› added 9 years ago

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TIL that to shoot the candlelight-only scenes in Barry Lyndon, Stanley Kubrick used rare f/0.7 camera lenses manufactured by Carl Zeiss for NASA. Zeiss made only ten of the lenses; he sold three to Kubrick and six to NASA, who used them in the Apollo program to photograph the dark side of the moon.

Eg5D0 TIL that in WW2 there was a Soviet all-female bomber regiment nicknamed by the Germans die Nachthexen, which translates to Night Witches. The regiment flew harassment and precision bombing missions against the German military from 1942 until the end of WW2.
9YkPD TIL that a Dutch porn actress, Bobbi Eden, promised all her twitter followers oral sex if the Dutch soccer team would win the World Cup of 2010, they lost the final with 0-1.
L9n0 TIL in 1990, First Lady Barbara Bush criticized The Simpsons as “the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.“ Marge wrote a letter to her, in character, politely telling her not to be so judgmental and explaining that her family tried their best. Mrs Bush later apologized for her “loose tongue”
j660j TIL Whale oil was used as transmission fluid up until 1972. America used over 14 million kg of sperm whale oil lubricant per year. Sperm oil was also a valuable lubricant known for being non-corrosive for metals and withstanding both high and cold temperatures.
KOxeQ TIL: Pringles were reduced in size and weight significantly when US manufacturing was exported to Asia (which might help explain why you can't fit your hand in there Bo)