› added 6 years ago

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TIL the much of the NYC subway system's control signals are still based on hundred year old technology. When parts fail, they must be scavenged from scrapped parts or custom made at great expense.

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yVKnw TIL in 1996 a couple named their son "Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116" claiming it was pronounced "Albin." This was in protest to a $740 fine they'd received for failing to register a name by his fifth birthday.
gk4b TIL In Ancient Sparta boys were punished for not answering questions Briefly and Wittily enough
oBbRK TIL around 8,000 years ago, a 25-40m tsunami struck the east coast of the UK due to ice falling into the North Sea from Norway, delivering a devastating, if not final, blow to Doggerland, a dry land connection between them and mainland Europe.
neWyr TIL that your US mailbox is the property of the US postal service; no one else is allowed to use it. FedEx exists because of a bike courier exception for "extremely urgent" mail. USPS has forced Equifax to pay a $30,000 fine for FedEx use that was not extremely urgent.
jl0p TIL The first time ‘mammoth’ was used as an adjective was in reference to a 1,234 pound wheel of cheese which was presented to US President Thomas Jefferson