michelangelo painted Biagio into the fresco, as the depiction of Minos being dragged to Hell with a snake biting his p*nis.
#11
In a family with twelve children, six of the boys were diagnosed with schizophrenia and were later found to possess a genetic mutation that is so vital to brain function that it could help researchers understand how schizophrenia works.
#12
In 2010, a 16-year-old Canadian discovered that his two parents were actually not Canadian, but KGB spies living under fake names Donald and Tracey.
#13
Hugh Laurie shot his audition tape for House from a bathroom in Namibia because that was the only room with enough light.
#14
Finnish babies’ first bed is often a cardboard box. The government sends all expectant mothers a box with baby supplies, and the box includes a small mattress at the bottom meant to stay in the box.
cerinamroth 3 months ago
Scotland also have the baby box. It's definitely a thing - my sister got one for each of hers, and my SILs also did.
#15
The human body can naturally settle into a sleep-wake cycle of up to 50 hours, when there's no day/night cycle to observe. In 1962 geologist Michel Siffre entered a darkened cave, where he planned to remain for two months tracking time assuming 1 sleep equals one day, but he was off by 2 weeks.
#16
The CIA used songs like Hit Me Baby One More time and Bye Bye Bye as part of their torture methods.
#17
In 2018, an American half-pipe skier qualified for the Olympics despite minimal experience. Olympic requirements stated that an athlete needed to place in the top 30 at multiple events. She simply sought out events with fewer than 30 participants, showed up, and skied down without falling.
#18
Eva Peron (Evita), wife of Argentina's president Juan Peron, died of cervical cancer at the age of 33. He never told her that she had cancer and was dying. Ironically, his first wife also died of cervical cancer at 28 yrs old. Doctors felt that he passed the HPV virus on to his wives.
#19
Isaac Newton was named warden of the British Royal Mint, an honorary title with no actual duties. However, Newton took it seriously and would visit sketchy bars in disguise to investigate criminals. This resulted in 28 counterfeiting convictions!
David Paterson 3 months ago (edited)
It's not fair to say that it was an honorary title with no actual duties. It's completely true that Newton excelled in this role.
#20
To keep up with Robin Williams' improvisation on 'Mrs. Doubtfire', director Chris Columbus had to shoot the entire movie with extra cameras to get the other actors' reactions. Two million feet of film were used. Columbus has 972 boxes full of outtakes.
#21
In 2018, Samsung had a historic "Fat-Finger" error where it accidentally gave every employee $9 million worth of shares in the company. The total amount distributed was $100billion more than 30x their market cap. Within 37minutes, 16 employees sold and the stock tanked 11%.
Mad Dragon 3 months ago
The error happened in 2018 when Samsung Securities tried to pay a dividend to about 2,000 employees who participated in the company stock ownership plan. The intent was to give each of those employees 1,000 South Korean won, worth about US$1, but instead issued 2.8 billion shares. These shares were worth about 112.6 trillion won, or 30 times the market capitalization of the company. The company noticed the error 37 minutes later. However 16 employees sold the shares which the company gave them. They proceeded with the sale despite receiving warnings from the company and were promptly reported to prosecutors.
#22
A Spanish guy skipped work for 6 years while still being paid and was only discovered when he was going to be recognised for his hard work.
#23
Abraham Lincoln founded the US Secret Service hours before being assassinated.
#24
The Devil's Advocate used to be an official position in the Catholic Church whose job was to find evidence against a saint candidate.
Con O Cuinn 3 months ago
JP2 got rid of the position iirc, leading to people like mother Theresa being rushed to sainthood.
#25
Instead of using CGI, Tim Burton opted to use real squirrels in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The squirrels were used for 10 months, and the filming was supervised by the American Humane Association to make sure none of the squirrels experienced distress.
#26
A 12 year old boy enlisted to fight in WWI after lying about his age and fought in the Battle of the Somme at 13 before his mother revealed his true age and brought him home.
#27
TIL of Earl of Oxford. Who farted in front of Queen Elizabeth the First. He was so ashamed that he left the country for seven years.
#28
TIL of the Japanese concept of "Wa," in which everyone strives to prioritize the development of society over the individual. It is seen as a fundamental aspect of Japanese society.
#29
While sailing from Tahiti to San Diego, Tami Oldham Ashford & her fiancé's boat temporarily capsized when they got caught in a hurricane. Tami got knocked out & woke up 27 hours later with her fiancé missing. Over the next 41 days, she used a sextant & a watch to navigate 1.5K miles to Hawaii.
#30
The most divorced person ever of monogamous marriages was a baptist minister. He had married 31 times, mostly to teenagers, because he just “spoke their language” and ONLY five marriages end by the death of the spouse.
#31
In 2009 Nine women were rescued from what they thought was a Big Brother reality show house but turned out to be a criminal organization.
