› added 5 years ago

122

TIL about Mehran Karimi Nasseri, a man who spent 18 years (1988-2006) living in Terminal 1 of Paris CDG airport. He was the inspiration for the movie The Terminal. Nasseri lived with his carry-on belongings on a bench, and received food and support from airport staff and travelers.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

wLJ47 TIL that in South Africa a flamethrower attachment for BMW's was sold which was designed to blind, but not kill, carjackers.
K0Dw TIL 1930’s starlet Hedy Lamarr invented a new technology to stop Nazi’s from jamming Navy torpedoes, but the idea was rejected until 1962 and implemented during the Cold War. Her frequency hopping technology is also the basis for modern Bluetooth.
9wljB TIL the 1902 Rickshaw Controversy. After colonizing the Philippines, Americans tried to "improve" urban public transportation by replacing privately operated horse-cabs with publicly-funded Rickshaws. It failed as Filipinos thought it turned them into beasts of burden, and revolted against the idea.
V6G0 TIL that 3 men forced their way into a 67-year-old man’s home with the intention of raping his granddaughter and stealing the money in his safe. He agreed to open the safe and take out the cash, but instead of taking out the money, he took out a gun and shot all of them.
egW4 TIL there is a large blobby mass called the ‘North Carolina Sewer Monster’ found to be living in the sewers of Raleigh, North Carolina. No one knows exactly what it is composed of and it reacts to light and heat by pulsating and retracting.