So, apparently the new #Renault 5 is #COTY 2025.

Unlike the old one, the OG 1970s Renault 5, that was beaten to the COTY 1973 title by the Audi 80.

#ObscureFactOfTheDay

#PostScript is not just a page description language used, most notably, in PDF files.

It's actually a Turing-complete programming language.

#ObscureFactOfTheDay

The car exhaust #muffler was invented in conjunction with the firearm #suppressor. That's why the term #silencer is a synonym for both devices.

Both were developed by Hiram Percy #Maxim (son of Hiram Maxim, the inventor of the modern automatic machine gun).

#ObscureFactOfTheDay

#Volkswagen has produced more sausages than cars.

In their #Wolfsburg plant, VW makes #currywurst for the various plants canteens and restaurants.

They also have assigned it a #VW part number, like any other normal spare part. There's also a VW branded ketchup to go with them

#ObscureFactOfTheDay

Even though #Boeing called 717 the latest iteration of the DC-9/MD-80 family, a real #Boeing717 actually exists

717 is the internal model number for the C-135 #Stratolifter, the military derivative of the 367-80 prototype (the #Boeing707 was the civilian iteration)

#ObscureFactOfTheDay

#WD-40 was created in the 1950s by the "Rocket Chemical Company" to cover the outer layer of the #Atlas #ICBM and prevent its corrosion the formation of rust.

The acronym stands for "Water Displacement, 40th formula".

It then became commercially available in 1961.

#WD40 #ObscureFactOfTheDay

The #Porsche911 was originally meant to be called 901, as that was #Porsche internal project number for the new model

#Peugeot quickly pointed out that in France they had exclusive rights to car model numbers with 3 digits and a 0 in the middle

So the name was changed to 911.

#ObscureFactOfTheDay

Ayrton #Senna and Gerhard #Berger used to play pranks on each other when they were teammates.

One time, Berger replaced Senna's passport photo with a picture of male genitalia, and Ayrton was detained by customs.

As revenge, he superglued all of Berger's credit cards together

#ObscureFactOfTheDay

The #Spritz cocktail has its roots in the Austro-Hungarian domination of northeastern Italy in the 1800s
The Austrian soldiers used to dilute the strong (for their taste) Italian wine with a "spritz" of water

Then in the 1920s the recipe started to include bitters like #Aperol

#ObscureFactOfTheDay

Even though the #Boeing767 was the first #Boeing wide-body with a two person #cockpit, five 767-200 were built for #Ansett Australia with a separate flight engineer panel/third cockpit seat, as their pilot union demanded the redundant role was kept even on these newer aircrafts

#ObscureFactOfTheDay

In 1999, Blink-182 violated the Geneva Convention

The cover of "Enema of the State" showed Janine Lindemulder dressed as a nurse,a red cross on her hat

That symbol is protected by the Convention,so the Red Cross asked the band to remove it from future releases, which they did

#ObscureFactOfTheDay

The photo shows Alan Turing's Teddy Bear, Porgy, as displayed in Bletchley Park. (Photo taken by yours truly in August 2024)

An adult Alan #Turing bought himself a teddy bear and named it #Porgy.

During his time at #Cambridge, he is said to have practised his lectures in front of it.

Today Porgy is displayed at #Bletchley Park, on loan from Turing's niece, who received it as a gift from him.

#ObscureFactOfTheDay

In 1989, the Soviet Union gave Pepsi 17 submarines, a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer, as payment

Some say that this made Pepsi, for a while, the 6th largest navy in the world. The truth is they were old vessels, Pepsi immediately sold them to a Norwegian company for scrap

#ObscureFactOfTheDay

#Mach microkernel, the base for #Apple #XNU kernel (itself at the base of #macOS and its siblings), was meant to be called MUCK (as in mud). An Italian software engineer misspelled the name, writing "mach" instead, and the original developer liked this name better, so it stuck

#ObscureFactOfTheDay

Niki #Lauda won the 1984 #FormulaOne World Championship over Alain Prost, by half a point.

This was because the infamous 1984 Monaco Grand Prix was stopped for rain after 75% of the race was completed, so only half of the final points were awarded on that occasion.

#ObscureFactOfTheDay

The side view of a 1968 Peugeot 204. (photo credit Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1968_Peugeot_Model_204_(7407642946).jpg )

Pierre #Bézier, of Bézier curves fame, worked at #Renault and developed their first in-house #CAD system, #UNISURF.

The first car designed using the system was the #Peugeot 204, its body shaped using #spline curves.

#ObscureFactOfTheDay

Two DEC #PDP-8 and a #PDP-10 were used to automate the tests of the #Concorde airframe during its development. They were used to control air flows and pneumatic jacks used to stress test the fuselage.

#ObscureFactOfTheDay