Things I Learned - January 2026

Happy Groundhog Day! Here is January’s edition of Things I Learned.

Things I Learned

1. Donald Trump’s mother grew up speaking Gaelic and only learned English later in school. (source)

2. Only 6% of camels have more than one hump. (source)

3. The options market in India is 3x larger than every other option market in the world combined, and accounts for roughly 80% of all options contracts traded worldwide (source; source).

4. There were fewer births in China in 2025 than in 1776. (source)

5. It is a disadvantage to serve in volleyball. The serving side wins just ~35-45% of points on average (compared to 57-70% in tennis). (source)

6. No nation has ever won the men’s World Cup while being led by a manager of a different nationality. (source)

7. The B in Oral-B stands for “brush.” (source)

8. A greenland shark typically does not become capable of reproducing until it is around 150 years old. (source)

9. Word spacing, i.e. putting spaces between words, was first invented by Irish monks in the 7th century (source).

10. While the American Revolution was fought under the banner of “no taxation without representation”, the tax rate in America under British reign was (a) lower than the tax rate after the Independence, and (b) was significantly lower than the contemporaneous tax rate in Britain. (source)

11. Tycoon is a Japanese loan word. It was a title for the shogun, meaning “great lord.” (source)

12. Less than half of UK households have a dishwasher. (source)

13. In the Odyssey, Homer never describes the Sirens’ bodies or gives any sense that they are physically alluring. (source)

14. Kikoman, the worlds largest soy sauce producer, was founded in 1603. (source)

15. The official/legal name of the city of Porto, Portugal, is “the Ancient, Very Noble, Ever Loyal and Undefeated City of Porto”. (source)

16. America is the only major country in which households hold more wealth in stocks than in property. (source)

17. 96% of vehicles sold in Norway last year were electric vehicles. (source)

18. Creditors did not lose money on aggregate in the FTX bankruptcy. The company ended up recovering more than 100 cents on the dollar for unsecured creditors. (source)

On this day in previous editions:

• (January 2025): The Graham cracker was invented by the temperance movement preacher Sylvester Graham as a purposefully dull cracker that would curb sinful desires, including the prevention of masturbation. (source)

• (January 2024): Ireland is the only country in the world with fewer people now than 180 years ago (source)

Things I Liked this Month

• The new word game Shuffalo from the New Yorker

• The new American Express passport feature.

• The personal finance app Monarch.

• The book Strangers.

• Marty Supreme.

• The Gilbert and Sullivan production of HMS Pinafore at Kaye Playhouse.

• The Divine Egypt exhibit at the Met. I particularly enjoyed the item descriptions; you can see some of my favorite ones below (e.g. “probably a coffin for an otter or mongoose”).¹

  

Unfortunately I don’t have any fun reflections or other projects to share this month, which I’ll blame on (1) the incredible cold spell we’ve had in NYC (which apparently is in the top 5 longest cold streaks in the city’s history?) and (2) moving apartments.² But I was able to squeeze in a number of indoor activities including a trip to Washington DC; performing the Gelilah at a baby naming ceremony; and a charity poker game I did quite poorly in.

See you next month!

1. I don’t think I appreciated how significant hybrids animal combos were in Egyptian mythology.

2. If I’m perfectly honest about the things I learned this month, it’s mostly been vocabulary surrounding furnishing-related concepts like “mid century modern” and “chenille.”