› added 5 years ago

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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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GYoWj TIL that George Lucas originally envisioned the planet Tatooine in Star Wars to be a jungle planet, but the idea of having to film in a jungle made him feel "itchy," so he decided to make it a desert planet instead.
M7RE0 TIL Norway built a doomsday vault on their Arctic territory, Svalbard: A 'seed bank' containing over 1 million seeds from 4,000+ plant species, as a means to protect the world's food supply.
N7p9E TIL the metallic odor of copper and iron does not come from the metal itself but from oils in our skin that decompose into volatile substances when we touch the metal
X0rKP TIL Ian Curtis of Joy Division died before John Lennon
Bg1GD TIL about the Goodyear Inflatoplane, an inflatable aircraft designed to serve as a rescue method for airmen trapped behind hostile lines. When unloaded, it weighed a mere 102 kilograms, and the engine on the smallest variant output a mere 40 horsepower, comparable to a small motorcycle's engine.