Today I Learned...

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  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
    edited February 2019
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    RomaineCalm wrote: »
    cee134 wrote: »
    TIL A Florida man used a cell phone jammer everyday while travelling to work because he didn't want drivers around him to be distracted on their phones. As a result, he was fined $48,000 by the FCC.

    How was he caught?

    ...he almost got away with it. It wasn't Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint that caught on to the problem. Instead, MetroPCS eventually noticed that reception was flatlining along the same point of I-4 twice each day. Once the FCC became aware of the situation, it used "sophisticated interference detection techniques" to track the problem down to Humphreys and his Toyota Highlander.

    https://www.theverge.com/2014/5/1/5672762/man-faces-48000-fine-for-driving-with-cellphone-jammer
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
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    If you think that's fun, research the Stingray phone tracker.
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
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    TIL a Harvard study found that hiring one highly productive ‘toxic worker’ does more damage to a company’s bottom line than employing several less productive, but more cooperative, workers.
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
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    TIL In 1972, Neil Armstrong visited the town of Langholm, Scotland. In which he was read a 400 year old law declaring any Armstrong caught in the town should be hanged.

    Spoiler Alert: They didn't hang him.
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
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    TIL that Patrick Stewart hated having pet fish in Picard's ready room on TNG, considering it an affront to a show that valued the dignity of different species.
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
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    TIL that cigarette butts are environmentally toxic and the most littered item in the world.
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
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    TIL that Monty Python and the Holy Grail originally included the characters riding on real horses but they could not afford to rent them so they were forced to add in the iconic coconut bit, which is an old radio trick.
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
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    TIL that when Michael Jackson granted Weird Al Yankovic permission to do "Fat" (a parody of "Bad"), Jackson allowed him to use the same set built for his own "Badder" video from the Moonwalker film. Yankovic said that Jackson's support helped to gain approval from other artists he wanted to parody.
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
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    TIL that Christopher Walken is one of only two actors (the other being Alec Baldwin) to have a standing offer from Lorne Michaels to host Saturday Night Live whenever his schedule permits. Thus far he has hosted the show 7 times, his most famous appearance being the "More Cowbell!" sketch.
  • como_agua1
    como_agua1 Posts: 210 Member
    edited March 2019
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    today i learned how to sing this

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1emgUdD3_pE
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
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    TIL that Surgeons who had played video games in the past for more than three hours per week made 37 percent fewer errors, were 27 percent faster and scored 26 percent better overall than surgeons who never played video games.
  • pudgy1977
    pudgy1977 Posts: 13,499 Member
    edited March 2019
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    TIL that Ben & Jerry learned how to make ice cream by taking a $5 correspondence course offered by Penn State. (They decided to split one course.)

    ETA: And apparently Ben wanted to call the business “Josephine’s Flying Machine”, but Jerry didn’t like it.
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
    edited March 2019
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    TIL that Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is so loud, it’s acoustic sound waves heat up the surrounding atmosphere to almost 2400 degrees Fahrenheit.

    vszu12y4m0q6.jpg

    https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/jupiters-great-red-spot-also-red-hot-180959949/
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
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    TIL The star wars theme was written purposely on the same key as the 20th Century Fox fanfare (that used to appear before the movie started) so that there will be a continuous feeling and a smooth entry to the film for the viewers.
  • RomaineCalm
    RomaineCalm Posts: 3,972 Member
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    TIL that Edgar Allan Poe's Tell-Tale Heart was inspired by the courtroom prosecution speech by Daniel Webster of Captain Joseph White's murder trial in Salem, MA in the 1800's.
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
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    TIL Showman and businessman PT Barnum was frustrated with how long people lingered in his museum’s exhibits. He posted signs that said 'This Way to the Egress'. He knew most of the visitors would follow them not knowing 'Egress' meant 'Exit'. They couldn’t re-enter without paying the entry fee again.
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
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    TIL that when J.R.R. Tolkien's son Michael signed up for the British army, he listed his father's occupation as "Wizard".
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
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    TIL the Japanese bullet train system is equipped with a network of sensitive seismometers. On March 11, 2011, one of the seismometers detected an 8.9 magnitude earthquake 12 seconds before it hit and sent a stop signal to 33 trains. As a result, only one bullet train derailed that day.
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
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    TIL that the real Johnny Appleseed did plant apples on the American frontier, but that they were mostly used for hard apple cider. Safe drinking water was scarce, and apple cider was a safer alternative to drink.

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