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TIL the Ekranoplan was a secret Soviet weapon that was almost a football field in length, “flew” above the water at only a few feet, and had six missile launchers.

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x61kB TIL Helsinki, Finland was used to film many Cold War era Hollywood movies when filming in the USSR was not possible. Examples include The Kremlin Letter (1970), Reds (1981), and Gorky Park (1983).
grxoy TIL: In the film Jurassic Park (1993), the sound of the T. rex roar was a blend of various animal sounds. To create the fearsome roar, sound designer Gary Rydstrom combined the sounds of an elephant, a tiger, an alligator, and a baby crying.
4kvDg TIL of Père Fouettard, the antithesis of Santa Claus (St. Nicholas) who would accompany Santa and dispense coal and beating to bad children while Santa gave presents to the good ones.
VMOLm TIL that the sound of the sand people in Star Wars, or Tusken Raiders was made by deepening and varying the speed of braying donkeys.
eMeE TIL Palomar Observatory representatives have managed to persuade the city councils of San Diego and its neighboring communities to light their streets with low-pressure sodium lamps in order to reduce light pollution for their astronomers