› added 11 years ago

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TIL: The scenes in E.T. where E.T. walked awkwardly or fell over was a 12 year old in an E.T. costume who was born without legs and walked on his hands.

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WkYMA TIL that scientists have theorized for years on how to create graphene (the strongest material on earth). Two researchers won the 2010 Nobel Prize by simply using scotch tape to peel it off of graphite.
4w7o TIL When LimeWire shut down back in 2010, the copyright damages were totaled to be ~$72 Trillion, greater than the sum of the world GDP, which came out to approximately $105,000 for every time one of the 11,000 copyrighted songs was downloaded. It was later settled with the RIAA for $105 Million.
RA1a TIL that it is so hard to swat a fly because they piece together images sent from their eyes to the brain, 250 times faster than humans.
b9V7N TIL about Miep Gies, the woman who hid Anne Frank and her family. She hid them in the Secret Annex for 25 months until they were found by the Gestapo. She survived because the officer who found her felt bad, but sent the others to the camps. She later gave Otto Frank Anne's diary and died in 2010.
4kam5 TIL The movie Footloose, which is about a town where dancing is prohibited, is inspired from a real town, Elmore City, Oklahoma. The ban started before statehood, and high-schoolers petitioned in 1980 to be able to dance at prom