› added 8 years ago

245

TIL of “muntzing”, a method for improving the design of electronic products: Remove components until it stops working, then put the last-removed part back in. It is named after Earl “Madman” Muntz, who used the method to cut manufacturing costs of his popular televisions in the 1940s and 50s.

Read more electronicdesign.com

via ift.tt

0d6YL TIL that the Chicago Daily Tribune was so sure in Thomas E. Dewey winning the 1948 presidential election, they printed the next day edition with an incorrect headline "Dewey Defeats Truman".
1aKyX TIL Gremlins were invented by the RAF as mythical creatures who break airplanes, as way to explain random mechanical failures in reports; an "investigation" was even conducted to make sure Gremlins didn't have nazi sympathies
j6y0M TIL there is a semi-secret club in the United States for male aviators. Founded in 1919 it now has 277 "hangers" across the country. Notable members include Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Charles Lindbergh, helicopter designer Igor Sikorsky, WW II Raider Jimmy Doolittle and WW I ace Eddie Rickenbacker.
jN7n TIL that Major Charles Sweeny, pilot of the B29 that nuked Nagasaki, ignored direct orders during the bombing, nearly causing the plane to crash from low fuel. Instead of investigating Sweeny’s conduct, the chief of staff for the Strategic Air Forces simply stated “You fucked up, didn’t you, Chuck?”
l79o5 TIL - Disney once sued three day care centers in Florida for unauthorized use of their characters (5 foot high likenesses on murals on the buildings) who had to remove them. Universal in turn let the centers use Scooby Doo, Flintstones & other of their Hanna-Barbera characters.