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[TIL] The film Schindler’s List was banned in Indonesia because it is a “Film that is sympathetic to the Jewish cause

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p8Ym8 Imagine you spent your entire childhood, teenage years, and young adulthood stuck inside a small closet. One day, after much of your life, has passed you by, you realize that you can just open up the door, change into some more appropriate clothes, and hit the town! Free at last, what would you do first? Maybe sing a bit? Go on a few dates? By the way, you have two to four weeks to live. Yikes. This is not unlike the situation most cicadas face, as they spend almost their entire lives underground. For example, many of the cicadas emerging in 2016 have been underground for 17 years! To put that in perspective, the last Star Wars movie these insects saw was literally a menace. Imagine waking up in a world without Smash Mouth and Sugar Ray! Come to think of it, things are really looking up since 1999. A cicada’s ear-piercing call is intended to attract a gal pal. Considering that these little creatures’ time above ground is so fleeting, they need to lock down a date as soon as possible. This could be why most cicadas are louder than the average fraternity pledge. Adult males are the ones making such a racket, and some species can register sounds louder 100 decibels when calling for a potential mate. In this week’s Today I Learned, National Geographic Emerging Explorer and filmmaker Sandesh Kadur explains how cicadas sing such a loud song.
LkQjV TIL NYC Mayor Fiorello La Guardia banned pinball in the 1940s as gambling that emptied the "pockets of schoolchildren in the form of nickels and dimes given them as lunch money". All pinball machines were rounded up and smashed dramatically by the mayor, before being dumped into city rivers.
vr0r TIL of Dr. Jerri Nielsen, a doctor stationed at the South Pole who diagnosed, biopsied and treated her own breast cancer during the overwinter period when the crew is normally isolated from the outside world. In complete darkness, medical equipment had to be airdropped from military aircraft.
b0Q0 TIL Rain Wilson originally auditioned for the role of Michael Scott in “The Office.” The producers didn’t like his audition, but offered him the role of Dwight. Not even the actor could get the role of regional manager.
KOkVE TIL in the song "9 to 5," Dolly Parton created the typewriter sound effect by tapping her acrylic fingernails against one another.