› added 9 years ago

2083

TIL that the person who designed Star Wars’ Darth Maul was instructed to make Maul “a vision from your worst nightmare”, and based the original design on an actual nightmare he had. When he presented the design to George Lucas, Lucas shuddered and told him “Give me your second worst nightmare”.

9wYP7 TIL cheetahs were at one point so close to extinction, their genetic diversity has become too low for their immune system to recognize a "nonself". Skin grafts exchanged between unrelated cheetahs are accepted as if they were clones or identical twins.
69P07 TIL Ernst Hanfstaengl, a confidant of Hitler, defected to the US after he fell out of favor. He had been ordered to parachute over Spain and be an agent for Franco in the Spanish Civil War, but he was convinced it was a plot on his life. Albert Speer claimed that it was an elaborate practical joke.
PY57J TIL that the reason I’ve never found Dela Soul’s older albums online (iTunes, Spotify, etc) is because their record company didn’t clear the labels appropriately. Seems to be a pattern here... at least they got paid.
pY0y4 TIL Astronauts aboard the International Space Station experience alternating 45 minutes of daylight and 45 minutes of darkness, meaning they witness 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets every 24 hours.
0wryy TIL: Beer bottles used to be kept in clear glass bottles in the 19th century until brewers realized UV rays from the sun were altering the flavor and making the beer smell "skunky". This is why most beers are kept in brown glass bottles now, it blocks the UV rays from the sun; preserving taste.