› added 8 years ago

106

TIL that Dustin Hoffman’s aunt warned him “You can’t be an actor. You are not good-looking enough.” When discussing ‘The Graduate’ (1967), his first starring role, 'Life’ magazine joked that “if Dustin Hoffman’s face were his fortune, he’d be committed to a life of poverty”.

Read more wikipedia.org

via ift.tt

1aOmX TIL that the first pocket calculator [Curta (Type I) mechanical calculator] was invented by the Jewish inventor Curt Herzstark in Buchenwald concentration camp during WWII. The Nazis planned to make a present of it to Hitler as a gift after the successful end of the war.
lona1 TIL that Hans Zimmer's "Spider Pig", from The Simpsons Movie soundtrack, entered the UK singles chart at #24. The running time for the song is a mere 1:04, making it the second shortest single to ever chart.
epvwn TIL that in 1994 Porsche launched the C88, a prototype family car designed for the Chinese market in response to the Chinese government's invitation to international manufacturers for a new range of cars. It did not feature the Porsche badge and was designed with only one child seat.
VMp1p TIL that farmers in USA are hacking their John Deere tractors with Ukrainian firmware, which seems to be the only way to actually own the machines and their software, rather than rent them for lifetime from John Deere.
OGyM4 TIL that polyamory is not prohibited in Judaism, but there was a temporary ban by Rabbenu Gershom in the 11th century which has since expired