› added 5 years ago

68

TIL between 33K and 55K Canadians fought in the American Civil War. 29 were awarded Medals of Honor, one was a noted Union Spy, and one was a Union Army officer who formed and led the detachment that captured and killed John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Lincoln.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

wYK6 TIL the helicopter takedown in “live free or Die Hard” was done by launching an actual car into an actual helicopter (outer shell) with only CGI used to add debris and explosions
XExmr TIL that all-time great director Andrei Tarkovsky dismissed colour film as a gimmick, saying that in everyday life one does not consciously notice colours most of the time, and that films in colour are like moving paintings or photographs, which are too beautiful to be a realistic depiction of life
P4gZ TIL a young Richard Branson had his flight to the Virgin Islands cancelled, so he chartered a private airplane. Not having enough money to do so, he picked up a small blackboard, wrote “Virgin Airlines $29” on it, sold tickets for the rest of the seats, and used that money to pay for the ride.
oBRdE TIL (through NPR) that Gary Erickson, the owner of Clif Bar & Company, didn't name the iconic energy bar after his passion for rock climbing, but rather his father, Clifford.
rNBD0 TIL that bovines (cows/bulls) can't see the color red.