How to crash an Aston Martin

When the stunt team tried to flip James Bond’s Aston Martin DBS in ‘Casino Royale,’ they found the car too stable to be overturned by an 18” ramp. In their last attempt they fitted the DBS with a gas cannon and ended up rolling the car a total of 7 times, accidentally setting a new world record.

This story starts in late 2005 when Aston boss Ulrich Bez invited Bond producer Barbara Broccoli to look at a new model under development in their design studio. Broccoli immediately loved the car and cast it as the perfect transport for Daniel Craig in Casino Royale.

Point Nemo is the most remote location on Earth

48°52.6′S 123°23.6′W are the coordinates of a place in the Pacific Ocean that is farthest from any landmass on Earth. The nearest lands are Ducie Island, Motu Nui (part of the Easter Islands) and Maher Island (Antarctica), each sepearated by 2,688 km (1,670 mi) of endless ocean to point Nemo. This means the nearest humans are often astronauts. The International Space Station orbits the Earth at a maximum of 258 miles (416km).

Star Wars filming locations

A complete overview of all Star Wars filming locations around the world.

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)



Naboo Royal Palace
Caserta, Italy
Lat/Long coordinates 41.073206, 14.326956

The palace of Caserta is a former royal residence in southern Italy, constructed for the kings of Naples. It is one of the largest palaces in the world, with over 2 million m³ of building volume and covering an area of about 235,000 m². The palace was closed to public for four days to shoot the interior scenes.

You can see Amidala's throne room, the hallways and the famous palace staircase here.

Why airplane lights are dimmed during takeoff and landing

One of the mysteries of flying that many passengers have pondered is: why does the flight crew dim the plane’s cabin lights for takeoff and landing?

The reason is safety.

Dimming the lights allows your eyes to pre-adjust to darkness, so that you're not suddenly blinded if something happens and the power goes out, and you're dashing for the doors in darkness or smoke. It also makes the emergency path-lighting and signs more visible and makes it easier to see outside, which helps you to maintain your sense of orientation.

East Asians produce no body odor

According to a LiveScience article from 2013, scientists discovered there is actually a gene called ABCC11, which is responsible for producing body odor. Those who produce a dry version of earwax also lack the same bacteria living in armpits causing odor. The reasoning behind this theory is because those who produce dry earwax also don’t produce the protein that transports sweat out of pores in our armpits, which attracts bacteria that cause body odor.

A dead whale turns into a mini ecosystem

This phenomenon is called a whale fall. A whale fall is the carcass of a dead whale that has fallen into the abyssal zone (deeper than 1.000 m, or 3.300 ft) on the ocean floor. This can create a local ecosystem that supplies sustenance to deep-sea organisms for decades. This is unlike in shallower waters, where the carcass will be consumed by scavengers over a relatively short period of time.

Microsoft included Solitaire in Windows as a mouse tutorial

Microsoft has included the game Solitaire as part of its Windows product line since Windows 3.0, starting from 1990. They intended games like Solitaire and Minesweeper "to soothe people intimidated by the operating system," and at a time where many users were still unfamiliar with graphical user interfaces, it proved useful in familiarizing them with the use of a mouse, such as the drag-and-drop technique required for moving cards.

Carrots are orange because of the Dutch

For centuries, almost all carrots were yellow, white or purple. But in the 17th century, most of those crunchy vegetables turned orange, but why?

They are orange for entirely political reasons: in the 17th century, Dutch growers have cultivated orange carrots as a tribute to William of Orange – the one who led the the struggle for Dutch independence. The new color was an instant hit. A thousand years of yellow, white and purple carrot history, was wiped out in a generation.

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