› added 12 years ago

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TIL major cities like New York, Paris, and Toronto create and maintain fake building fronts in urban centres to conceal vent shafts and utilities. The ‘property’ in Brooklyn concealing a 19th century vent shaft is worth over 2 million!

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via reddit.com

ArAg TIL that a “blind pig” was a lower-class establishment that sold alcohol during Prohibition (in contrast to a higher-class “speakeasy”). The owner would charge customers to see an attraction (such as an animal) and then serve a “complimentary” alcoholic beverage, thus circumventing the law.
xw0b TIL that in September of 2016, 180 million workers in India staged a strike. It was the largest strike in world history, and went virtually uncovered by mainstream news, as they were instead reporting on the iPhone 7 release.
xVvAg TIL that 18-35% of the population has a photic sneeze reflex where looking at the Sun or a bright light can cause them to sneeze.
ppAb TIL the longest marriage on record ended this year when Karam Chand died in England. He and his wife had been married for 90 years.
YpBnP TIL that there is an area in Turkey where people talk to each other using a whistled language that can be heard up to half a mile away.