› added 1 year ago

54

TIL that Stalin didn't like constructivist architecture and under his rule cheap mass-produced buildings were de facto banned from being built in large cities, which instead were filled with grandiose buildings with detailed façades and labour intensive masonry.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

yVkGe TIL that Kentucky and West Virginia are tied for the most sleep-deprived U.S. states, both with 49% of adults reporting insufficient sleep (less than 7 hours nightly on average).
RaRQ TIL People with little or no skill suffer from a false feeling of superiority, this “Dunning-Kruger effect” was originally noted by Charles Darwin and its modern proponents won a Nobel prize for its documentation.
vPMwr TIL Aretha Williams, was given up as a child and informally adopted by Bailey and Mary Jane Robinson. At 15, Aretha became pregnant by Bailey, her adoptive father, and gave birth to music legend Ray Charles. After divorcing Bailey, Mary Jane helped raise Ray alongside Aretha.
JYLr8 TIL the way Helsinki survived WW2. In 1944 the USSR began a massive air attack on the city to force Finland to leave the war. Finns used fires and searchlights to trick Soviet bombers into dropping bombs outside the city. Russian diplomats were surprised to find an intact Helsinki after the war.
b9PL9 TIL that the 1952 Great Smog of London was so bad that the smog came indoors and movie screenings and concerts had to be cancelled because it was more difficult to see inside a large room like a movie theater.