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TIL there is a completely uninhabited village in North Korea built solely for propaganda, with dozens of empty buildings.

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Ebwx TIL GM tried to discredit Ralph Nader, hiring private detectives to tap his phones and investigate his past, and hired prostitutes to trap him in compromising situations. Nader sued GM and settled the case for $425,000. He used the money to start the pro-consumer Center for Study of Responsive Law.
kOXRm TIL: In 1930, a group of white Southern church ladies called bullsh-- on lynching, forming the Assoc. of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching. They were pretty effective! I learned it from Lillian Smith's 'Killers of the Dream' (1949), but here's an article...
nedMb TIL There was a proposal to make Ottawa's Rideau Street enclosed in a continuous glass-and-steel structure. The heated mall was expected to allow pedestrians to shop in comfort year-round. However, the downside was that it attracted large numbers of vagrants and late-night drinkers
XEALR TIL - That the “Choose Your Own Adventure” series of books came about after the creator ran out of bedtime stories to tell his daughters, so he asked them what they thought the protagonist should do next. He would then continue the story based on their choices.
9YLGM TIL 3 men were shipwrecked in the south Pacific; buoyed by life vests, they swam to the deserted island Fanadik. After 3 days on the island, a US Navy plane spotted a fire the men made and then saw the men waving life vests next to palm fronds that spelled H-E-L-P.