Things I Leaned Today - 11th April 2019

The brutalist architecture of the Hotel du Lac dominates the...

The brutalist architecture of the Hotel du Lac dominates the neighbourhood off Avenue Bourguiba. in Tunis-Gulf of Tunis, Tunisia - North Africa

- The word 'Yakuza' comes from the name of the unluckiest hand in a Japanese card game.

- There is a Natural History Museum in Tring, Hertfordshire.

- A man has just spent 3 years driving from Amsterdam to Sydney in an electric car.

- There is only one free ambulance service in Mogadishu, Somalia.

- Swiss men voted against giving Swiss women the vote in a 1959 referendum.

- There was a WWE wrestling champion called 'The Iron Sheikh'.

- Dooley Wilson, best known as Sam from Casablanca, couldn't play the piano and was actually a drummer.

- A hotel in Tunisia probably inspired the shape of Star Wars' Jawa Sandcrawlers.

- Birmingham is now home to the world's biggest Primark.

Things I Learned This Week - 9th April 2019

Grand Marshal Billy Connolly and Family during the New York City...

Grand Marshal Billy Connolly and Family during the New York City Tartan Day Parades, in New York, on April 6, 2019. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

I've recently been unable to type up these nuggets of information on a daily basis, so here are some things I've learned over the last 5 days or so:

- The International Criminal Court in the Hague was only set up in 2002.

- In 2017, a survey estimated that on any given day 200,000 Brits turn up to work with a hangover.

- Casimir Pulaski, a Polish general who fought in the American Revolution, might have been intersex.

- North Korean TV is experimenting with becoming more modern.

- The F1 Grand Prix track at Silverstone is built on the site of an RAF Bomber Command base.

- Jabba the Hutt apparently had a son called Rotta the Huttlet.

- A myriad originally meant 10,000.

- New York City has an annual Tartan Week.

Things I Learned Today - 4th April 2019

Mustelidae

View top-quality stock photos of Ictonyx Striatus. Find premium, high-resolution stock photography at Getty Images.

- In 2018, Queen sold more albums worldwide than Ariana Grande.

- Ireland has more bank holidays (with 9) than any country of the UK (Northern Ireland has 8).

- Antarctica is home to 9 'rivers', which only appear during the continent's summer months. The longest one is called the Onyx, and is 20 miles long.

- There is an influential German banking family called the Fuggers.

- There is a breed of fish called an Oscar.

- Poland will soon be home to the world's deepest swimming pool. But an even deeper one is set to open in Colchester in 2020.

- A striped polecat is also known as a 'zorilla'.

- There was a 'silly walks' parade in Hungary this April Fool's Day.

Things I Learned Today - 2nd April 2019

Lemur Yoga

View top-quality stock photos of Lemur Yoga. Find premium, high-resolution stock photography at Getty Images.

- There are an estimated 60,000 children in the UK who are home schooled.

- The UK's gaming industry is worth more to the economy (£5.7 billion) than the UK's film industry (£5.2 billion).

- Germany is home to 7 of the top 10 worst carbon emitters in Europe.

- There is a dispute over what counts as London's largest 'theatre'.

- You can now take yoga classes alongside lemurs in the Lake District.

- In 1967, the town of St Paul, Alberta build the world's first UFO landing pad as part of Canada's centennial celebrations.

Things I Learned Today - 1st April 2019

Antoine Lavoisier (Wikimedia Commons)

- Antoine Lavoisier, the scientist considered to be the 'father of modern chemistry', was executed at the height of the French Revolution.

- The Italian equivalent of the Oscars are named after Donatello's statue of David.

- Mosquitos have less sex and are less likely to bite you if they hear Skrillex playing.

- Large fish sometimes eat ducks and other birds.

- 'Smdh' means 'shaking my damn head'.

Things I Learned Today - 28th March 2019

A woman takes a selfie at the Museum of Selfies on April 1, 2018 in...

A woman takes a selfie at the Museum of Selfies on April 1, 2018 in Glendale, California. The museum allows visitors to explore the historical and artistic origins of the selfie along with using... Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

- Half of the UK's children are now born to families in rented accommodation.

- In 2016, an enormous helium mine was found in Tanzania, which is now thought to contain enough helium to fill 1.2 million MRI scanners.

- The design of Japan's bullet train is now modeled on a Kingfisher's beak.

- BAFTA bent their own rules to include Killing Eve on this year's TV awards shortlist.

- Dictionary.com has its own app, including a 'Word of the Day' feature.

- The gay dating app Grindr is currently owned by a Chinese company and the US government is forcing it to sell over blackmail fears.

- New York and California have recently seen pop-up museums dedicated to ice cream, selfies, pizza and the concept of the happy place.

- You can embed free photos from Getty if your reasons are non-commercial.

Things I Learned Today - 27th March 2019

- A number of the UK's emergency services use the what3words app to help save people's lives.

- There is a collection of sand dunes in Northern Canada that is often referred to as the 'world's smallest desert'.

