Life can be an enticing, never-ending lesson if you have enough curiosity and an open mind to look at the world with fresh eyes, an eagerness to expand your knowledge, and the wisdom to set your ego aside. Many of you Ravenclaws probably already know about the incredibly popular and fast-growing ‘Today I Learned’ community on Reddit, boasting a whopping 26.5 million members.
It’s been an integral part of Reddit since 2008 and has been responsible for reigniting many an internet user’s curiosity about everything from history to science, all the stuff in between the two (and beyond it, too).
Bored Panda is such a big fan of the TIL community that we’ve featured it for your edutainment time and time again, dear Readers. You can read our latest articles about interesting trivia about life on Planet Earth right here, here, and here, once you’re done taking notes on today’s list of intriguing facts. Oh, and don’t forget to vote up the facts that you never knew! Got any TIL-worthy trivia to share with us? You can do so in the comment section.
Bored Panda reached out to parenting blogger Samantha Scroggin, the founder of Walking Outside in Slippers, to hear about how parents can nurture the desire to learn more about the world as kids grow up and how to deal with the constant questions of 'why?' that curious munchkins have all the time. All the while avoiding forcing them to have only the same interests as their parents do. You'll find Samantha's thoughts and insights as you scroll down below.
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#21 Facts
TIL that the Milky Way got its name because the Greek goddess Hera pulled a breastfeeding Hercules off of her boob and milk sprayed across the galaxy.
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201points
#22 Facts
TIL Kenny G was one of the original investors in Starbucks and has made more money investing than from his music career.
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193points
#23 Facts
TIL The man who took the first up close photo of a snowflake, Wilson A. Bentley in 1885, also started the concept "No two snowflakes are alike". In his lifetime, he took over 5k photos of snowflakes.
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189points
#24 Facts
TIL the Rat Pack were a group of entertainers who were friends in the 1950's. When one performed in Vegas, others would often come without an official booking and perform at the first one's show. Hotel marquees would read "Dean Martin, Maybe Frank (Sinatra), Maybe Sammy (Davis, Jr.)”
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182points
#25 Facts
TIL, that in 1838 a 14 year old boy nicknamed "The boy Jones" broke into Buckingham Palace and stole Queen Victoria's underwear
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182points
#26 Facts
TIL that Hiram Maxim, the inventor of the automatic machine gun, spent so much time test-firing his guns that he became completely deaf. His son Hiram Percy Maxim eventually invented the silencer, but too late to save his father's hearing.
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180points
#27 Facts
TIL McDonalds lost the 'Big Mac' naming rights in england after trying to sue an irish company called Supermac (that predated McDonalds) , allowing Burger King to troll them by calling their burgers things such as 'like a big mac, but actually big'
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172points
#28 Facts
TIL During WW II the US Army was aware that mail to soldiers was critical for morale, but overwhelmed with the volume and space it took to ship. So the resuscitated a British/Eastman Kodak method where every letter was photographed, and the film was shipped, then printed. It was called V Mail.
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166points
#29 Facts
TIL Mary Shelley published her novel "Frankenstein, the Modern Prometheus" at 19 years old, its themes of birth and death reflecting the deaths of both her first infant child and sister within a short timeframe, followed by pregnancy with another child who she carried throughout the book's writing.
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165points
#30 Facts
TIL that Oskar Schindler abandoned his wife after going bankrupt and returned to Germany, leaving her in Argentina. They never saw each other again in the 20 years before his death, though they remained married. The final scene of Schindler's List was her first time ever seeing his grave.
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163points
#31 Facts
TIL that Jack Nicholson grew up believing his mother was actually his sister. His mom June was 17 years old and unmarried when she gave birth to him. Her parents agreed to raise Jack as their own child with June acting as his sister. Reporters from Time magazine revealed this to Jack in 1974.
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161points
#32 Facts
TIL that a nuclear worker in Japan was exposed to 17 Sieverts of radiation (twice the amount that should kill a person). He was kept alive for 83 days, suffering serious radiation burns to his body, severe organ failure, and an almost zero white blood cell count.
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138points
#33 Facts
TIL that, due to gravitational time dilation, Earth’s core is about 2.5 years younger than its surface.
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134points
#34 Facts
TIL all of Teddy Roosevelt’s sons were injured or died serving in world wars. Quentin was killed in aerial combat over France in WWI, Archibald was injured in WWI & WWII, Kermit committed suicide while serving as Army Intelligence in Alaska, and Ted died of a heart attack after invading Utah Beach.
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131points
#35 Facts
TIL There was a romance novel about KFC, set in medieval England. It launched in 2017 for mothers day, and was called "Tender Wings of Desire".
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125points
