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50 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New
History,CuriositiesAPR 15, 2022

50 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New

Indrė Lukošiūtė
Liucija Adomaite
Indrė Lukošiūtė and Liucija Adomaite
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22
If you browse Reddit, the chances are you will end up on its powerhouse called Today I Learned. And it's not a powerhouse for no reason, trust me.
TIL is home to 27.3 million members who enjoy pumping their trivia muscle and coming to the subreddit to recharge their memory banks.
Created back in December 28, 2008, the community has become a destination for daily tidbits of knowledge and interesting facts. The best part, TIL is basically a never-ending stream of wisdom goodness, so if you ever have a spare moment to kill or simply need some cool things nobody knows to impress your date, TIL facts make for lightyears of scrolling. So in case you feel adventurous, more Today I Learned facts await here, here and here.

#1

50 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New
TIL in 1818, the US began building a fort near the New York-Quebec border to defend against invasions from Canada. After two years of construction, they realized the fort was actually on the Canadian side. They abandoned it and named it Fort Blunder.
blihk
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505points

#2

50 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New
TIL that in 1950 in Beatrice, NE, a church exploded five minutes after choir practice started. No one was hurt because every single member of the choir was late for completely separate reasons, so the church was empty.
gianthooverpig
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427points

#3

50 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New
TIL during a financial crisis in 1720, the British parliament debated a resolution for bankers to be sewn into sacks with snakes and dumped into the Thames river.
iklegemma
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399points

#4

50 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New
TIL Keeping cats on ships has been a long held seafaring tradition due to their efficiency as a form of pest control and the supposed luck they brought to vessels. It is thought that cats were spread around the world by groups such as the Ancient Egyptians, Vikings, and Age of Discovery explorers.
dansux
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360points

#5

50 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New
TIL that Charles Darwin often gave his old papers to his children for them to doodle on. Thus, much of what survives of his original Origin of Species manuscript represents the best of his children's writing and drawings, rather than the best of his work.
deqb
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334points

#6

50 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New
TIL in 1952, a bus driver (Albert Gunter) was driving over Tower Bridge, when to his surprise, the bridge started opening. The double - decker bus was at the edge of the south bascule when it started rising. He made a split decision and accelerated clearing the 6ft drop. Later receiving a £10 bonus.
Grouchy_Shoe
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316points

#7

50 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New
TIL that Stan Lee had a younger brother, Larry, who co-created Thor, Iron Man, and Ant-Man. Larry Lieber is currently 90 years old and only retired from pencilling comics in 2018.
DamionMauville
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310points

#8

50 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New
TIL that (former) Dutch footballer Dennis Bergkamp is afraid of flying to the point that he would take car/ferry/train to away games, or not travel at all. His Aviophobia gave him the nickname of the "Non-Flying Dutchman".
Status-Victory
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296points

#9

50 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New
TIL in Egypt, around 17000 divorce cases in 2018 cited "Candy Crush" as the cause of divorce.
zahrul3
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282points

#10

50 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New
TIL there are 13 remaining secret apartments on the top floors of New York City’s branch libraries.
Mw4810
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273points

#11

50 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New
TIL that two 16-year-olds got lost in the Canadian wilderness while snowboarding, but were able to stay warm by burning their homework. The two boys were rescued the following day and managed to avoid frostbite, sustaining only minor injuries.
NorthNorthSalt
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271points

#12

50 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New
TIL cheetahs were at one point so close to extinction, their genetic diversity has become too low for their immune system to recognize a "nonself". Skin grafts exchanged between unrelated cheetahs are accepted as if they were clones or identical twins.
heilsarm
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263points

#13

50 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New
TIL John von Neumann regularly recalled complete novels and pages of the phone directory. He could divide two 8-digit numbers in his head and converse in Ancient Greek at age 6, and was proficient in calculus at age 8. When he enrolled in university at 16, he had already written a research paper.
dustofoblivion123
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261points

#14

50 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New
TIL that the Eurasian magpie is one of the most intelligent birds, and one of the most intelligent of all non-human animals. The expansion of its nidopallium is approx. the same in its relative size as the brain of humans. It is the only bird known to pass the mirror test.
My_Bird_Buddy
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257points

#15

50 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New
TIL In 1924, the federal government funded enormous concrete arrows to be built every 10 miles or so along established airmail routes to help the pilots trace their way across America in bad weather conditions and particularly at night, which was a more efficient time to fly.
chacham2
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223points

#16

50 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New
TIL the hit version of “Tom’s Diner” was remixed by the group DNA and circulated to clubs without the permission of the artist Suzanne Vega or her label. When Vega heard the remix, she advised the label to buy it and officially release it rather than sue the group for copyright infringement.
DaneBelmont
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222points

#17

50 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New
TIL Aurora Rodríguez Carballeira wanted to have a perfect daughter. Her daughter Hildegart read at 2, spoke 4 languages at 8, joined law school at 13, becoming professor there at 18, writing on socialism and sexuality, writing to figures. On 1933 her mother shot her.
Johannes_P
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222points

#18

50 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New
TIL that the "lower bar" on women's bikes is antiquated and was created to accommodate the heavy dresses women wore in the late 1800s.
stinkylibrary
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222points

#19

50 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New
TIL, that Lieutenant Elmo Zumwalt III contracted cancer and died at 42, after getting exposed to Agent Orange while deployed in Vietnam. It was his father, Admiral Elmo Zumwalt who ordered the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam.
neo_tree
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217points

#20

50 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New
TIL English is not an official language of New Zealand despite it being spoken by 90% of the population. The two official languages are Te reo Māori and NZ sign language.
Spare-Cap-3152
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215points
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