› added 11 years ago

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TIL that Disney rejected Back to the Future because the mother/son storyline was “not appropriate”

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epeE4 TIL that the WWII Japanese military had a wildfire campaign targeted at the USA, launching some 9,000 fire balloons into the jet stream, with an estimated 11% reaching the U.S. between November 1944 and April 1945. In the end the balloon bombs caused a total of six fatalities.
L8XQ TIL of a Sesame Street special in 1983 in which Big Bird helps a cursed 4,000 year old Egyptian child prince defeat a demon by solving a riddle and weighing his heart
9Yy9m TIL that ordering shorts or trousers online is a damn minefield, due to the prevalence of Vanity Sizing (US/UK issue) that labels clothing as being a lot smaller than they actually are. I normally shop where I can try shit on, but most of the shops in the UK are still shut, so forced to go online.
RD6a TIL that Russian Jewish engineer Jakow Trachtenberg developed a system of rapid mental calculation (The Trachtenberg system) while being held in a Nazi concentration camp in order to keep his mind occupied.
JYDkV TIL the top of the giant redwood forest were thought to be a lifeless wasteland. But explorers recently discover their canopy contains an entire ecosystem. A lake of fern, top soil a meter deep in its branches, trees and other plants, and crustaceans that only live in water all live up there.