› added 6 months ago

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TIL of the Turpan water system, an ancient network of thousands of hand dug wells and 5000 km of underground canals built under the Taklaman desert to channel groundwater to the Oasis city of Turpan, used to irrigate agriculture and provide water to the many caravans traveling the Silk Road.

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XE6aX TIL Studio Ghibli caps their merchandise income at 10 billion yen, in fear that any more commercialization would make their characters 'die instantly'
DvbY TIL adding milk before pouring tea was originally intended to cool it so poor-quality cups would not crack from the heat. Adding one’s milk second showed you had the finest china and were a better class of person.
8akP8 TIL there is a jigsaw puzzle designer that specifically targets the wealthy with his extremely difficult high-quality wooden puzzles. His name is Steve Richardson but people call him the 'Chief Tormentor' and his puzzle can go as high as $8,000.
neJKr TIL Link, from The Legend Of Zelda, was originally intended to have a button nose similar to Mario, but the wife of game designer Yoshiaki Koizumi convinced him to change it to a sharper one because she thought Nintendo didn't have enough handsome characters.
6e6Z TIL that in 1909, the employees of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company went on strike, demanding a shorter work week as well as unlocked doors and sturdier fire escaped. They were denied the latter demands, and as a result many of the same workers died in the Triangle fire two years later.