› added 7 months ago

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TIL that many countries do not grant full freedom of panorama: photographs of publicly-visible buildings may infringe copyright and may not be shared (especially commercially) without permission

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d0p8 TIL of Vexations, a piano piece meant to be played 840 times in a row, that takes roughly 18 hours to play and one man who attempted to solo it quit after 15 hours because he was hallucinating.
4XeoN TIL that a sewer worker accidentally discovered a drain that would lead right to the bank of England's gold vault. He then requested to meet the directors at any time of their choosing inside the vault, and appeared out of the floorboards at the specified time.
16raO TIL about the Jumping Frenchmen of Maine, who exhibited a rare disorder which entails an exaggerated startle reflex described as an uncontrollable "jump". Studies recorded individuals who would obey any command given suddenly, even if it meant striking a loved one.
OGE1a TIL of the General Slocum disaster in which a steamboat caught fire and sank in NYC waterways in 1904, killing 1,021 out of the 1,342 people on board.
x695k TIL about the loneliest whale in the world. Dubbed "The 52-hertz whale", it appears to be the only individual emitting a whale call at this frequency in the whole world. The whale itself has never been sighted.