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People say that every day you learn something new. And while that sounds like a cliche, it’s very much true, especially if you’re a regular user of the internet or an avid reader (in a world where people’s interest in reading is, unfortunately, declining). It’s no secret that both are an infinite source of all sorts of random facts and material on basically every topic there is, so it’s really up to you to decide how much you want to learn each day.
If you’re looking to learn something new on a regular basis, chances are you are already part of the subreddit fittingly titled ‘Today I Learned’, which is where we want to shed light on this beautiful day. On the list below, you will find numerous facts and stories, as shared by said community, so if you’re eager to scratch that itch in your brain, wait no longer and start reading, and make sure to upvote the pieces of information that intrigued you the most.
Below you will also find Bored Panda’s interview with an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at Lakehead University, Dr. Tanya Kaefer, who was kind enough to answer a few of our questions on learning.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
A Challenger space shuttle engineer, Allan McDonald, raised safety concerns against the wishes of his employer & NASA. He was ignored; a fatal accident resulted. When McDonald spoke out, he was demoted by his company. Congress stepped in to help him. He later taught ethical decision making
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#3
During the Apollo 13 mission, Jack Swigert realized he had forgotten to file his tax return. NASA contacted the IRS, who agreed that he was considered ‘out of country’ and therefore entitled to a deadline extension
In a recent interview with Bored Panda, assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at Lakehead University, Dr. Tanya Kaefer, seconded the idea that it’s up to each person to decide how much they want to learn each day.
“It is possible to learn something new every day, but learning is a choice, so whether or not you learn something every day is entirely up to you,” she said, adding that learning is how we do everything. “Everything we've done or know is something we've learned. There's no functioning without learning.”
#4
I learned that Mexico, which abolished slavery in 1837, refused the United States’ request to return escaped slaves back up north. Between 3,000 to 5,000 runaway slaves would flee to Mexico
#5
Dashrath Manjhi, the "Mountain Man," spent 22 years carving a 110-meter path through a mountain using just a hammer and chisel. Motivated by grief after his wife died due to a long route to the hospital, he shortened the journey from 55 km to 15 km.
#6
Alanis Morrisette was dropped by her record label after disappointing sales of her first two albums. Her third album, Jagged Little Pill, is the 13th highest selling album of all time worldwide
Discussing the benefits of browsing random facts, for instance, Dr. Kaefer pointed out that while doing so, it’s important to be aware that skimming the surface doesn’t make one an expert in the fields the facts relate to.
“Random, interesting, and fun facts can be fun and a good exercise for learning – just like our bodies, we have to exercise our brains too,” she pointed out. “For some serious, complex topics that greatly impact people's lives, having a shallow, un-nuanced understanding can be detrimental.
No one can know everything about everything, and it’s fine to choose to know a little bit about a lot of different things. You just have to be careful that you don't forget that you don't know everything about that topic.”
#7
Unescorted women prevented men from casually assaulting them in the early 1900s with a simple clothing accessory - the hat pin, and it was so effective as a weapon that laws were passed limiting it's length in many states
#8
At 15, Kara Robinson was kidnapped and assaulted by a serial killer for 18 hours. She managed to escape after manipulating him to feel at ease. She later helped police to capture him because she had memorized details of her surroundings
#9
There is a study that proves across 80 pairs of jeans that women pockets are generally half the size of men for the same brand. Only 40% of them can comfortably fit an iPhone X and only 10% can fit your entire hand. In comparison 100% of male jeans can fit both.
As many people turn to the internet for information, they should also bear in mind that it can become a double-edged sword. “The internet plays a role both good and bad in learning. We have access to a virtually unlimited source of information, but also a lot of misinformation,” Dr. Kaefer noted.
“Our learning mechanisms don't distinguish between true facts and made-up stories, so we have to take a whole separate route to check those things. And a lot of times, if a fact is fun, we forget to check whether it's true. So that's an important step in learning from the internet.”
#10
The "microwave-safe" label on plastic containers only means they won't melt or warp, and doesn't guarantee that chemicals won't leach into your food when heated
#11
During the siege of Leningrad, scientists working at the world’s largest collection of seeds protected the seeds from the threats of the cold, the hungry residents of the besieged city, rats, and their own hunger. Twenty-eight of the botanists died during the siege, protecting their collection
#12
Key West declared independence from the United States in 1982, then declared war, then immediately surrendered to apply for foreign aid, after being frustrated by the lack of response from the US government to complaints about a roadblock
#13
Howard Hughes was a chronic insomniac who wanted to watch movies on TV when most people were asleep, but when he first arrived in Las Vegas he discovered that it had no all-night TV stations. So he purchased a local station in 1967 and turned it into a 24/7 channel.
