› added 3 months ago

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TIL while filming the 1987 film RoboCop, actor Peter Weller struggled to see through the thin helmet visor and interact with (or grab) objects while wearing the gloves. Weller's experience in the costume was only worsened by the warm weather, which made him sweat off up to 3 lb (1.4 kg) per day.

R7eY8 TIL the term “the big apple” originally referred to horse racing. The city got its most famous nickname from a local newspaper’s horse racing column in the 1920s. Prior to the city’s adoption of the nickname, the phrase “Big Apple” was used to describe a big money prize at important horse races.
XE88Q TIL The absence of land mammals in New Zealand allowed birds to become dominant, and with fewer threats from predators many species became flightless. NZ is home to the most flightless birds having 16 out of the 60 species worldwide.
4XAbN TIL of Anthony Mascarenhas, a Pakistani journalist who dared to write the truth about the atrocities committed by Pakistan in Bangladesh in 1971. He flew to UK to ‘visit a sick sister’ and agreed to get it run in the Sunday Times. The story ran the day after he snuck his family out of Pakistan.
VM1P8 TIL that in the 1970s, at the height of the Troubles, Stanley Kubrick was in Ireland shooting scenes featuring red-coated British soldiers. He got a threatening phone call telling him he had 24 hours to leave Ireland. He left in 12.
0pLA TIL there is a biker group called Patriot Guard Riders who attend funerals for fallen soldiers, protecting the families against anti-gay protesters