› added 2 years ago

61

TIL that over 23 people have survived stowing away in the wheel well of commercial airplanes, including a man who traveled from Tahiti to LA in a 747 at 38,000 feet and was discovered with a body temperature of 79˚F.

4kVx6 TIL about Charles Howard, 20th Earl of Suffolk. He was responsible for rescuing a team of French nuclear scientists and the entire world stockpile of heavy water from France during WW2. He also served as part of an unexploded bomb detachment, successfully tackling 34 unexploded bombs
8e48V TIL that the Colony of Surinam or Willoughbyland(now Suriname) was traded for New Amsterdam(now Manhattan) under the Treaty of Westminster of 1674 between the Netherlands and England
XpaD TIL Pareidolia is a type of illusion or misperception involving a vague or obscure stimulus being perceived as something clear and distinct. For example, in the discolorations of a burnt tortilla one sees the face of Jesus.
Rpo8 TIL in the early days of sound movies, before dubbing, actors had to shoot each scene three times: one in English, one in Spanish, and one in either French or German (speaking their lines phonetically.) Buster Keaton complained about “having to shoot lousy films not just once, but three times.”
vP0xB TIL about Operation X-Ray, a WW2 program to develop an incendiary bomb attached to the chests of bats. Dropped in a tube over Japanese cities, it was thought that the bats would go to roost under the eaves of the largely wooden buildings, and when the timed devices went off, the cities would burn.