It’s the holiday season, and we understand that your brain might already be on vacation mode, pandas. But it’s still a great time to learn some fun facts!

Below, you’ll find a new batch of interesting information that’s recently been shared in the Today I Learned subreddit. From how long it takes to make a jellybean to which university has banned rock music, you’re sure to find something on this list that you’ve never heard before. So enjoy scrolling through, and don’t forget to upvote the facts you’ll be sure to remember the next time you need to strike up a conversation at a party!

#1

TIL the “ALS Icebucket Challenge” actually raised enough money to create treatments for the disease (that work). It wasn’t just a social media trend that went nowhere.

Image credits: atx705

#2

TIL in 1943, a US bomber over Germany was hit by explosive ordnance directly in the fuel tanks 11 times, but none exploded. After the shells were cut open, all were found to have no explosives in them, and one contained a note in Czech saying “This is all we can do for you now”.

Image credits: GaarenFinlay

#3

TIL Van Gogh’s sister in law was behind Van Gogh’s posthumous success and fame, She dedicated her life to spreading his art and legacy after his death, She preserved and published his letters, organized and exhibited his paintings, wrote and translated articles and books about him.

Image credits: Algrinder

#4

TIL that monkeys in Ethiopia have managed to “domesticate” wild wolves by helping them hunt small rodents. The wolves now coexist with (even baby!) monkeys without ever attacking them, instead going for smaller, harder-to-catch prey!

Image credits: legallybluee

#5

TIL – Rammstein once played a concert in Hamburg, Germany and the physics department of the local university picked it up on their seismograph. They did not register the sound, but literally the shaking ground.

Image credits: ThePainCrafter

#6

TIL: There are virtually zero commercial planes that fly over Tibet, one of the reasons being that in the event of depressurization/engine failure, planes cannot descend to 10,000 feet because the Tibetan Plateau has an average elevation of 14,370 feet.

Image credits: greenappletree

#7

TIL There was a study in Africa that showed that cows with large eye painted on their butts would not be attacked by ambush predators.

Image credits: Octopusnautical

#8

TIL that the Nike logo was designed for 35$ but the company gifted the designer stock that is now worth millions because she held it all without selling.

Image credits: TearRepresentative56

#9

TIL Abercrombie & Fitch’s “Appearance/Look Policy” required staff to buy the company’s clothes. After losing a lawsuit, they agreed “not to force workers to buy its clothes” and to reimburse former employees for purchases made during the period cited.

Image credits: laterdude

#10

TIl that citizens of Monaco are banned from gambling or working at casinos. The famed Monte Carlo Casino is strictly for foreigners only.

Image credits: nickburrows8398

#11

TIL in 2019, basketball player DJ Cooper was suspended for two years after using his girlfriend’s urine to attempt to cheat a drug test. The test “discovered” that he was pregnant.

Image credits: A-dab

#12

TIL that the Milky Way Galaxy is being pulled toward a mysterious area in space called “The Great Attractor” at about 6000km/s. Whatever it is, we can’t see it from Earth because it’s obscured the hub of our galaxy.

Image credits: BrickHerder

#13

TIL an orangutan named Fu Manchu figured out how to escape his enclosure at a zoo by picking the lock on a door. He did it repeatedly for weeks as zoo staff was stumped about how and tried every measure to prevent it only to finally catch Fu Manchu in the act using a piece of wire he kept hidden.

#14

TIL a New Zealand woman was detained in Kazakhstan because they did not believe New Zealand was a real country. When they asked her to show the country on a map, their map did not include New Zealand.

Image credits: MrJigglyBrown

#15

TIL frankincense and myrrh are the dried sap of trees, also known as resin.

Image credits: Thisisace

#16

TIL: In about six weeks a transplanted liver section will grow into a normal-sized, fully functioning liver in a recipient, while the donor’s remaining liver will regenerate to replace the transplanted section.

Image credits: theotherbogart

#17

TIL the longest prison sentence ever given was 141,078 years, given to a Thai woman in 1989. She was released 4 years later.

Image credits: rain-is-wet

#18

TIL: Many choking deaths happen in bathrooms. It turns out that people who start choking often feel embarrassed and rush to the bathroom for privacy, only to end up dying alone, often next to a toilet.

Image credits: Girls_Of_San_Diego

#19

TIL: While many animals run faster than humans, the strength and positioning of our butts (gluteal muscles) gave humans the endurance to keep running and chasing prey when other animals had to stop.

Image credits: theotherbogart

#20

TIL the largest air force in the world is the US Air Force. The second largest air force in the world is the US Navy.

Image credits: Chaganis

#21

TIL that although it’s commonly believed that we can feel stares, studies on the Psychic Staring Effect have repeatedly produced results no better than random chance.

Image credits: PM_ME_PARR0TS

#22

TIL that following the success of the 90s hit film, “the Bodyguard”, Kevin Costner contacted his longtime friend, Princess Diana, to star in a sequel. She agreed. The first draft arrived the day before her death in 1997. Following her passing, the film was scrapped.

