50 Interesting “Today I Learned” Facts If You Are Sick And Tired Of The News (New Pics)

TIL after singer George Michael passed it was revealed he had anonymously donated generous amounts of money to multiple charities large and small, and to needy individuals, and would secretly volunteer at a homeless shelters

TIL The Netherlands has been closing prisons due to a significantly low prison population, which is a result of decreasing crime rates, shorter sentences, and a focus on rehabilitation. Around 19 prisons have been shut down since 2009.

Today I learned that in the 2000's, the people in charge of Sesame Street's budget wanted the show to have 25 episodes per season, but the show's staff insisted upon doing 26 episodes per season so that each letter of the alphabet would be the letter of the day for one episode.

TIL David Bowie declined the honor to be knighted twice: “I seriously don’t know what it’s for. It’s not what I spent my life working for.”

TIL when Monty Python's Life of Brian was released in 1979, its religious satire subject matter was highly controversial. It was banned by 11 local councils in the UK, nationwide in Norway and Ireland. The film was marketed in Sweden with the tag line "So funny it was banned in Norway."

TIL that when President McKinley was [hit] in 1901, the best surgeon around was knee-deep in a complex operation. When told he was needed elsewhere, he replied that he could not leave, not even for the President. Even after he was told who his new patient was, he remained put and finished his work.

TIL that a restaurant owner in Kentucky intentionally flooded his own restaurant with clean water to protect it from an incoming river flood.

jocax188723:

It’s like a positive pressure clean room.
Any water will be pushed out by the clean stuff and the mucky water has no way in.
All he has to worry about is water damage. No debris, no mud.
Really clever.

TIL about Kotaku Wamura, who served as the mayor of the village of Fudai, Iwate between 1947 and 1987. During his tenure, he spent ¥3.56 billion on building a floodgate, which was derided as being a waste of funds. When the 2011 tsunami hit, the gate saved the village from the destruction.

TIL Daniel Schorr, the journalist who read Nixon's infamous enemies list on TV live, discovered his own name was in the list while reading it.

TIL that the Nuremberg Charter's definition of "crimes against humanity", which was used in the Nuremberg Trials, includes only acts committed during a war of aggression. This was partly because the US was concerned that Jim Crow segregation would otherwise be considered a crime against humanity.

TIL that an AI company which raised $450M in investments from Microsoft and SoftBank, and was valued at $1.5B, turned out to be 700 Indians just manually coding with no AI whatsoever.

SistaChans: AI - actual indians

SixEightPee: Anonymous Indians.

JonatasA: All Indian.

TIL of Nandy, a disabled Neanderthal skeleton found in Iraq who suffered blindness, major hearing loss, a missing arm, and other serious healed injuries that likely left him unable to care for himself. Despite this he lived into his 40s, suggesting he was supported and cared for by his community.

TIL about the “Maze Procedure,” in which heart surgeons literally scarify a maze into heart tissue so abnormal rhythms get trapped while normal ones can pass through. The procedure has an 80%-90% success rate in curing atrial fibrillation.

TIL that a dude in England stumbled on a buried Roman treasure worth $6,000,000 out metal-detectoring for a lost hammer.

TIL at a 1991 meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Andrew Lyne retracted groundbreaking results that he had recently released, which detected the first planet orbiting another star. He received "thunderous applause" from his peers for his integrity & the courage to admit his error publicly.

TIL Philip Pullman was accused of being "the most dangerous author in Britain" because he said "I'm trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief" and wrote the "His Dark Materials" books as a rebuttal to the heavy christian message of "The Chronicles of Narnia".

TIL in 2014 an Indian news anchor was fired after refering xi jinping as "eleven" jinping on tv

TIL since 2023 there are more births in the US among women 40 and older than there are to teenage girls.

TIL Oscar voters now must watch every nominated film in a category before casting a vote, no more voting based on buzz or hype.

TIL scientists have been able to trace the start of HIV/AIDS to King Leopold’s Belgian Congo, originating as far back as 1909. The first person to be infected probably got the virus in the 1920s.