› added 6 years ago

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TIL, a small triangle in NYC about 27x25x27 inches was not accounted for in an eminent domain seizure in 1914. The owner installed a small mosaic which said "PROPERTY OF THE HESS ESTATE WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN DEDICATED FOR PUBLIC PURPOSES." It is still there today.

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kJ1v1 TIL that our solar system is not a solar system. It's a planetary system NAMED the solar system. The name comes from our sun.
WkgB4 TIL that in a 2017 criminal case, the US government put the secrecy of its hacking tools above all else. Prosecutors chose to drop all charges in a case of child exploitation on the dark web rather than reveal the technological means they used to locate the anonymized Tor user.
rmvW TIL that a HD Cable/DVR box uses more power than a refrigerator.
awa09 TIL The Lord of the Rings films originally would have been released by Disney via Miramax but they chose not to fund it due to costs. They let New Line Cinema have it on the condition they pay $10M in "turnaround" costs. The LOTR trilogy will later on gross over $2.9B at the global box office.
R7OO8 TIL the US Army acquired 75 camels from abroad after Congress appropriated $30,000 in 1855 for the procurement of camels for military purposes. The camels were determined to be well suited for hauling supplies between military outposts in arid regions. They were subsequently all auctioned off.