Things I never knew!

[Annie_M]

I'm starting this thread so that we can share "fun facts" with our fellow iMoreians. Posts about anything are welcome (as long as they are legal and don't violate iMore's Community Rules & Guidelines).

 

[Annie_M]

Born in Austria on this day in 1914, the mathematically talented Lamarr moved to the US in 1937 to start a Hollywood career. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, she was considered one of cinema's leading ladies and made numerous films; however, her passion for engineering is far less known today. Her interest in inventing was such that she set up an engineering room in her house complete with a drafting table and wall of engineering reference books. With the outbreak of World War II, Lamarr wanted to apply her skills to helping the war effort and, motivated by reports of German U-boats sinking ships in the Atlantic, she began investigating ways to improve torpedo technology.

After Lamar met composer George Antheil, who had been experimenting with automated control of musical instruments, together they hit on the idea of "frequency hopping." At the time, radio-controlled torpedoes could easily be detected and jammed by broadcasting interference at the frequency of the control signal, thereby causing the torpedo to go off course. Frequency hopping essentially served to encrypt the control signal because it was impossible for a target to scan and jam all of the frequencies.

Lamarr and Antheil were granted a patent for their invention on August 11, 1942, but the US Navy wasn't interested in applying their groundbreaking technology until twenty years later when it was used on military ships during a blockade of Cuba in 1962. Lamarr and Antheil's frequency-hopping concept serves as a basis for the spread-spectrum communication technology used in GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices. Unfortunately, Lamarr's part in its development has been largely overlooked and her efforts weren't recognized until 1997, when the Electronic Frontier Foundation gave her an award for her technological contributions. Hedy Lamarr passed away in 2000 at the age of 85 and, in 2014, she was as long last inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for her invention of a "Secret Communication System" many years ago.

Source: A Mighty Girl Twitter Post
https://twitter.com/amightygirl/status/1193260094466789378

 

[Dgray2712]

Mountain Dew was originally developed to be a mixer for whiskey. Also, it’s illegal to hunt whales in Ohio on Sundays.

 

[wilber1]

On this day in history ,

On November 10, 1969, “Sesame Street,” a pioneering TV show that would teach generations of young children the alphabet and how to count, makes its broadcast debut. “Sesame Street,” with its memorable theme song (“Can you tell me how to get/How to get to Sesame Street”), went on to become the most widely viewed children’s program in the world. It has aired in more than 120 countries.

 

[nikkisharif]

The Michael Myers (Halloween movie franchise) mask was made from William Shatner’s Captain Kirk mask.

 

[Annie_M]

12022021
Today’s date is both a palindrome and an ambigram; you can read the date from left to right, right to left and upside down!!

Source: https://mobile.twitter.com/rorymcevoy/status/1360317704540930057

 

[wilber1]

An average person will spend 25 years asleep.

 

[Annie_M]

Apparently, there's a candy cane shortage this year! Who knew?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/shopping/2021/12/20/candy-cane-shortage-2021/8976382002/

 

[EdwinG]

Did you know Canada has a maple syrup vault?
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/maple-syrup-vault-tour-1.6279797