› added 11 years ago

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TIL that Alec Guinness, the actor who played Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original trilogy, hated the film and described it as “fairy tale rubbish” and persuaded George Lucas to kill off Obi-Wan because he “couldn’t go on speaking those bloody awful, banal lines” and he “had enough of the mumbo jumbo”.

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GV9g TIL After Stephen Colbert called Windsor (Ontario) ‘the Earth’s rectum’ the CBC made a poll on their website asking if the description was good for the city and 85% said Yes.
KOkWR TIL that it takes 15 gallons of water to produce just 16 almonds and they rely on pesticides to grow successfully; the popularity of Almond Milk is causing environmental and sustainability problems in California where 80% of the world’s almonds are grown.
Z8PmY TIL about Elizabeth Sugrue, Irelands only female executioner. Sentenced to death, she volunteered to hang the other prisoners in exchange for her life, as the local hangman was ill on that day. Her offer was accepted, and she was kept for the job.
gr8ay TIL: An Indian mathematician identified Mt. Everest as the world's highest peak in 1852. Using trigonometry, he calculated its height to be 29,000 ft. In 2020, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Nepal determined the actual height to be 29,031 ft - a difference of 31 ft from the 1852 estimate.
YpYjr TIL that some true statements in mathematics are true but cannot be proven. Ironically, if you prove that something cannot be proven, this proves that it must be true.