› added 2 years ago

113

TIL the Iowa Writer’s Workshop was used to fight communism abroad and domestically from the 1940s through the 1970s, and received substantial funding from the CIA to do so.

Read more vice.com

via reddit.com

Jbd1 TIL In 1967, a fighter pilot purposely flew through enemy air defenses to make enemy aircraft leave him alone, then flew his damaged aircraft back into combat and destroyed two missile sites defending a target. Allowing 70 of the 72 other friendly aircraft to survive the mission.
NXmJ8 TIL Many of Benny Blanco's early tracks are at 120 BPM, the default tempo in Pro Tools, and he didn't realize he could adjust it, so he ended up using that tempo for many of his initial projects. This included hits like Kesha's "Tik Tok," Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream," and Taio Cruz's "Dynamite”
N7lPE TIL that a permit was denied for the production crew of "The Sopranos" to film the episode "Pine Barrens" at South Mountain Reservation by Essex County, New Jersey Executive James Treffinger, due to the show depicting Italians as corrupt, Treffinger was later convicted and imprisoned for corruption
JY5Y8 TIL that Yevgeny Primakov was expected to win Russia's presidential election in 2000. But after a series of apartment bombings, he dropped out and the election went to the little-known prime minister, who had held his post for less than six months.
4AmJ TIL that Olivia Hussey who played Juliet in the 1968 film “Romeo and Juliet” wasn’t allowed to go to the premiere of the film because she was under the age of 18 and there was a nude scene - even though she was the one who was nude.