› added 7 years ago

257

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.

Read more bloomberg.com

via reddit.com

5VX68 TIL: The B-52 Stratofortress, first built in the 1950s, underwent upgrades in the 2010s and is now expected to remain in service until the 2050s.
wLBOJ TIL that the animal that causes the most human deaths annually in the US is deer. Deer sometimes leap blindly into roadways causing tens of thousands of traffic accidents annually. These accidents cause an estimated 200 deaths every year. Runner-up: Bees, wasps and hornets with 58 deaths.
0dObM TIL that in 1947, a team of engineers working on the Harvard Mark II computer discovered that the system had crashed due to an actual moth stuck in a relay, and they taped the insect into their logbook, jokingly calling it the “first computer bug”—a term that has been used ever since.
oBXGr TIL that James K. Polk is the only US president who pledged to serve only one term during his campaign. He was known for fulfilling all his major promises and died 3 months after his term ended, making his retirement the shortest. He is also the only speaker of the house to be elected as president.
x64j7 TIL that Mozart used non sensical Latin while writing "Difficile lectu" to make two puns in German and Italian.