› added 5 years ago

172

TIL George Lucas approved of Mel Brooks’ Star Wars parody Spaceballs and signed off on a fair use agreement. The only condition was that no Spaceballs merchandise would be made to compete with Star Wars merchandise. This is why there’s never been any Spaceballs figures, cereal, or flamethrower.

Read more legendsrevealed.com

via reddit.com

MdZW TIL that Ontario has a massive “border wall” of edible rabies vaccine baits to prevent rabid animals from entering from the US. The recent outbreak of rabies came from a raccoon from southeastern NY who came via truck or train.
mxlEx TIL a UFC fan happened to get fighter Rory MacDonald’s old cell phone number and was selecting Rory’s walk out music via text messages without Rory or the UFC finding out for years.
xXVD TIL Native American women in the U.S. were apart of a forced sterilization government program. If they refused, they were sterilized without their knowledge during other routine surgeries.
78wZx TIL That Alcatraz escapee John Anglin reportedly wrote a letter to San Francisco’s police department in 2013. In it, the 83 year old asked to be promised on TV no more than a year in jail and that he would reveal his location if followed through.
ArAg TIL that a “blind pig” was a lower-class establishment that sold alcohol during Prohibition (in contrast to a higher-class “speakeasy”). The owner would charge customers to see an attraction (such as an animal) and then serve a “complimentary” alcoholic beverage, thus circumventing the law.