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

TIL a 10-pound mini dachshund named Valerie survived alone for 529 days in the Australian bush after she ran away during a camping trip to Kangaroo Island (a remote island in southern Australia). She was eventually spotted and captured (after 2 months of trying) before being returned to her owners.

TIL that in 2016, a monkey fell onto an electrical transformer, shorting it and causing the entire country of Kenya to have no electricity for 4 hours. The monkey survived.

TIL that the designer of the first shopping malls had envisioned them as mixed-use facilities with libraries, apartments, green spaces, post offices and medical services being placed alongside commercial stores.

TIL in 2013 a 9-yr-old boy got past 4 security check points at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport "without so much as a wink of suspicion" before boarding a flight to Las Vegas to go see an online friend. He didn't have an ID or a boarding pass & was alone with no parent or guardian with him

TIL 75% of the world's tornados happen in the United States, approximately 1,200 annually.

TIL that during the filming of The Devil Wears Prada, most fashion industry designers and executives declined appearing as themselves in cameo roles due to fears of upsetting Vogue editor Anna Wintour, who is widely believed to have been the inspiration for the character Miranda Priestly.

TIL that a 2,000-year-old Chinese woman, Lady Dai (Xin Zhui), was found so well-preserved that her skin was still soft and her blood type could be determined.

TIL the phrase “well behaved women seldom make history” was coined by a historian who argued we should study the lives of normal people more.

TIL coffee was first introduced to India in the 17th century by a Muslim saint who, while returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca, smuggled seven coffee beans by hiding them in his beard.

TIL medieval alchemists associated the 7 known metals at the time (gold, silver, quicksilver, copper, iron, tin, and lead) with the 7 classical planets (the sun, the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, respectively). Because of this association, quicksilver is called "mercury" today.

TIL of the Great Stink of 1858 London, caused by a combination of hot weather and untreated human waste, which led to the construction of a new sewer system that is still in use today.

TIL when Galileo discovered Saturn’s rings, he sent letters to his fellow Astronomers announcing this, but in code. One of the people who got this letter was Johannes Kepler, who misinterpreted it as saying there were two moons of Mars. The two moons of Mars would not be discovered until 1877.

TIL that the kangaroo rat can survive its entire life without drinking any water.

TIL that the United States government still sends $4,500 worth of cloth to the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy every year, and has done so every November 11th for the past 230+ years in recognition of a still-standing treaty with them.

TIL Mithridatism is the practice of protecting oneself against a poison by gradually self-administering non-lethal amounts. The word is derived from Mithridates VI, the king of Pontus, who so feared being poisoned that he regularly ingested small doses, aiming to develop immunity.

TIL of a man who found $7.5 million in a "Storage Wars" unit he bought for $500. He had to negotiate with the original owners, who paid him $1.2 million to return their money.

TIL that between 1697 and 1698, Tsar Peter the Great of Russia travelled incognito to Western Europe under the alias "Peter Mikhailov" to gain knowledge of their advances in learning. At 6'8" he was likely the tallest man in Europe, and so his disguise was almost certainly laughably ineffective.

TIL James Garfield is the only president of the United States to have made an original contribution to the field of mathematics. His proof of the Pythagorean theorem was published in the New England Journal of Education in 1876.

TIL In 1653, Dutch sailor Hendrick Hamel and 35 crewmates shipwrecked off the coast of Joseon (modern-day Korea). Due to Joseon's isolationist policy, they were not permitted to leave. After 13 years, Hamel and 7 others escaped by boat to Japan. He then wrote the first Western account of Korea.

TIL that while tonka beans are prized for their flavor, it's banned in the US since 1954. The beans have the taste of vanilla, licorice, caramel, and cloves. Restaurants in the US that have the ingredient have been subject to raids and chefs relied on smugglers for the beans.