› added 7 years ago

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TIL people used to iron their newspapers to set the ink. That way they wouldn't turn their fingers black.

Read more nytimes.com

via reddit.com

Oo097 TIL that the Black Knight in Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail was inspired by two Roman wrestlers who were in a very intense and entangled fight. After one surrendered from pain of a broken rib an attendant picked up the winner, tapping him and saying "You won" to discover that he was dead.
Xd48 TIL that in 2005 a Boeing engineer known as Mr. Hands died after receiving anal from a horse and subsequently rupturing his colon back before bestiality was a felony in Washington state
p8ra8 TIL of the Fresnel lens, a specially crafted type of lens commonly used in lighthouses. Its design allows for a large aperture and short focal length without requiring the lens to be massive and heavy like a traditional convex lens. It also looks like a work of art.
nWNO9 TIL that Bram Stoker’s Dracula was inspired by an Irish novella about a lesbian vampire from Austria
Od61 TIL that in 1971 there was a failed attempt to adapt Dune to film. It would have included Salvador Dali, Orson Welles, and Mick Jagger acting with music by Pink Floyd. Its failure caused the SFX head to go into a psychiatric hospital where he later wrote the script for “Alien”.