› added 4 years ago

288

TIL in Star Wars: A New Hope (1977), when first Darth Vader force chokes the imperial officer, he interrupts him saying the words "hidden fortress". This is a nod to The Hidden Fortress (1958), an Akira Kurosawa film set in Feudal Japan which Star Wars is based on. (timestamped link in comments)

wo8Q1 TIL a study by researchers at Connecticut College in 2013 discovered that Oreos activate the same “pleasure center” in the brains of lab rats that were activated by cocaine and morphine. The researchers also found that the rats liked to eat the crème filling first
78Yex TIL until 1998, in the Australian State of Victoria, it was illegal to change a lightbulb without an electricians license. If you were caught breaking this law, you would be fined 10$ (about $7.15 usd)
yQoeJ TIL that after South Park’s ‘Cartoon Wars: Part 1’ aired, the team received an appraising phone call from the ‘King of the Hill’ staff and and flowers from the ‘the Simpson’s’ staff for “ripping on Family Guy”.
OX0Y TIL in 1893 the Queen of Hawaii attempted to restore power to the crown and the native Hawaiians, with the support of more than two-thirds of registered voters. She was immediately overthrown by American businessmen and Hawaii soon became part of the United States.
9Yjkp TIL Veronica Roth, author of the 'Divergent' trilogy, wrote her 1st book in her senior year at Northwestern University. Her career took off with the publishing rights sold before she even graduated college & the film rights sold before the novels were even printed.