› added 2 years ago

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TIL that from 1925 to 1939, a group of corporations called the Phoebus cartel, including General Electric and Philips, coordinated competition among lightbulb manufacturers. To drive repeat sales, they fined companies which produced lightbulbs with an average lifespan exceeding 1,000 hours.

GV84 TIL A robbery suspect fled into a darkened movie theater to escape pursuing police. He became so engrossed in the movie playing on screen, Robocop, that he failed to notice that police had evacuated all other patrons from the theater. When the lights came on he was taken into custody.
R5oj7 TIL about the Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka. It was a rocket-powered human-guided kamikaze attack aircraft. Although extremely fast, the very short range of the Ohka meant that it had to be carried into action as a parasite aircraft by a much larger bomber
Y7VKB TIL about Robert Liston, a British surgeon noted for his speed and skill in an era prior to anesthetics. His most famous case involved a leg amputation that took 2 1/2 minutes, and resulted in the amputation of his assistant's fingers and the coat tails of a surgical spectator.
npv7 TIL that limes were used as a military secret by the British navy, as scurvy was a common scourge of various national navies, and the ability to remain at sea for lengthy periods without contracting the disorder was a huge benefit for the military.
OovB4 TIL of Jean Van Landeghem, a Belgian man who has been repeatedly pranked with pizza deliveries for nearly a decade, and he does not know who is sending them.