› added 6 years ago

95

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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LkoW0 TIL thanks to mergers Disney now owns 17/20 of the top grossing films of all-time (US), including the entire top 5. For worldwide box office, they own 14/20.
JYrnV TIL Michael Jackson liked the song “Behind the Mask” by Japanese electronic group, the Yellow Magic Orchestra, so much that he wanted to include it in Thriller. He added lyrics, melodies to make it a song about a girlfriend would often hide her emotions behind a "mask"
Eg46P TIL there's little to no evidence that ancient Roman culture discriminated social statuses based on skin color.
pY5Lp TIL that a 2024, 50-year study shows that ski helmets can protect against typical concussions from falling on the snow surface, but not atypical high-speed collisions against trees on blue runs which remain statistically fatal.
7aRX TIL the US Department of Justice and the National Institute of Justice reported in 2004 that the effects of renewing the 1994 assault weapon ban might be “too small for reliable measurement” because “[assault weapons] were rarely used in gun crimes even before the ban”.