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TIL New York City has entire fake buildings that act as vents for the underground subway

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RBMl TIL: A Japanese scientist discovered the jet stream in the 1920s, but it was ignored as he published his findings in esperanto
grVlD TIL in the 1980s, parents were upset at a Seattle firm about phone bill charges after a half-hour show featuring Santa told children to hold the telephone up to the TV whereupon touch-tone sounds would dial a 1-900 number. A spokesman said this was to prevent children from dialing the wrong number.
Me5WA TIL the monument in front of the tomb of Wu Zetian, China's only female monarch, has no inscriptions. Among the many explanations given: she saw her great achievements as indescribable; she didn't want the scholars to smear her name; or as a Buddhist, she considered life and death to be meaningless
awBKN TIL that during WW2 there was a saying that "It's more likely for a snake to smoke a pipe, than for Brazil to go the front and fight", so when Brazil joined the war, their troops became known as "Cobras Fumantes", or "the Smoking Snakes".
xVDnB TIL a surgeon named John Bradmore was released from prison to extract an arrowhead from young Henry V's skull. He invented an extractor to remove the bodkin (5 in. deep) and healed the wound with honey and wine.