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TIL all 204 bridges on Long Island were purposely designed to be too low to allow buses through, thereby keeping blacks and other minorities dependent on public transportation off the beaches

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Qp9M TIL De Beers no longer controls the diamond market and prices are set by market forces after a century long monopoly
0w6wy TIL that one man has painted nearly all the ski maps in the US
epkR5 TIL that Titanic victim John Jacob Astor IV published a sci-fi novel in 1894 about life in the year 2000; it includes descriptions of a world wide telephone network, solar power, air travel and space travel to Saturn and Jupiter.
8b9K TIL that the Nazis forged British pounds at a total value of £134,610,810. The notes are considered to be among the most perfect counterfeits ever produced, being almost impossible to distinguish from the real currency.
d8VLZ TIL that the deadliest forest fire in history, the Peshtigo Fire of 1871, remains largely forgotten even after destroying over 1.2 million acres and 2,500 lives because on the same day, October 8th, the Great Chicago Fire happened.