› added 4 months ago

13

TIL that Roman Polanski was originally going to plead guilty to charges in return for no jail. However, after hearing the judge was planning to go back on his word and jail him, Polanski fled the United States never to return.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

x6eOb TIL that Kurt Tank invented the most streamlined commercial plane (FMA IA 36 Cóndor) by placing the propulsion into the fuselage - yet it was never built due to obvious flaws regarding practicality (see comments)
jeEn TIL Glenn Beck was an alcoholic and a cocaine addict for over 15 years, was diagnosed with ADHD, and has described himself as “borderline schizophrenic”
ADRD7 TIL: Chase Bank and J.P. Morgan & Co helped Germany in WWII by allowing Nazi sympathizers to purchase Marks (known as Rückwanderer) with dollars to fund the war effort. The banks also turned over their client lists to the Nazis who in turn used it to recruit spies in the US.
4XJew TIL that Dr. Strangelove was originally conceived as a drama about the nature of nuclear warfare, but as Kubrick was writing the screenplay, he felt many of the accurate depictions of nuclear warfare policy were too unbelievable for audiences to take seriously, and so it was turned into a comedy.
OoOWY TIL that in 1969, the Penn Central Railroad Co. planned to build a tower on top of Grand Central which would have required removal of a portion of the station's facade. The NYC Landmark Preservation Commission rejected the design, leading to a landmark Supreme Court "takings-clause"case in 1978.