Image credits: LawBobLawLoblaw

#23

TIL about ‘The Campaign for North Africa’ – a board game published in 1978 that is estimated to take 62 days to play. The game includes 1,600 counters and the level of detail is such that Italian troops require additional water supplies in order to boil pasta.

Image credits: dakp15

#24

TIL Prior to 1970 most Pistachios were dyed red!

Image credits: capacochella

#25

TIL – One of the 8 Hawaiian islands, Ni’ihau, is known as The Forbidden Island. It’s privately owned, you can’t visit without an invitation, there were 84 residents in the 2020 census, and they live primitively, like their ancestors.

Image credits: NotAnAlreadyTakenID

#26

TIL when Greece won its independence in 1822, Athens was reduced to a small village of 4,000 inhabitants that had faded into irrelevance over centuries. It was selected as the capital for historical and sentimental reasons. The city is now the largest in Greece with over 3 million inhabitants

Image credits: Kooker321

#27

TIL that in a survey of 500 law firm workers, over 50% confirmed that legal TV shows had influenced their career choice & 57% of those felt that the TV series that impacted them was a “realistic depiction of a legal career.” 30% identified Suits as their show, 22% said Law and Order.

Image credits: tyrion2024

#28

TIL after getting LASIK surgery, Horace Grant continued to wear his signature goggles without the prescription in order to remain a positive influence so kids who needed glasses would think it’s cool.

#29

TIL that despite being commonly ranked as one of the worst Christmas films ever made, the 1985 film “Santa Claus: The Movie” is immensely popular in the UK. One of the film actors, John Lithgow, said in 2019 that he wishes he had a nickel for every Englishman who’s told him it’s their favorite film.

Image credits: waitingforthesun92

#30

TIL – The severed head of Mata Hari was embalmed and kept in the Museum of Anatomy in Paris. In 2000, archivists discovered that it had disappeared.

Image credits: MyHamburgerLovesMe

#31

TIL that the Soviet spacecraft Luna 1 was intended to be the first craft to land on the moon. It missed the moon by nearly 6000km and ended up becoming the first spacecraft to enter orbit around the sun between the orbits of Earth and Mars.

Image credits: EssexGuyUpNorth

#32

TIL America had over 50,000 pay toilets in 1970 but by 1980, there were almost none. Four teenagers formed the Committee to End Pay Toilets in America. Chicago became the first major American city to ban pay toilets altogether in March of 1973.

Image credits: laterdude

#33

TIL director Michel Gondry found Jim Carrey’s emotional state after a breakup “so beautiful, so broken” that he asked him to stay that way for one year to fit his character in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Image credits: MotleyHatch

#34

TIL that Mao Zedong gave out a box of mangoes gifted to him by Pakistan. A cult formed in China for the unfamiliar fruit. Replicas were made and publicly displayed. One man said that the fruit didn’t look like anything special, and was shamefully paraded around his town and then publicly executed.

Image credits: gucciavenger

#35

TIL in the last years of his life, J.R.R Tolkien, a devout catholic, resisted the liturgical changes implemented after the Second Vatican Council, especially the use of English for the liturgy. He continued to make the responses in Latin, loudly, ignoring the rest of the congregation.

#36

TIL that Thomas Cornell was convicted and sent to the gallows for the 1673 murder of his mother, due in part to “spectral evidence” presented by his uncle, who said her ghost paid him a visit and told him that Thomas did it.

Image credits: licecrispies

#37

TIL it’s not possible to watch every film ever nominated for Best Picture. Only 2/3 of 1928’s The Patriot still exists, and the only complete prints of 1931’s East Lynne and 1934’s The White Parade are in the UCLA film archive

Image credits: NeverEnoughMuppets

#38

TIL the director of Captain Phillips didn’t allow Tom Hanks and Actors playing somali pirates to meet before filming the movie, so that the pirates can terroize Tom and his crew and create a realistic tension and hostility between them.

Image credits: Algrinder

#39

TIL It would take 18 months to walk the great wall of China.

Image credits: Herenowthenagain

#40

TIL Emperor Justinian II (685-695 and 705-711) was overthrown in a rebellion and had his nose cut off to prevent him from ever ruling again. However, he managed to return to power in 705 with a prosthetic gold nose and took his revenge on those who had deposed him.

Image credits: HallandBurner

#41

TIL America was almost named “Amerige” meaning “Land of Amerigo”, but was changed to the feminine form America, following the naming convention of Asia and Europe.

Image credits: Visual_Bluejay9781

#42

TIL that The Simpsons episode where they go to Japan is banned in Japan.

Image credits: 1MillionSpacebucks

#43

TIL Sonia Orwell, second wife of George Orwell, died penniless in December 1980, having spent a fortune trying to protect Orwell’s name.

#44

TIL: To stop cannibalism among poultry in the 1940s thought to be due to natural instinct, “Anti-Pix” sunglasses were developed to prevent birds from seeing “raw flesh or blood” due to their rose color. They worked!

