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TIL it is customary for modern advertisements to display clocks and watches set to approximately 10:10 or 1:50, as this V-shaped arrangement roughly makes a smile, imitates a human figure with raised arms, and leaves the watch company's logo unobscured by the hands.

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Y70PP TIL Early home radios were referred to as BC capable, meaning Broadcast Channels. BC was AM signals, but AM was not a common reference until FM radios came along and they had to distinguish between them. Much like early records were never called 78s until after 33s and 45s came along.
J41m TIL “Hell’s Kitchen” is a neighborhood in Manhattan, NYC most likely named after 2 cops watching an Irish riot. The rookie said “this is hell,” and the veteran said, “It’s hotter. It’s Hell’s Kitchen.”
W710A TIL that the 1947 Belgian census was so controversial that it resulted in the discontinuing of language censuses in Belgium. Since 1961 there has been no official information on Belgian language knowledge or use.
YAQr TIL the BBC ran a contest asking vacationers for pictures of French beaches prior to D-Day to help gather intelligence and determine whether the beach was suitable for an amphibious landing.
VBLE8 TIL of Jörg Hartmann and Lothar Schleusener, aged 10 and 13, who were shot dead during an attempt to escape the Berlin Wall in 1966. Their families were notified of their deaths a few days later. "Officially" Jörg had drowned in a lake and Lothar had died from an electric shock near Leipzig.