› added 12 years ago

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TIL that there is a hidden spy room at an AT&T building in downtown San Francisco that splits all incoming communications traffic, copying this information to the NSA. This room has been operational since at least 2003 and has been publicly known to exist since 2006.

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WkXkY TIL that "Cracklin Rosie" is actually a bottle of wine. Neil Diamond got the idea for the song from an old folk story about an Indian tribe with more men than women. The guys who didn't have girls would spend time with the bottle.
GAyXG TIL: Christopher Reeve wanted to play the Richard Gere role in Pretty Woman but was turned away. The role went to Richard Gere, who had gotten his role in American Gigilo after Christopher Reeve turned it down.
7rGJM TIL that child auctions were commonplace in Finland and Sweden up until the mid 1930's. The children involved were orphans or from extremely poor backgrounds and were sold to the lowest bidder. The children were provided with a home and education but were also expected to work in return.
mxeEP TIL: Puzzled for years, a French municipality finally offered a reward for the translation of “ROC AR B…DRE AR GRIO SE EVELOH AR VIRIONES BAOAVEL” and other 18th century markings on a person-sized stone often submerged until low tide. The deadline for submissions passed --no news of a breakthrough.
Y71wx TIL about a 10 cent beer night for an MLB team that caused fans to be so drunk that they threw firecrackers, openly smoked marijuana, streaked, and eventually rioted the field. The game was forfeited.