#45

Today I learned that while working a movie theater in Arizona, Bill Hader got fired for spoiling the ending of Titanic.

Image credits: petetheheat475

#46

TIL tennis balls used to be black and white, but changed to yellow for TV viewers thanks to David Attenborough’s suggestion.

Image credits: Aninterestingstorm

#47

TIL that the “seductive nature” of the Green M&M is a reference to an urban legend during the 1970s that green M&Ms were aphrodisiacs.

Image credits: Slygirl997

#48

TIL The Hollywood sign was rebuilt after a successful campaign in 1978 by Alice Cooper. He was one of 9 donators to replace each letter. He bought the first “O” in memory of Groucho Marx.

#49

TIL in 1965, Air India airlines commissioned Salvador Dali to design an ashtray for the airlines. Dali requested an elephant as fees so the airline flew a two year old elephant from Bangalore to Geneva. After Dali lost interest, the elephant was taken to the Barcelona Zoo in 1971.

Image credits: trifletruffles

#50

TIL an American general was sent home in disgrace for revealing the secret D-day invasion date at a party.

Image credits: mankls3

#51

TIL Liechtenstein has been accidentally attacked or invaded by Switzerland 5 times since 1968. In 1968, chairs were broken by artillery. In 1976 soldiers were offered drinks by the locals. In 1985 a forest fire was started. Switzerland apologised or compensated for the damage each time.

#52

TIL while filming the scene in 1983’s “A Christmas Story” where Ralphie is dressed as a sheriff, a prop man gave actor Peter Billingsley real Red Man chewing tobacco. Peter, who was 12, didn’t know the difference and ingested it. Production then had to be shut down until Billingsley recovered.

Image credits: waitingforthesun92

#53

TIL Only 28 books sold more than 500,000 copies in the US in 2022. Eight of them were by romance novelist Colleen Hoover.

Image credits: rustyyryan

#54

TIL Japan has several “Nose Tombs” which contain tens of thousands of severed noses from Korea.

Image credits: FalconPUNNCH

#55

TIL we still don’t know what disease killed more than half the Native Americans in 1500.

Image credits: eisterman

#56

TIL that for several years Mick Jagger believed he was the father of Liv Tyler.

Image credits: Working-Skill510

#57

TIL that only 1 in 10 American adults are eating enough fruits and vegetables.

Image credits: Stauce52

#58

TIL scientists for the first time in “significant detail” captured footage of orcas hunting & killing great white sharks via first-time ever aerial footage of the behavior in South Africa. Researchers recorded 11 shark deaths by orcas. Evidence also suggested the hunting was becoming more common.

#59

TIL Kentucky Fried Chicken ran out of chicken in the UK. KFC started to shut down locations in response to their missing ingredient, meaning that by February 18, 2018 only 266 of the 870 restaurants in the UK and Ireland were open.

#60

TIL A Banyan tree in northwestern Pakistan, which was put in chains by a drunk British army officer after he placed it “under arrest” during the region’s oppressive colonial period, continues to bear the weight of its metal bearings despite a lapse of around 120 years.

#61

TIL: King Felipe VI of Spain is Europe’s poorest monarch after he decided to reveal the full extent of his finances being worth 2.57 million euros. He owns no property or land and his wealth comes from jewels and antiques. In comparison, his wealth was 5% of Queen Elizabeth at the time.

#62

TIL that over five years after 9/11, mail was still occasionally being sent to the WTC’s ZIP code of 10048, mostly from businesses that hadn’t yet updated their bulk mailing lists.

#63

TIL there used to be a period after the New York Times logo for over a hundred years. They calculated they could save $600 in ink if they dropped it.

#64

TIL cherries are dried with helicopters

#65

TIL in 2005 baseball player John Mcdonald was traded from the Toronto Blue Jays to the Detroit Tigers for a ‘player to be named later’. In 2006 John Mcdonald was traded back to the Toronto Blue Jays as the ‘Player to be named later’. Essentially meaning John McDonald was traded for himself.

#66

TIL that since the construction of the oval office in 1909, a total of six different desks have been used by 20 Presidents. 8 Presidents used the Resolute desk, 6 used the Theodore Roosevelt Desk, 2 used the Hoover Desk, 2 used the Wilson Desk, 1 used the C&O desk and 1 used the Johnson desk.

#67

TIL, when securing the movie rights for ”The Polar Express” (1985), one stipulation was that the resulting movie could not be animated. To preserve his vision, Robert Zemeckis opted for motion capture technology during the film’s production.

#68

TIL The Neo Geo is the most expensive home video game console ever made, selling for $650 in 1990. That’s $1,566.59 today. It was originally supposed to be a rental console but was sold for retail due to high demand.

#69

TIL that in August 2019 the city council of Bielefeld, Germany offered €1 million to anyone who could prove that their city did not exist.

#70

TIL about Derinkuyu (modern day Turkey), a 3000 year old underground city that once housed up to 20000 people and their livestock.