› added 2 months ago

TIL about the Helistat - an experimental blimp lifted by 4 helicopter chassis that cost $100m, and crashed almost immediately when they tried to fly it.

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69mZ8 TIL in 1518, a ‘Dancing Plague’ struck Strasbourg, where hundreds of people danced uncontrollably for days, with some dancing themselves to death.
yOYa TIL In 1960, runner Harry Jerome broke the world record for 100 metre sprint, but it wasn’t counted because Canadian officials didn’t believe a Canadian could run that fast.
yokl TIL gloves were introduced into boxing not for safety reasons but to increase hits to the head and dramatic knockouts.
9jpr TIL of the Japan Air 123 accident, the deadliest single aircraft crash of all time. Crew could not control the plane so they used thrust to go up and down and differential trust to turn. It crashed after 32min. No simulation reconstruction held out as long as the crew did.
ngrr TIL the director of M.A.S.H. had his 14-year-old son write a song for a scene because it needed to be “the stupidest song ever written.” His son wrote it in 5 minutes. It became the theme. The director earned $70,000 for directing the movie; by 1980 his son had earned over $1 million from the song.