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TIL When Ronald Reagan watched Back to the Future for the first time, he loved the joke about who was president in 1985 (Ronald Reagan? The Actor?) so much that he made the theater projectionist stop the film, roll it back, and play the joke again.

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mx4Po TIL German airplanes “Stuka” did not make that screaming sound when diving because of their engine , but because they had small fans attached to the front of their landing gear that acted as siren. This will “weaken enemy morale and enhance the intimidation of dive-bombing”
90p7 TIL when the city of Philadelphia announced plans for a $1,000,000 renovation of LOVE Park to get rid of skateboarders, a streetwear shoe company offered $1,000,000 to rehabilitate and clean the park instead. The park’s 92-year-old designer also protested by skating in the park.
7rRWP TIL the term "ZIP" code is actually an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, was introduced in the 40's only for large cities, and was a signature mark for the USPS to give the impression that the mail would "zip" along faster if citizens used it.
9YPQB TIL that the Netherlands is known today as a haven for pedestrians and cyclists, however, in the 1970s, a growing epidemic of traffic deaths led to a national movement called 'Stop the Child Murder.' The results transformed the public spaces and street into some of the safest in the world.
yWMM TIL that despite the Seven Years’ War between Britain and France, France instructed its ships not to interfere with the Endeavour’s expedition to Tahiti to observe the 1769 Transit of Venus as, it was ‘out on enterprises of service to all mankind’.