50 Curious Facts People Learned By Accident And Can’t Stop Thinking About (New Pics)

TIL Dolly Parton is one of the largest employers in her home region of Tennessee (via Dollywood). After the 2016 wildfires, she raised over $9M through her My People Fund, giving 900+ families $1,000/month for 6 months ($10K total each) to rebuild. She was also honored by the FBI for her leadership.

TIL that Nobel laureate Tu Youyou discovered the malaria drug artemisinin after reading a 1,600 year Chinese medical text and realizing the herb had to be extracted cold, not boiled, paving a treatment estimated to have saved tens of millions of lives. She then tested it on herself to prove it.

TIL that a man in India named Jadav Payeng single handedly transformed a treeless sandbar into a 1,360-acre forest by planting trees over several decades.

TIL when Nintendo's Wii U console flopped, the CEO cut his own salary in half for months instead of laying off employees.

TIL that Eminem, in addition to his biological daughter Hailie Jade, has legally adopted and had custody of Alaina (his ex-sister-in-law's daughter) and Stevie (his ex-wife's child with another father) and he also raised his younger half-brother Nathan.

TIL that Terry Pratchett once changed his German publisher because they inserted a soup commercial into his books, and when confronted about it refused to promise that they wouldn't do it again.

TIL Zoë Roth, known online as the Smiling Disaster Girl, sold the image of herself staring at the camera with a house fire behind her to a collector in 2021, earning US$486,716 from the transaction.

TIL that the "hushed" feeling after a snowfall is due to snow being a great sound absorber. Fresh, fluffy snow absorbs roughly 60% of sound on average, making it comparable to the commercial foams and fibers used inside cars and buildings.

TIL that Jamaica is the only country that has a flag without red, white or blue in it.

TIL in 1985, as a deliberate snub, the University of Oxford voted to refuse Margaret Thatcher an honorary degree in protest against her cuts in funding for higher education. This award had previously been given to all prime ministers who had been educated at Oxford.

TIL in 2021 an antiques enthusiast bought "an exceptionally rare" 15th century porcelain bowl made in China for $35 from a Connecticut yard sale. The small white bowl "adorned with cobalt blue paintings of flowers" turned out to be one of only 7 such bowls known to exist & sold for nearly $722,000.

TIL Mana Ashida, the Japanese young girl who played young Mako Mori in the 2013 film Pacific Rim, was allowed by director Guillermo del Toro to call him "Totoro-san" after the character in the animated film "My Neighbour Totoro", due to her being unable to pronounce his surname.

TIL that Dolly Parton secretly coproduced Buffy the Vampire Slayer through her company, Sandollar Entertainment. As an easter egg, she and Buffy share the same birthday, which are on January 19.

TIL in 2008, while Red Hot Chili Peppers went on hiatus, bassist Flea - 45 at the time - enrolled as a freshman at the University of Southern California's music program to widen his appreciation and understanding of music.

TIL that most glass ever produced could still be reused today because glass can be recycled infinitely without losing quality.

TIL about the Sandy Hook teacher Victoria Leigh Soto, a teacher at Sandy Hook who hid her students and attempted to redirect Adam Lanza away from her classroom. She was posthumously awarded the Presidential Citizen’s Medal, and Paul Simon performed at her funeral.

TIL Abba is the name of a well known Swedish fish-canning company that formed in 1838. When the Swedish pop group ABBA negotiated with the canners for the rights to the name, the factory gave their permission, saying "O.K., as long as you don't make us feel ashamed for what you're doing."

KarlWhale:

Just to give a bit of context. ABBA are initials of the band members.
But they still had to ask the fish canning company for permission.

TIL in 2024 Bear 32, also known as Chunk, was observed eating 45 sockeye salmon in 10.5 hours from Brooks River in Katmai National Park & Preserve. At an estimated average of 3,000 calories per fish, Chunk consumed around 135,000 calories in that one sitting.

TIL a girl named Breelyn was born healthy but when she was two days old, she was kissed on the mouth by a person who had a cold sore. The girl's immune system wasn't developed at the time and she got HSV encephalitis, which led to seizures and brain damage.

TIL Pierce Brosnan saved Halle Berry from choking on a fig by performing the Heimlich maneuver after she began choking on the fruit while they were in the middle of filming a love scene on the set of Die Another Day (2002).