› added 6 years ago

100

TIL that when astronomer Carl Sagan sent Apple a cease & desist for codenaming a computer after him, they changed the name to "BHA," for "Butthead Astronomer." When he then sued for libel, the court dismissed the suit, noting "one does not seriously attack a scientist using the phrase 'butthead'."

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e0OEE A woman of average build, who exercises moderately intensively every day, burns about 2,000 kilocalories a day, and a man around 2,500 kilocalories. This means that you can live off your fat reserves for an average of 66 days (for a woman) or 53 days (for a man), as long as you don’t become more active.
pypA TIL there is a hungarian nazi terrorist group called Betyársereg, whom you can call if you are in “trouble” and their squad will come and help you out. They don’t charge for their “services” if Roma people are involved.
141r TIL a noblewoman (a widow of a samurai lord & descendent of a long line of ninjas) recruited, trained, & led an all-female group of 200-300 ninja agents—consisting of ex-prostitutes, orphans, & civil-war victims—who were successfully deployed for the Takeda clan against rival warlords in 1500s Japan
oBbvK TIL German author Hermann Hesse's mother was born in India. His grandfather compiled the Malayalam language, wrote the English-Malayalam dictionary & translated the Bible from English to Malayalam. This all lead to his 1922 novel 'Siddhartha'.
AD1B TIL that Anthony Hopkins prepared for his role as Hannibal Lector by imitating Katherine Hepburn’s warble, and never blinking when he talked to match tapes he watched of Charles Manson.