› added 7 years ago

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TIL when telephones first came into commercial use you had to whistle loudly into the receiver to get the other person's attention, as telephone bells hadn't been invented yet.

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BVbx TIL that left and right headlights are not symmetrical, by law.
R7My8 TIL toilet paper only became "splinter-free" in the 1930s.
GAyrj TIL the IAA mysteriously requested that Yaron Rosenthal bury the discovery of some proto-Aeolic columns, saying, “Yaron, please, you found it, but we know about it. Now forget the whole thing and keep your mouth shut.”
XBXR TIL Blade Runner’s tears in rain monologue was rewritten by Rutger Hauer the night before filming with the line “all those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain” being added. When Hauer performed the scene, the film crew applauded and some even cried.
KYJ5G TIL the twin towns of Laufenburg, split by the High Rhine, built a bridge in 2004. Different sea level references—Mediterranean for Switzerland, North Sea for Germany—led to a 270 mm difference, which a sign error doubled to 540 mm in the middle of the bridge.