Post * 7aar — Curious Curator

› added 12 years ago

277

TIL that on the island of Chios, Greece, every Easter is celebrated with a rocket war between two churches on Saturday night. The objective is to ring the other church’s bell.

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E1ZWx TIL that for his voice performance of Sauron in the Hobbit films Benedict Cumberbatch spoke his black speech lines backwards, which were then played forwards, to give them a more 'disembodied' feel.

j6NoN TIL, while you can go any speed on the Autobahn when indicated by signs, the recommended speed is 130 km per hour. If you are in an accident going 170 km per hour and it could have been avoided at the lesser speed, you will be automatically partially or fully faulted for the accident.

rR7nx TIL Charles Waterton was a naturalist who preceded Darwin. He taught a Guyanese slave to practice taxidermy, who taught Charles Darwin. He is credited as the first man to bring the poison curare to Europe to be used as a veterinary anesthetic, and he liked to dress as a scarecrow and sit in trees.

OoW1a TIL starting in the 1920s, shoe stores commonly had fluoroscope (X-ray) machines to check the fit of feet in shoes. The last of these were banned in the late 70s due to increased awareness of health risks from radiation.

1aMZW Today I Learned that in Star Wars: A New Hope (1977), pilot Wedge Antilles was played by three people. The first actor (Colin Higgins) was fired after one day on set, and the second actor (Denis Lawson) had a bad accent so a third actor (David Ankrum) dubbed all of Wedge's lines.