› added 2 years ago

148

TIL that the movie "Jaws" used an engineless, fiberglass boat that could "sink on command" and resurface. The Orca II was a replica of the wooden Orca, a real boat used as Quinn's shark hunting ship at the end of the film. Pneumatic tubes tipped barrels mounted below Orca II to fill up and sink it.

Read more beatlyzer.com

via beatlyzer.com

logbr TIL that in the international standard for paper size (used everywhere except the USA and some Latin American countries), the aspect ratio is always √2:1, so that when cut in half, the halves also have the same aspect ratio. In the "A" series (including A4), A0 is 1 m², A1 is 0.5 m², and so on
yQegX TIL Sacha Baron Cohen left the Freddie Mercury biopic over creative differences with Queen; he was told Mercury died in the middle of the film. Impressed, he thought they meant a non-linear story structure like Pulp Fiction but realized the second half would be how the band “carried on.”
5VXnD TIL about the "Tanganyika-Laughter Epidemic". A student in 1962 in Tanzania started laughing in a school in Kashasha. The laughter quickly spread to hundreds of people,causing schools to close for months. Researchers believe it was caused by stress, social tensions. No official explanation was given
xVnMB TIL in 2018, NYC had a period where (for the first time ever) it had a lower murder rate than London, causing many people to believe London became more dangerous. In truth, it was likely heavy snow that caused the lower rate in NYC. By the end of the year, NYC had double the murder rate.
gMkM7 TIL in 1589, William Lee was refused a patent grant for his knitting machine after Elizabeth I feared automation would lead to mass unemployment