#14
Chinstrap penguins take more than 10,000 micro-naps a day, lasting an average of 4 seconds, for a total of more than 11 hours of daily sleep
#15
Roger Fisher, a Harvard Law School professor who proposed putting the US nuclear codes inside a person, so that the president has no choice but to take a life to activate the country's nuclear weapons
#16
Borat's first movie was banned in Kazakhstan but when the second was released they made a tourism campaign around "Very Nice!"
#17
After his death, it was revealed that Stan Lee, famous Marvel Comics writer, suffered Elder Abuse from various handlers and family members who alienated him from the other part of his family and fired his accountants, lawyers, and caretakers that have been with him for decades
#19
Abraham Lincoln and four other Illinois legislators jumped out of a window to prevent a quorum on a vote that would have eliminated the Illinois State Bank in 1840. It was reported that this wasn't his first time doing this to prevent a vote
#20
Aurora Rodríguez Carballeira attempted to create an ideal human being through her daughter, Hildegart. Hildegart read at 2, spoke 4 languages at 8, joined law school at 13, becoming professor there at 18. Her mother [took her life] her when she tried to run away.
#21
In a feat of rage, Emperor Hadrian once stabbed a slave in the eye with a pen. Feeling regretful whe he calmed down, Hadrian called the slave and told him to ask for literally anything as compensation. The slave replied "i just want my eye back"
#22
Charles de Gaulle was not told about the D-Day landings until 2 days before as the British and French leaders did not believe the French could keep the information secret
#23
20% of scientific genetics research papers have errors due to Microsoft Excel's auto-formatting of gene names into dates
#24
A young couple in Japan divorce and remarry each other every 3 years to take turns using their family names, all because they can't come into agreement on which last name to use
#25
DJ scratching was invented in 1975 when Grand Wizzard Theodore was playing records loudly, making his mother to enter his room to scold him. This caused him to hold the record still, accidentally moving it back and forth and liking the sound it made
#26
The 2010 Flash Crash, during which the US stock market temporarily lost $1 trillion in value, was partly caused by Navinder Sarao, an autistic man living in his parents' London home. In a span of 5 years, Sarao made a profit of $40 million by tricking high frequency traders with custom software
#27
71 year old Bernard Gore was supposed to meet his wife and daughter in a mall in Sydney after first doing a little shopping himself. Instead, he exited a mall door leading to a stairwell labyrinth and was found dead 3 weeks later failing to find his way out
#28
The Goths besieging Constantinople in 378 AD were left stunned when one of the defenders stormed out of the city completely naked, decapitated one of the attackers and proceeded to drink the blood from his neck
#29
Until earlier this year it was legal for apartments in Austin, Texas to have no windows, and that landlords often didn't disclose this in advertisements
#30
The Last Of Us accidentally contains an IRL phone number, that leads directly to an adult hotline service
#31
Modesty was the reason stethoscope was invented by by René Laennec because he was not comfortable placing his ear directly onto a woman's chest in order to listen to her heart
#32
When the 1930s musician Russ Columbo died from an accidental gunshot, his siblings went to great lengths to conceal the news from his mother, who had a heart condition. They wrote fake letters from him and used records to simulate his radio show. This continued until she died a decade later
#33
Michelle Kwan is the most decorated figure skater in US history. She is also the US ambassador to Belize.
#34
In Sparta, after the wedding, brides would have their hair cut short and be dressed in men's clothing so that they would appear less threatening to their groom during the wedding night.
#35
Alcohol isn't allowed on the International Space Station. It's not banned purely for intoxication or health risk. It's banned because alcohol is a volatile compound which can damage the ISS' water filtration system. NASA also bans mouthwash, aftershave and perfumes for this same reason
#36
That 'Animal House' was able to film at the University of Oregon largely because the University's President had previously refused to allow 'The Graduate' to film there due to "lack of artistic merit"
#37
Australian Senator Bill Heffernan in 2014 felt that the new security arrangements at Parliament House were inadequate. To protest this, he smuggled in a fake pipe bomb and presented it at a Senate hearing as proof that the building was "no longer secure"
#38
The Million Dollar 1988 McDonalds record winner was 13, had his mom claim it, she squandered a good chunk of it, had her BF steal what was left, lost his mom 10 years later, doesn’t talk to his sister and now trims trees
#39
After John Ruffo was convicted and sentenced to 17 years in prison, his bail was set at $10 million. Most of his immediate family put their houses up as collateral to make bail. Ruffo then disappeared and the homes of his wife, mother, mother-in-law, and others were seized by the government
#40
Japan's monarchy is the oldest continuous hereditary monarchy in the world, recognizing 126 monarchs, and dating back to February 11, 660BCE with mythical beginnings. However, the current dynasty has no name and it's members have no family name and are simply referred to as the Imperial House
#41
French pirate Olivier Levasseur allegedly tossed a necklace containing a puzzle that leads to his treasure into a crowd of people moments before his execution. He told the crowd to go find it if they can
#42
Due to a disfunction of the ABCCII gene the majority of Asians have significantly less body odor than other populations
#43
The tensor tympani muscle is a muscle within the middle ear that some people can voluntarily contract to produce a "rumbling" noise that only they can hear
#44
The largest airline food poisoning incident occurred on Japan Airlines en route to Denmark after 197 fell ill from infected omelettes. Due to limited Japanese/Danish translators, Japanese speaking restaurant staff were recruited from Copenhagen to serve as medical translators
#45
Several elite colleges took nude photos of every incoming freshman from 1940s to 1970s including many famous people
#46
The oldest writings mentioning yogurt are attributed to Pliny the Elder, who remarked that certain "barbarous nations" knew how "to thicken the milk into a substance with an agreeable acidity".
