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TIL Of the metronome of Leningrad. During the Nazi siege of the city they installed 1,500 loudspeakers that constantly played the sound of a metronome. A slow rhythm meant safety and a fast rhythm warned of an air attack.

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VMKap TIL: In 2010 competitive swimming banned polyurethane suits in swimming that could reduce drag up to 8%, after records were broken in droves. The thin layer of fabric was made up of tiny bubbles that trapped air and actually made the swimmer float higher in the water.
YoQB TIL Glenn Gould, one of the most proficient pianists to live, hummed instead of crying as a child, learned to read music before language, refused to play in concerts without his chair his father made him, and can be heard humming in virtually all of his recordings
1aL1d TIL Jack Livesey fabricated a military record that included service in the Falklands War, 20 years in the parachute regiment and reaching the Colour Sergeant rank. He worked as a historian and lecturer on the basis of these falsehoods; in reality he simply served as an army cook for 3 years.
0mgA TIL Gandhi waves around nukes in Civilization because a glitch in Civ 1 (where Gandhi’s aggressive stat, set at 1, became negative upon completion of democracy) and since -1 was not a stat the game reverted it to the maximum aggressive stat, and that’s how Gandhi became a warmonger.
dVv7 TIL Dying is illegal in Longyearbyen, Norway because the town’s small graveyard stopped accepting bodies after discovering the permafrost prevented the bodies from decomposing.