› added 4 years ago

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TIL about Dr.Beatrice 'Tilly' Shilling who, during the Battle of Britain, invented a device preventing fighter planes engines from shutting down during negative G maneuvers. The device became known as "Miss Shilling's orifice".

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9wLaB TIL every LEGO minifigure had the exact same head shape for the first 21 yrs of minifigure production, limiting what characters it could do. It wasn't until 1999 & the Jar Jar Binks minifigure for Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace that LEGO introduced sculpted head pieces for its minifigures
rRNRd TIL that the War of the Golden Stool was fought because a European governor wanted to sit on a sacred stool.
MekwA TIL in 1928 women competed in the 800 Meters Olympics for the first time and it was reported by the media to be a complete disaster with women fainting and sobbing hysterically. Women were no longer allowed to compete until 1960. In reality, no one fainted and several beat the existing world record.
grQxL TIL that "chaturanga" (चतुरङ्ग), meaning "four-limbed" in Sanskrit, refers to a yoga position using all four limbs, and also to an ancient precursor to chess whose figurative four limbs were the elephant, chariot, cavalry and infantry pieces that make up the army
KYrWE TIL For the Movie Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), James Cagney's main inspiration for playing the role of Rocky was a drug-addicted pimp, who stood on a street corner all day hitching his trousers, twitching his neck, and repeating: "Whadda ya hear! Whadda ya say!"