25 Fun Facts from the Today I Learned Online Group (26 photos)

Life can be a never-ending lesson, because if you want, you can learn something new every day. One of the best places to do this online is the Reddit community Today I Learned, which has amassed over 25 million members since its founding in 2008. The flow of amusing and interesting information there never stops.







18-year-old French resident Adolfo Kaminski forged identity cards for Jews during World War II. He once worked three days straight without rest to process documents for 300 children, and only stopped when he collapsed from exhaustion. He kept his work a secret—his own daughter only learned all the details when she wrote a memoir about him.





Animal behavior researchers experimented with training African gray parrots to buy food with tokens. The birds were then paired: one parrot was given ten tokens, and the other none. The parrots with tokens began handing them out to their "broke" partners so that everyone could eat.



Shakuntala Devi of India, also known as the human computer, found the 23rd root of a 201-digit number in 50 seconds. Her answer was verified by the U.S. Bureau of Standards on a UNIVAC 1101 computer, which required the development of a special program.



The late wrestler Bam Bam Bigelow once pulled three children from a burning house. He suffered second-degree burns covering 40% of his skin, resulting in two months in the hospital and the end of his career, unable to return to the ring. When asked if he regretted his choice, he replied that there was no other choice—the main thing was that the children were saved.



In Moscow, people have noticed a pack of stray dogs that usually sends the smallest and cutest dog to beg for food from passersby, apparently realizing that the chances of success are much higher with this type of pack than with its larger, less attractive brethren.



A few months before his sudden death, Grant Imahara, a cast member of the American science fiction television show "Mythbusters," built a fully animatronic Baby Yoda. After spending three months of his time designing, programming, and 3D printing the project, he intended to take the toy to children's hospitals to bring joy to the little patients.



For 18 months, residents of a village in Wales couldn't figure out why their broadband internet regularly crashed at 7 a.m., until engineers "noticed a large spike in electrical interference." It was caused by a guy turning on a very old television.



In 1992, teachers at a California high school were ordered to color out all "obscene" words in copies of Fahrenheit 451 with a black marker before handing them out to students. The school discontinued this practice after the story made local newspapers.



Winchester Cathedral (England) was built on a swamp and by the early 20th century was on the verge of collapse, having sunk into the ground. The first restoration was carried out between 1905 and 1912. A diver named William Walker worked alone for five years in pitch-black water at depths of up to 6 meters, laying 25,000 bags of concrete, 115,000 concrete blocks, and 900,000 bricks into the foundation. This saved the cathedral from total collapse.



During the sinking of the Titanic, many passengers refused to evacuate, insisting they were safer on the ship than in the tiny lifeboats. Chief Baker Charles Juffin eventually took it upon himself to drag the reluctant passengers onto the deck and force them into the lifeboats.



In the third season of The Office, John Krasinski wore a wig so he could simultaneously film the comedy Love Is Out of Order, where his character had a different hairstyle. Initially, The Office's producer flatly rejected the idea of ​​a wig, claiming it would be too noticeable. But he changed his mind during negotiations with John—he removed the wig, which no one knew he had, right during their conversation.



The FBI and CIA often recruit Mormons because they typically have lower security clearance costs, many of them speak other languages ​​thanks to missionary work, and Mormons typically lead a low-risk lifestyle.



Billy Joel once argued with Sean Lennon about which era was the worst for young people. Lennon told Joel that at least he grew up in the 1950s, when "nothing happened." Stunned, Joel began listing the events of the 1950s that later became the manifesto song "We Didn't Start the Fire."

The lyrics include a list of over a hundred events between 1949, the year Joel was born, and 1989, when the song was released on his album Storm Front. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Record of the Year and also became a #1 hit in the United States in late 1989.



The stick—a small tree branch—was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame (USA) in 2008. Organizers called it one of the oldest toys in the world and stated that sticks "promote free play—the freedom to invent and discover new things."



From the mid-1930s to the early 1940s, women librarians worked in rural areas of the United States, such as Kentucky, riding horses and mules, delivering books to remote Appalachian communities.



A doctor who examined the list of injuries sustained by Marv and Harry in the films "Home Alone" and "Home Alone 2" concluded that 23 of them were fatal.



Japanese journalist Kiyoshi Shimizu helped solve a series of child abduction cases and freed an innocent man from further prosecution. He also helped solve the murder of Shiori Ino, which led to changes in Japanese laws regarding persecution.



There are over 1,300 stone circles in the British Isles, and Stonehenge is only the most famous.



Research shows that viewing online cat-related material (such as images and videos) is associated with positive emotions. It may even act as a form of digital therapy for stress relief. Some feelings of guilt about procrastinating can also be reduced by viewing cat-related material.



The man after whom Mount Everest is named, George Everest, did not want the world's highest mountain to bear his name. He pointed out that his name was difficult to write or pronounce in Hindi, and that all previous Himalayan peaks had been officially given names taken from local languages.



Alexander Fleming's mold wasn't productive enough to produce penicillin quickly enough for mass production. Fifteen years later, organizers of the first industrial penicillin production in Illinois encouraged local residents to collect mold and fungus samples.

One woman named Mary Hunt was particularly successful—she collected mold samples wherever she could, earning the nickname "Moldy Mary." In 1943, she found a rotten cantaloupe containing the golden mold Penicillium chrysogenium at a market. It was a mixture of different strains, one of which proved surprisingly prolific. It is still used to produce penicillin worldwide.



Following an accident, a driver in Germany was fined for using a Tesla's touchscreen control panel. A German court ruled that operating a car with a touchscreen should be considered the same as using a distracting electronic device, such as a phone.



Many "medical tourists" from China who travel to South Korea for affordable and high-quality plastic surgery are having difficulty re-entering China. The problem is that their passport photos do not match their new appearance after surgery.



The famous "match of the century" between Ali and Frazier, which took place 50 years ago on March 8, 1971, generated enormous excitement, and all tickets sold out immediately. Singer Frank Sinatra didn't have time to buy a ticket, so he had to strike a deal with LIFE magazine editor-in-chief Ralph Graves to obtain photography accreditation. This allowed Sinatra to observe the match from ringside. However, the great singer also performed admirably as a photographer: his shot was good enough to appear on the magazine's cover.



The California flag depicts the California grizzly bear, which became extinct in 1924.