I love learning.
That is possibly the most important thing you could ever know about me. When I first meet someone, chances are at some point I will ask them the following question: "What are you passionate about?" Now, I'm not overly concerned with exactly what they are passionate about; the most important thing is that they are passionate about something. Me? I'm passionate about learning. I want to learn something new every day.
Learning something new every day isn't that difficult. We're learning new things all the time! But sometimes we neglect to take a moment and reflect on what it is we've learned. Think for a minute: what did you learn today? Maybe you're in high school and you've just learned the chemical formula for table salt. Or you're an art history student in university and just learned about the origins of pointillism. Or you've discovered a keyboard shortcut for trimming that piece of video you're editing to upload to YouTube. Whatever it is, you've learned something.
That's what this blog is all about. The little somethings that we learn every day.
A friend of mine started doing something interesting with her Facebook page some time ago. Every single day, she would post "Favorite thing today:" followed by something great that had happened that day. Big things, small things, just one thing every day that made her happy. I was impressed and moved. Here was someone using their social media presence in a unique and fascinating way. I decided that I wanted to do something similar, but with knowledge. On my Facebook page, I started doing this thing where I'd write "Today I learned" followed by some interesting fact I'd picked up that day. I got the inspiration from a number of places, most obviously reddit.com/r/TodayILearned, but also a favorite television program of mine: QI, a BBC panel show in which the fantastic Stephen Fry hosts a number of players, usually comedians, in a game that reveals interesting facts and knowledge. (QI, by the way, stands for "quite interesting.")
This blog is that idea, writ large, and with a title that isn't quite as derivative (read: blatantly stolen) as "Today I Learned." Three times a week, I will take that basic "today I learned" idea and go a little more in-depth, exploring topics ranging from the profound to the trivial; from mind-blowing and awe-inspiring to interesting and helpful. I will not be sticking to one topic; rather, you will find facts from a variety of fields: science, history, art and literature, geography, entertainment, sports, and everything in between. That's where the "roulette" comes in.
Sometimes I will post about something that you already knew. "Duh!" you might be tempted to say. "Everyone knows that!" Well, I didn't. It's today I learned! This blog will try to adhere to the lesson put forth in this, possibly my favorite XKCD comic:
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| Courtesy of XKCD |
So, dear reader, join me as I post about things I've learned today! And if you have any interest in teaching me something new, please get in contact with me! I'm always happy to hear what you have to say.
Email: TodayILearned47@gmail.com
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