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TIL Engineers used to rely on imprecise calculations with slide rules that only showed three decimal points but designed the Empire State Building, Saturn V rocket with them. As a result, they designed conservatively by making walls thicker and bridges stronger than needed

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b6ZON TIL After deposing the English monarchy, the English Republic went on to shut down all theatres, forbade entertainment and banned Christmas. These were eventually unbanned when the Monarchy returned to britain
v1Pjx TIL of Pando, one of the world's most massive living organisms, consisting of roughly 47.000 trees. Its age is estimated from 80.000 up to a million years.
mxVlM TIL when Dungeons & Dragons was released, various groups believed it was a front for murderous Satanists. This lead to Tom Hanks’ first starring role in the TV propaganda movie Mazes and Monsters, in which he becomes his D&D character and stabs a hobo in Manhattan because he thought it was a goblin.
x6565 TIL of the Civil Cooperation Bureau, a government death squad in Apartheid South Africa. Accused of murders, they also bombed a kindergarten, harassed a dissident by pointing a RPG7 at him while forcing him to drink moonshine, and tried to bewitch Desmond Tutu by hanging a baboon fetus in his home.
jN6QQ TIL The League of Women Voters used to run presidential debates that gave every nominee a equal amount of time to speak, Republicans and Democrats joined together to make the Commission for Presidential Debates, making it harder for third parties to be fairly represented