wo4nM TIL Boston's adult entertainment district called the "Combat Zone" in the 70's had support from both Senator Barney Frank and notable conservative William F Buckley Jr
R5yLj TIL the US Treasury has a service called the "US Currency Education Program" on how to spot counterfeit money, and all the security features paper currency has | "Move your finger up and down Benjamin Franklin’s ($100 bill) shoulder on the left side of the note. It should feel rough to the touch"
W7bg4 TIL that the sudden “breeze” you may feel in your car while turning isn’t the vents, it’s air lagging behind and creating a small pressure imbalance. Due to inertia (Newton’s First Law), the air keeps moving straight as the car turns. It’s noticeable when there are uneven air temps in the car.
9wXrD TIL that the same sodium lamps used for street lighting in the past were also used to light "greenscreen" (chromascreen) and was much better at it but isn't used anymore, being last used in Dick Tracy (1990)
nWMkG TIL in 1862, Bernard Kock, after visiting the World Fair in London, impressed by the quality of cotton from Haiti, developed a plan to send emancipated slaves to Île-à-Vache in Haiti. He went directly to President Lincoln to propose it. It was scrapped after signing the Emancipation Proclamation.
4kWea TIL that outsider artist and author Henry Darger once attempted to write an autobiography, which ended up having only 206 pages about his life and roughly 4,900 recounting the destruction of a fictional Illinois tornado named Sweetie Pie
x6n9B TIL "Choose Your Own Adventure" is not a book genre, but rather a genericized trademark for gamebooks.
5VRPB TIL Çeşm-i Bülbül is a Turkish glass blowing technique named after a nightingale’s eye due to comparisons made to the bird's occular organ patterns with the glass blowing technique
M7pob TIL that a plasma center in Haiti called Hemo Caribbean was responsible for amplifying the early HIV outbreak and its becoming into a global pandemic by its unsterile conditions. Hemo Caribbean at its peak exported 1,600 gallons of plasma to the United States monthly, mostly to hemophiliacs.
j6boX TIL about Wang Mang, a Confucian scholar from the 1st-century who overthrew the Han Dynasty in a coup and declared himself Emperor of China. He abolished slavery and nationalized all land, attempting to redistribute it equally to peasants. His reforms caused a civil war and he was beheaded
0dx61 TIL electricity being widespread is less than 100 years old
grbAA TIL (in my doomscrolling) that Vice Principal Strickland from Back to the Future is still alive at 94, and you're all SLACKERS!