#32
Between 1974 and 1990, North Korea tried to dig 4 tunnels under the Demilitarized Zone and when South Korea discovered them, North Korea painted their walls black and pretended they were coal mines.
#33
One of Emperor Hirohito's most treasured possessions was a Mickey Mouse watch, which was presented to him on a trip to the US when he visited Disneyland in 1975. When he died in 1989 he was buried with the watch.
Major Harris 3 months ago
similar, but different. not well known, oregon town of brookings was bombed by a japanese pilot from a small plane in WW2. the plane was put together and then placed in the water from a japanese sub. the plane had two 250 pound incendiary bombs attached to it with the intent to start a wild fire. luckily, it had rained the night before and there was no damage. the pilot survived the war and was invited to the town in the mid 60s. when he visited, he presented his family's centuries old samurai sword to the town where it can still be seen in the local library on display
#34
In the 1870s William Shanks spent 15 years of his life calculating pi to 707 places by hand. However, the last few years were wasted as he made a mistake after the 527th digit.
#35
An extra on the set of "Transformers 3" was left brain damaged after she was struck with a piece of metal. After the accident, a portion of her skull was removed and she now endures memory loss, seizures, and is blind in one eye. She was awarded an $18.5 million settlement.
#36
There were only 4 times a US vice president assumed temporary presidential powers as acting president, and each time was due to the president having a colonoscopy.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 3 months ago
Make sure you get yearly colonoscopies, fellow Pandas, once you are age 45ish or so. Colon cancer seems to be on the rise, and it's occurring in younger and younger people these days too :(
#37
When you sleep your brain gets washed with spinal fluid.
#38
All humans share a common ancestor called "Mitochondrial Eve," who lived around 150,000-200,000 years ago in Africa. She is the most recent woman from whom all living humans today descend through their mother's side. Her mitochondrial DNA lineage is the only one to persist to modern times.
#39
Sir Ian McKellen came out accidentally, before he'd told his family, during a BBC radio debate on the anti-homosexuality Section 28 legislation.
#40
In a double-blind test, professional violinists preferred the sound of a modern violin over multi-million-dollar Stradivarius violins.
David Paterson 3 months ago (edited)
I've heard of two such tests. Both with four violins in the comparison. One by Guaneri, one by Stradivarius, one modern violin from a maker who claims to have solved all the secrets of Stradivarius, and one ordinary modern violin. In each case, either the Stradivarius or Guaneri came first. And the ordinary modern violin came last. Perhaps there was another competition since.
#41
Sony sold its waterproof Walkmans in a bottle of water to prove it was really water proof!
#42
On James Cameron's 3rd dive to the Titanic, he & his pilot had "a near-death experience". They encountered a sandstorm on the ocean floor & became temporarily stuck there with low power supply & few batteries. It took them 3 attempts from the bottom to rise above 25 meters & surface 5 hrs later.
Sexual Harassment Panda 3 months ago (edited)
His name is James, James Cameron. The bravest pioneer. No budget too steep, no sea too deep. Who's that? It's him, James Cameron.
#43
Benjamin Franklin was fond of dating older women, (in)famously writing 8 reasons why they were better than their younger counterparts. Among them, he stated that they naturally provided birth control, were discrete, and could not be distinguished from younger women from the girdle downwards.
#44
A Native American in the Amazon Rainforest who, as the last surviving member of his uncontacted tribe, lived in total and deliberate isolation for about 20 years. He left behind a deep hole of unknown purpose in each of his former homes, giving rise to his nickname: "Man of the Hole".
Purple Sprinkles 3 months ago
Here is from an article I found "The holes were likely there for protection in case of an attack, according to Survival International. The nonprofit also said the man planted corn, manioc, papayas and bananas, in addition to catching animals with his stake traps".
#45
Until recently, steel used for scientific and medical purposes had to be sourced from sunken battleships as any steel produced after 1945 was contaminated with radiation.
What do you think ?
G A 3 months ago
Very very poor. Most of these have been quoted in the last 2 days or so. I have marked the ones I remember. Must do better.
Lee Banks 3 months ago (edited)
I recently got engaged. The ring is from my sadly passed Granny. It was passed on by my mom. One of my best friends has the exact same ring, that was passed by her mom from her grandmother. Her sister inherited the engagement ring, which also matches mine. Nuts.
G A 3 months ago
Very very poor. Most of these have been quoted in the last 2 days or so. I have marked the ones I remember. Must do better.
Lee Banks 3 months ago (edited)
I recently got engaged. The ring is from my sadly passed Granny. It was passed on by my mom. One of my best friends has the exact same ring, that was passed by her mom from her grandmother. Her sister inherited the engagement ring, which also matches mine. Nuts.
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