› added 11 years ago

83

TIL that one proposal to get rid of Castro was to spread rumours that he was the Antichrist, then fake the second coming; a US submarine would project an image of Jesus on some clouds near Havana while firing star-shells. A loudspeaker would be the voice of Jesus, urging them to renounce communism.

NP41 TIL that Disney was so eager to persuade Robin Williams for the voice of the genie in Aladdin that before approaching him they animated and lip-synced the genie doing a performance from Robin’s album Reality… What a Concept. Williams was impressed and immediately accepted the role.
Z8QXv TIL that the West Indie's top cricketer Kraigg Brathwaite was scrawny as a kid, and got bullied by his Combermere School (Barbados) bus mates. A girl, 4 years his senior, protected him. She beat up the bullies & took Kraigg on her lap. Her name: Robyn Fenty, a.k.a. Rihanna.
VBoV4 TIL Lincoln Logs were not designed to look like Abraham Lincoln's mythical cabin, but an earthquake-proof building in Japan. Also that they were created by John Lloyd Wright, son of famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright
a8AXM Til that prior to becoming President, Gerald Ford called for a thorough investigation of UFO sightings in Michigan and was critical of the multiple claims being dismissed as originating from "swamp gas"
8exQ8 TIL about Turbonique, a company that marketed rocket and turbine engines to drag racers. In 1965, a VW Beetle fitted with a Turbonique TB-28 Drag Axle ran a 9.2 second quarter mile before going airborne at 183 mph.