There are roughly over 7 million English language Wikipedia articles out there, a factoid that you deploy if you need to drop a fun fact, while also a good indicator of just how much information is out there. It doesn’t take a mathematician to see that it would take multiple human lifetimes to read every single one. But that doesn’t mean it’s not fun to learn.
So we’ve once more assembled and collected the most interesting “Today I Learned” facts from the shortest month of the year. Get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and if you have any gems to share, be sure to write them out in the comments section down below.
#1
TIL after a man fell in the snow in his backyard & broke his neck, his dog helped save his life by keeping him warm and alert by lying on his body and licking his face & hands for 20 hours until a neighbor finally stopped by and rushed him to the hospital. After surgery, he was able to walk again.
206points
#2
TIL that the Switzerlands largest supermarket Migros, doesn’t sell alcohol or tobacco in stores, pays no dividends, caps profits by lowering prices if earnings exceeds 5%, is a cooperative with 2M+ members, and donates 1% of revenue to social projects, purely out of the founders moral philosophy.
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189points
#3
TIL about Odin, a dog who refused to evacuate during the 2017 California wildfires. When his owners returned days later, they found him alive and still guarding his entire flock of 8 goats
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184points
#4
TIL a Dollar General employee who was told she couldn't keep drinks at the cash register was fired after taking and drinking a $1.69 orange juice to stave off diabetic shock. Despite her paying for the orange juice afterward, the company said she was 'grazing'. Later, a jury awarded her $277,565.
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160points
#5
TIL In Portugal it’s illegal for your boss to call outside work hours. The employer must respect the privacy of the worker, including periods of rest and family time. Any violation, it constitutes a serious offense and could result in a fine.
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158points
#6
TIL that Kansai International Airport in Japan reached its 30th year of service without having ever lost a single piece of luggage.
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144points
#7
TIL Canadians sent 5 tonnes of maple syrup to thank a Norwegian coach who gave a Canadian skier a spare pole after she broke hers mid-race, which led to Canada winning a silver medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics
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139points
#8
TIL 7-year-old Bonnie Lohman went to the store with her stepdad & saw her own face on a milk carton. She asked to keep the image & was allowed to on the condition she kept it a secret. However after her neighbors saw the image & reported it, she learned that her mom had kidnapped her when she was 3.
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115points
#9
TIL students invented a low-cost "invisibility coat" that hides the wearer from AI security cameras. It uses a camouflage pattern to trick visual recognition during the day and emits unusual heat signals to confuse infrared sensors at night.
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104points
#10
TIL a Burger King cook (who'd worked there for 24 years) was fired for taking home a sandwich, fries & a drink after her manager claimed she had only asked permission for a sandwich & accused her of stealing. However, a judge ruled that the cook did not intend to steal the food & awarded her $46,000
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99points
#11
TIL that the movie “South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut” was supposed to be rated NC-17 due to excessive profanity, with the f word being used 146 times alone. The MPAA said that 400 or more swear words would get the NC-17 rating, so Matt Stone and Trey Parker cut the number in script to 399
99points
#12
TIL about the Matilda effect. It's a phenomenon where the achievements of women scientists and inventors get attributed to men.
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92points
#13
TIL that as a child, Charles Dickens worked 10-hour days in a London boot-blacking factory - a trauma he later called the deepest shame of his life, but one that forged his strict 9–2, five-hour writing discipline and his life-long refusal to let his own children work.
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82points
#14
TIL Fred Collins went to visit his brother at the Straight Inc. program, a teen rehab, but before he was allowed to, he was "screened" for any substance issues. After he admitted smoking the devil's lettuce, they held him against his will for 10 months before he finally escaped. He then sued them & was awarded $220,000
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81points
#15
TIL in "Cast Away", none of the sound on the island scenes is real. The loudness of ocean waves on the actual unhabited island they were filming on was so overwhelming that every sound on the island and ocean scenes, including Tom Hanks' monologues, were carefully recorded in a studio.
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81points
#16
TIL the actor who played Furio in the Sopranos spotted an incorrectly labeled painting at an auction. He purchased it for $68,000 and later had it correctly appraised for $10 million.
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80points
#17
TIL that up until the past year, Oscar judges DID NOT have to watch the movies they were giving the awards to.
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79points
#18
TIL before 9/11, US airports were public social hubs where you could walk to the gate, eat at food courts, and watch planes without a ticket or ID.
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72points
#19
TIL that playing high-level chess causes players to burn calories at an athletic rate. For example, 21-year-old Grandmaster Mikhail Antipov was recorded burning 560 calories in just two hours of sitting—roughly what Roger Federer would burn in an hour of singles tennis.
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70points
#20
TIL in 2011 an emperor penguin named Happy Feet arrived in New Zealand after swimming about 2K miles from Antarctica. He is the second emperor penguin ever to be found in NZ (first was in 1967). At the beach he ate sand, likely mistaking it for snow, and needed 4.4 lbs of it removed from his stomach
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64points