#TIL or Today I Learned will give you your weekly dose of trivia and fun facts – title of this weekly piece excluded, but sure! Go add it to your urban dictionary. This week, we are giving you trivia items you may have already heard of but have already forgotten. Of course! While trivia items belong to the semantic memory group, yes, that type of memory that stores general knowledge and facts, retaining it may last only for a few seconds but could also stay in our brains for almost a decade. Aha! Two pieces of trivia even before starting the rundown!
Let’s go and keep the ball rolling, then!
#TIL 1: NOKIA SMS Tones
“Di-di-dit dah-dah Di-di-dit.” Anyone who has heard of NOKIA surely knows this “Special” tone when receiving text messages. But the tone is actually a morse code for SMS represented by three consecutive dots, two dashes, and three more dots (… — …). The standard tone is also a morse code for M, represented by two dashes (–). Morse code is learned by listening. Dots represent dit or di, and dashes are represented by “dah.” So, when I say “Hey!” you say …. —!
#TIL 2: Superscript in McDonald’s ketchup sachet
Ever wondered what those numbers are for? You might have already heard others say that the number represents the level of sweetness of the ketchup. The official Heinz twitter handle officially debunked this trivia.
The numbers do not represent the level of sweetness but rather the number of the filling head.
The same thing could be said about the very number present in all Heinz – ’57 varieties’ products. The number 57 does not represent the company’s products but rather was chosen by Henry Heinz over 60, which was the original number of products they offer, solely because he did not like 60, and 57 is his lucky number. Bonus trivia! Tap the spot on the neck bottle where 57 is located to get more ketchup out faster!
#TIL 3: Disney logo changes
You read that right! Disney changes the design of the iconic Cinderella castle for every film to give viewers the context of the movie they are about to watch. Additionally, in 2011 they switched the branding from Walt Disney to Disney, which was first seen in The Muppets.
The castle in the logo was also changed. The first one featured was from Sleeping Beauty until it was changed to Cinderella’s in the 70s. Both were inspired by the Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria.
#TIL 4: Lightsaber on every Star Wars OST in Spotify
For Star Wars fans out there! Play any Star Wars Official Soundtrack on the desktop app of Spotify and check out the progress indicator for a bit of surprise! Speaking of lightsabers, did you notice how it could cut almost everything, including human limbs, but produce little to no blood at all? That’s because lightsabers use pure energy so hot; they flash-cauterize wounds.
#TIL 5: El Nido is the inspiration for The Beach movie
While the movie was set in Koh Phi Phi in Thailand, the real inspiration for the Leonardo Di Caprio movie The Beach is actually El Nido. Novelist Alex Garland stayed in El Nido, Palawan, for six months while writing the cult novel.
One may argue that it is a blessing in disguise that El Nido was not used in the film. Due to the movie’s popularity, it attracted many tourists to visit islands in Koh Phi Phi, which then led to the featured beach, Maya Bay, being placed to temporary closure due to environmental damage.
Check out our rundown for next week’s #TIL or if you know any trivia or fun facts, leave a comment and we will include it in our rundown. Who knows? You might be the source of our next feature!
