› added 9 years ago

82

TIL that M. Night Shyamalan chose not to work on the Life of Pi movie because he didn’t want audiences to suspect a twist.

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avGM TIL CIA had a hand in overthrowing the democratically elected government of Syria in 1949
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.
VMb1p TIL that we owe the iconic Star Wars' opening text to Brian De Palma. After seeing an early cut of A New Hope, he strongly complained to George Lucas, calling the movie "non-sense". The idea for an introductive crawling text came from the ensuing exchange.
KO5aR TIL Ruthie Tompson, one of the animators of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Fantasia, and Sleeping Beauty, is still alive. She is 110 years old
0NvL TIL that Janissaries would place spoons on their hats in order to symbolize “The Brotherhood of the Spoon”. It was meant to further emphasize that Janissaries would live, eat, and fight together.