› added 4 years ago

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TIL that Bob Ezrin, the producer of Pink Floyd's The Wall album, was banned from coming to the "Wall tour" shows by Roger Waters — he was angry that Ezrin had leaked the concept of the show to a journalist friend (unintendingly acc. to Ezrin). Ezrin bought his own ticket and went anyway.

pl8G TIL that most New York City apartment buildings are six stories tall because the water reservoirs for the city provide just enough pressure to get water six stories up - above that you need a water tank on top of the building.
BrwZr TIL about the 1958 destruction of Ripple Rock, an underwater mountain in southwest British Columbia. It took three years to place over 1,000 tons of explosive in tunnels under the mountain, and it was one of the largest non-nuclear planned explosions on record.
OGMOg TIL that the iconic horses on the Kentucky licence plates in the 1990s were based on a logo of a horse park in Lexington which itself was based on a picture of semi-wild horses taken by a German photographer in the 1960s. The base was withdrawn when the photographer sued for copyright infringement.
VB7wk TIL platypuses only recently (geologically speaking) lost their teeth, with this change coinciding with the arrival of the rakali (water rat). These rodents outcompeted platypuses for hard-bodied prey, forcing platypuses to evolve dental pads and specialize in soft-bodied food instead.
Y7X8x TIL Espionage Act violations carry up to 10 years prison penalty per violation (per document)