- There is a high rise luxury apartment building close to the United Nations building in Manhattan, and it calls itself 'the ultimate global address'.

- The most popular visitor attraction in England outside London is Chester Zoo.

- There is a surprisingly large amount of fiction based on the story of Peter Pan.

- There is a website which takes Garfield out of Garfield cartoons 'to reveal the existential angst of [his owner] Jon Arbuckle'.

Things I Learned Today - 25th March 2019

Image taken from traintimes.org by Matthew Somerville

- There is now an incredible live map of the trains on the London Underground.

- On Friday, NASA will be conducting the first all female space walk.

- Dorset prisoners have been smuggling drugs inside dead rats.

- The NHS set up a Centre for Internet Disorders last year.

- Backgammon is among the oldest board games in the world.

- The Royal Mint is creating a series of coins which commemorate the Chinese Zodiac.

- Ancient Greek physicians prescribed shocks from electric fish for treating gout, headaches and 'prolapsed anus'.

- Alton Towers have opened the UK's first 'rollercoaster restaurant'.

Things I Learned Today - 24th March 2019

King David the Builder

- Today is the 75th anniversary of the Great Escape.

- Astronomers have discovered over 4,000 exoplanets.

- The UK is going to open its first new deep coal mine for over 30 years.

- Men are typically much more generous when attractive women are around.

- Georgia was once ruled by a king known as David the Builder.

- Daniel Craig played Lara Croft's love interest in Tomb Raider.

- Oprah Winfrey's name is spelled 'Orpah' on her birth certificate.

Things I Learned Today - 23rd March 2019

A 1993 Macintosh TV (Wikimedia Commons)

- New York City is trialing a shuttle service that uses driverless cars.

- The Red Hot Chili Peppers live streamed a gig from the Pyramids of Giza.

- Donald Trump's cabinet has a Bible study group.

- One of Apple's commercial failures was the $2,097 Macintosh TV.

- The UK has a National Food Crime Unit.

- 80s popstar David Van Day is now a Tory councillor in Essex. 

- An Australian conservation charity may have faked the rediscovery of an endangered parrot.

Things I Learned Today - 22nd March 2019

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

- The UK is officially the 15th happiest country in the world according to the UN. (Finland is at the top of the list.)

- MPs in the Canadian House of Commons sit at desks which you can hide snacks in. The Prime Minister had to apologise  yesterday for having eaten a chocolate bar.

- On average, China has been building one large coal power plant every week since 2016.

- Chemnitz in Germany used to be known as Karl Marx Stadt, and still has a huge monument to him.

- Italian football team A.S. Roma have started a Pidgin English Twitter account for the club's Nigerian fans.

- An energy drink in Zambia became popular after it was found to have the same key ingredient as Viagra.

- The word 'opera' derives from the Latin for 'work'.

- Baking a periodic table of cupcakes is a surprisingly common thing to do.

Things I Learned Today - 21st March 2019

Photo by Calvin Bradshaw from Wikimedia Commons

Here follows my second ever installment of things I learned today:

- There is such a thing as a lunar rainbow, or 'moonbow'.

- An e-petition has achieved enough signatures to crash the e-petition website. (E-petitions were originally launched in the UK as far back as 2006.)

- Apparently, Julianne Moore was supposed to star in Can You Ever Forgive Me?, but was fired because she wanted to wear a fatsuit and a fake nose.

- Over 4,000 different people have successfully reached the top of Mount Everest.

- Italy is set to sign up to China's new trillion dollar 'Silk Road' trading scheme, putting it at odds with most of western Europe.

- A local councillor from Cambridge has finally quit after living in Scotland for 10 months. Officially, he only had to attend a council meeting once every 6 months.

- A car broke the sound barrier back in 1997.

- Hertfordshire Council is going to auction 60% of its modern art collection.

- Plymouth is now home to the UK's largest bronze statue, which is based on an actor rehearsing for Othello.

- Prince Albert of Monaco competed 5 times in the bobsleigh at the Winter Olympics.

- Jay-Z's nickname 'Hova' is a reference to Jehova ('J-Hova').

Things I Learned Today - 20th March 2019

As a heavy consumer of news and other general facts, I have decided to share a few of the things I found out about today:

 - Today is the United Nations International Day of Happiness.

- Since November in the UK, it has been possible for certain organisations to raise 'super-complaints' against the police. The second ever case of this was today.

- Mexico has only one legal gun store, with most of the guns used to commit crimes being smuggled in from the US.

- Saudi Arabia will soon be home to the world's tallest building, and it will be exactly a kilometre in height.

- Germany doesn't take part in the EuroMillions draw.

- William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes died on the same day - 23rd April 1616.

- The capital of Kazakhstan has been renamed Nursultan after the President who resigned the post yesterday.

- Robots will serve food and drinks, and perform other duties at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

- 90% of the royalties on Ariana Grande's latest single will go to the estates of Rogers and Hammerstein.

I hope these facts are of some interest to everybody out there. Until next time...