› added 6 years ago

176

TIL that the German Blitzkrieg was literally fueled by speed. During the early part of WW2, the German gov't distributed meth tablets to its armed forces as part of an effort to make individuals "superhuman."

8aGE8 TIL Tom Hanks refused to get paid for his roles in Forrest Gump and Saving Private Ryan, preferring to take percentages of the movies’ worldwide total gross instead. He got almost $60 million from Forrest Gump, and between $30 million and $40 million from Saving Private Ryan.
d84M7 TIL associative memory survives metamorphosis in moths/butterflies (Lepidoptera). Meaning moths and butterflies remember aspects of caterpillar-life, despite effectively turning to goo in the metamorphosis.
vWgL TIL of Tycho Brahe, an enormously rich 16th century Danish astronomer, who is well known for his pet moose that accompanied him everywhere and developed a strong taste for beer, eventually becoming so intoxicated at a party that it fell down a flight of stairs and died from subsequent injuries
WkXvX TIL that in 1729, Jonathan Swift published a satirical essay in which suggested that the impoverished Irish might ease their economic troubles by selling their children as food to rich gentlemen. This satirical hyperbole mocked heartless attitudes of the British towards the poor and Irish in general
dD4vB TIL that the father of Stewart Copeland, a founding member of rock band The Police, was one of the founders of the US Central Intelligence Agency, Miles Copeland Jr.