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TIL that a 1916 zoning law in NYC allows skyscrapers to go as high as they want as long as they cut back in on themselves. The “setback law” allows for sunlight and air to pass through to smaller buildings and street level. These tiered skyscrapers helped to give rise to the Art Deco style.

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JYemv TIL that in the 1950's the US airforce tried to design a cockpit to fit the average pilot's body. After measuring 4000 pilots they discovered that none of them came close to having an average body. This lead to introduction of adjustable seats.
BjLK TIL that, due to a wartime shortage of copper, the Manhattan Project borrowed almost 15,000 tons of silver from the US Treasury to make wiring for the electromagnets in isotope-separating mass spectrometers. The wire, worth over a billion dollars at the time, was removed and returned after the war.
VMB9p TIL - The Inspiration for Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" Album not only was based upon their lost band members mental illness, but also upon their distaste for the Industry as a whole and it's affect it had
m4dy TIL that until WWII, almost everyone who rented an apartment in New York city had to move on the same day every year
Wk4dY TIL Steve Martin's Rope Tricks in the "3 Amigos" Were a Skill He Picked Up While Working at Disneyland in His Younger Days.