#47
"Commotio cordis" is a heart failure that occurs if you get hit in the chest at just the right time, causing a disturbance in the electrical impulses. It directly affects your heart rhythm and in most cases kill with a 3 minute window to treat
#48
Roman Emperor Caligula would torment his senators by making them run in front of his chariot for miles. He also was so hairy that he made it a capital offense to mention goats in his presence
#49
When Ben Stiller decided to play the lead role in Tropic Thunder himself, Tom Cruise called him & said that "he just couldn't get the script out of his mind" & asked him "What else is open?" Stiller suggested the role which Cruise had actually invented, studio head Les Grossman, and he took it
#50
Major orange juice producers add chemical fragrances called "flavor packs" to their juice to provide the signature taste of their brand because OJ loses its flavor during pasteurization and de-oxygenation
#51
On being rejected by the only woman he ever proposed to, Lord William Anthony Furness, 2nd Viscount Furness, took a vow of celibacy, allowing his noble titles to go extinct upon his death in 1995
#52
Why Election Day in the US is on a Tuesday: so farmers could get to the polls and still have time to get their crops to market.
#53
A 20 year old man ended his life after thinking he lost $750,000 on an options bet on the stock trading app Robinhood
The day after Alex took his own life, Robinhood sent an automated email suggesting the trade had been resolved and he didn't owe any money.
"Great news!" The email read, "We're reaching out to confirm that you've met your margin call and we've lifted your trade restrictions. If you have any questions about your margin call, please feel free to reach out. We're happy to help!"
#54
Miyairi Norihiro is a modern legendary Japanese swordsmith who became the youngest person qualify as mukansa and won the Masamune prize in 2010. However, none of his blades are recognized as an ōwazamono as his blades would need to be tested on a cadaver or living person
#55
The codes which allow the President of the U.S. to authorize a nuclear attack are printed on a plastic card nicknamed "the biscuit." The president is supposed to carry the biscuit at all times
#56
Coolio was actually in his early 30s when he recorded Gangsta's Paradise, and its iconic line "I'm 23 now, but will I live to see 24? The way things is goin' I don't know"
#57
Arnold Schwarzenegger Pays $1 To Warner Bros Every Year For His Infamous Mr. Freeze Costume From Batman And Robin.
#58
Germany built huge artillery during WW1 where each shot would wear out the gun so much that shells had increasing diameter and had to fired in the right order
#59
After his journey from Japan in 1614, English sailor John Saris returned home with 'Japanese erotic art'. The incident ended his career as a merchant.
#60
The previous heir to North Korea is believed to have lost his position as the heir after he tried getting into Disneyland in Japan with a fake passport. He was then exiled from the country and later assassinated him in 2017 after many failed attempts
#61
Because American and British generals insisted The French unit that helped liberate Paris would be all white, a white french unit had to be shipped in from Morocco, and was supplemented with soldier from Spain and Portugal. Making it all white but not all French
#62
Robert Shaw, who played Quint in Jaws, died at age 51 when he was driving with his wife and son in Ireland. He suddenly got ill, stopped the car, got out and collapsed on the roadside
#63
There's a School in Washington State in which their school bus has to cut through Canada twice a day every day to take kids to and from school
#64
Robin Williams was the one who suggested that Sid Meier‘s name should be put on each of his games
#65
The largest swimming pool in the US was so large, lifeguards needed rowboats to patrol it. Fleishhaker Pool, built in San Francisco in 1924, measured 1,000 x 150 feet, contained 6.5 million gallons of water, and could hold 10,000 swimmers. In 1999 it was turned into parking for the zoo
#66
In the 1800s, individuals secured government jobs through connections to presidents, not by merit. This practice ended after a disgruntled job-seeker assassinated President James A. Garfield, whom he believed owed him a government appointment
#68
A 'needs repair' US supercomputer with 8,000 Intel Xeon CPUs and 300TB of RAM was won via auction by a winning bid of $480,085.00
#69
David Cross (Tobias Funke Actor) has feuded with Larry the Cable Guy, James Lipton, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and Creed's lead singer
#70
In 2021, a single deli in New Jersey that was publicly traded managed to achieve a market capitalization of over $100 million despite doing only $35,000 in sales across two years. The deli's largest shareholder was the wrestling coach of the high school next door
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