Today I Learned...

cee134

TIL Penny Marshall was the first female Director to have a film gross over $100 million at the US box office with “Big” starring Tom Hanks.

cee134

TIL Dr. Seuss drew anti-Japanese cartoons during WWII. When he met the survivors of Hiroshima, he realized "A person is a person no matter how small". He later created Horton Hears a Who! as an apology, dedicating it to a Japanese friend.

Dakase83

cee134 wrote: »

TIL that Freddie Mercury approved the Wayne's World Bohemian Rhapsody scene just before his death.

TIL Freddie lived in Zanzibar and moved to the US at the age of 17

cee134

TIL that cigarette filters change color not because they are trapping part of the cigarette smoke, but because they are designed to change color to lead consumers to think that they are trapping part of the smoke.

crampus1

It’s useless.

cee134

TIL that James Barrie, creator of Peter Pan, gave the Peter Pan copyright to Great Ormond Street Hospital, the leading children's hospital in London, which helped support the institution's work for 70 years after his passing.

cee134

TIL George Orwell named the torture chamber Room 101 in his novel 1984 after a conference room at the BBC headquarters where he had to sit through numerous tedious meetings.

cee134

TIL in 1913, a bank was shipped in 50 pound increments through the USPS mail system to save money. 40 tons of bricks ended up being shipped and the USPS released a statement saying “it is not the intent of the United States Postal Service that buildings be shipped through the mail."

cee134

TIL that most pencils are yellow because in the 1880's one manufacturer chose that color to indicate they were luxury pencils.

maryrobinson40

I learned that *kitten* can be two-legged animals as well

UltraVegAthlete

Espresso is not pronounced “EX-presso”.

kindalikevelma

There was a secret society founded by Roman Catholics in Bavaria in 1740 called the Order of the Pug. New members had to wear dog collars and scratch at the door to be let it.

cee134

TIL that the scientific name for the Plains Bison is literally "Bison Bison Bison".

missjck2

Bar stands for "Beer" and "Alcohol" "Room"

cee134

TIL that printer companies implement programmed obsolescence by embedding chips into ink cartridges that force them to stop printing after a set expiration date, even if there is ink remaining.

UltraVegAthlete

Organic food can cost up to 47% more than conventional produce.

PAFC84

cee134 wrote: »

TIL in 2001 India started building roads that hold together using polymer glues made from shredded plastic wastes. These plastic roads have developed no potholes and cracks after years of use, and they are cheaper to build. As of 2016, there are more than 21,000 miles of plastic roads.

Why can't we do that to deal with our plastic problem?

cee134

TIL One April day in 1930, the BBC reported, "There is no news." Instead they played piano music.

cee134

TIL that Deleting a certain gene in mice can make them smarter by unlocking a mysterious region of the brain considered to be relatively inflexible. Scientists at Emory University have named this gene associated with memory and learning the "Homer Simpson gene".