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.
#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
Image credits: todayilearned
#2
An Olympian sold her silver medal to fund a boy's surgery. The buyer let her keep it
Image credits: todayilearned
#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
Image credits: todayilearned
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
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.
Image credits: todayilearned
#5
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
Image credits: todayilearned
#6
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
Image credits: todayilearned
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 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 have a large impact on 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
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
Image credits: todayilearned
#8
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.
Image credits: todayilearned
#9
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
Image credits: todayilearned
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
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
Image credits: todayilearned
#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
Image credits: todayilearned
#12
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
Image credits: todayilearned
#13
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
Image credits: todayilearned
#14
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
Image credits: todayilearned
#15
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
Image credits: todayilearned
#16
Borat's first movie was banned in Kazakhstan but when the second was released they made a tourism campaign around "Very Nice!"
Image credits: todayilearned
#17
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.
Image credits: todayilearned
#18
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
Image credits: todayilearned
#19
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.
Image credits: todayilearned
#20
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
Image credits: todayilearned
#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"
Image credits: todayilearned
#22
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
Image credits: todayilearned
#23
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
Image credits: todayilearned
#24
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
Image credits: todayilearned
#25
Mozart died at 35, and wrote 800 pieces, 22 pieces every year he lived
Image credits: todayilearned
#26
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
Image credits: todayilearned
#27
20% of scientific genetics research papers have errors due to Microsoft Excel's auto-formatting of gene names into dates
#28
The Last Of Us accidentally contains an IRL phone number, that leads directly to an adult hotline service
Image credits: todayilearned
#29
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
#30
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
