“Today I Learned”: 17 Interesting Things About The World That People Didn’t Know Until Recently
Article created by: Gabija Saveiskyte
Today I Learned, also known as TIL, is the fifth-biggest subreddit. It unites a whopping 30.9 million members, who all go there with a single goal in mind — to enrich each other’s understanding of the world.
Sharing interesting facts about human psychology, animal behavior, food history, and pretty much everything else you can imagine, this online community is full of fascinating trivia that has been successfully evading many of us.
Continue scrolling to check out its recent posts, and for more, fire up our older publications on TIL here, here, and here.
TIL Japan has a ‘wind phone’. An unconnected phone booth where grieving relatives go to ‘talk’ to their lost loved ones. Opened after the 2011 Fukushima earthquake/tsunami, it has seen over 30,000 visitors.
TIL The average life span of a pet cat has risen from seven years in the early 1980s to fifteen years as of 2021.
TIL in 1915 a pharmacist saw his sister make her own mascara with coal and petroleum jelly and thought he could make a better product. His invention was easier to apply and won’t burn a woman’s eye. He named his new company Maybelline after his sister Maybel and the base material Vaseline.
TIL Environmental activist Julia “Butterfly” Hill lived in a 1500-year-old California redwood tree (known as Luna) 180 feet (55 m) off the ground for 738 days in order to prevent it from being chopped down by Pacific Lumber Company. She successfully saved the tree.
TIL about Third Man Syndrome. An unseen presence reported by mountain climbers and explorers during traumatic survival situations that talks to the victim, gives practical advise and encouragement.
TIL that in 1554 Elizabeth Crofts hid in a wall on Aldersgate Street, where she pretended to be a heavenly voice. Reputedly 17,000 people came to listen to her give out anti-Catholic propaganda.
TIL Willie O’Ree, the first black man to play in the NHL, was blind in one eye. It was caused by a ricocheting puck that hit him in the face when he was 18 and he kept it a secret for his entire 21-year career.
TIL – The Middle Ages had retirement homes, where seniors could buy residence for the rest of their lives at a monastery with food, shelter and clothing included.
TIL That in 1941, USS New York opened fire on an object, believing it to be a japanese aircraft. Fire commenced until a navigator realized they were shooting at Venus.
TIL when an American film has more than one writer, an “&” indicates that the screenwriters collaborated on the script. An “and” means they worked independently on separate drafts.
TIL about hysterical strength, a display of extreme physical strength by humans, beyond what is believed to be normal. Examples include a woman saved several children by fighting a polar bear and a woman lifting a car high enough to save a person.
TIL in the 1800’s bananas were seen as “immoral fruit” because of their shape. Fruit companies began issuing postcards of women eating bananas to advertise the fruit wasn’t taboo.
