› added 11 years ago

92

TIL Laurence Fishburn lied about his age to get the role in Apocalypse Now. He was 14 at that time and the character he portrayed was 17 years old. Filming took so long that he was 17 by the time they were done filming the movie.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

gMGRL TIL A group of Yemeni fishermen hit the jackpot when they found a floating whale carcass in February 2021, containing a lump of ambergris worth more than US$1.5 million. Also known as “floating gold”, ambergris is a rare substance found only in the belly of sperm whales and is used to make perfume.
5YQO8 TIL that Raphael was the one who was first chosen to paint the Sistine Chapel. He was jealous of Michelangelo's fame, so he convinced the Pope to hire Michelangelo instead, hoping to prove that Michelangelo was just a sculptor and could not paint that well.
oBbEo TIL the Eiffel Tower was originally intended to stand from 1889 to 1909, but was saved due to its use as an army radio transmitter. Its concession was extended for the next 70 years, to 1980, lasting beyond as a tourist attraction and receiving regular modifications such as television broadcasting.
JYyYV TIL that the USA dropped thousands of food packages over Afghanistan as a way of trying to earn the goodwill of the local population. Unfortunately they were printed in languages the average Afghan couldn't read, and were the exact color as cluster munitions dropped during the same operation.
OoONe TIL that the "refrigerator test" to identify authentic versus counterfeit or adulterated extra virgin olive oil doesn't actually work