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The enclosed mall was meant to be more than a shopping trip.
The enclosed mall was meant to be more than a shopping trip. Victor Gruen envisioned pedestrian gathering places with civic and social functions, and…
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Bali is an Indonesian island famous for its lush rice terraces, Hindu temples, and an absolute infestation of digital nomads talking loudly about their crypto portfolios in vegan cafes.
Bali is an Indonesian island famous for its lush rice terraces, Hindu temples, and an absolute infestation of digital nomads talking loudly about their crypto…
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Weapon salve was a highly popular mystical medical treatment in seventeenth-century Europe based on the concept of sympathetic magic, which dictated that if you got stabbed with…
Weapon salve was a highly popular mystical medical treatment in seventeenth-century Europe based on the concept of sympathetic magic, which dictated that if…
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Financial astrology is a wildly unhinged niche of the stock market where legitimate traders and investment bankers literally use planetary alignments and lunar cycles to predict the rise and fall of global assets.
Financial astrology is a wildly unhinged niche of the stock market where legitimate traders and investment bankers literally use planetary alignments and…
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Berghain's most famous rule removes the souvenir photo.
Berghain's most famous rule removes the souvenir photo. The Berlin techno club occupies a former power station and prohibits photography inside. Visitors can…
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Edgar Allan Poe gave a fictional cannibalism victim the same name as a real victim decades later.
Edgar Allan Poe gave a fictional cannibalism victim the same name as a real victim decades later. His 1838 novel features a shipwreck survivor named Richard…
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Clue was invented in 1943 by an English musician named Anthony E.
Clue was invented in 1943 by an English musician named Anthony E. Pratt during the suffocating boredom of World War II air raid blackouts, serving as a grim…
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Rome tried to fight inflation with a price list and the death penalty.
Rome tried to fight inflation with a price list and the death penalty. Diocletian's price edict of AD 301 set maximum charges for roughly 1,400 goods and…
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Disney's haunted elevator doesn't just fall—it gets pulled down.
Disney's haunted elevator doesn't just fall—it gets pulled down. The Tower of Terror uses a powered system to accelerate its passenger car downward faster…
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Swiss businesses created the WIR credit system in 1934, when ordinary money was scarce.
Swiss businesses created the WIR credit system in 1934, when ordinary money was scarce. A participating business could earn credits from one customer and…
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Tug of war once awarded Olympic gold.
Tug of war once awarded Olympic gold. The event appeared at the Olympics from 1900 through 1920. Teams competed in a contest whose basic action could be…
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Hollywood once wrote its moral rules into a production code.
Hollywood once wrote its moral rules into a production code. The Hays Code restricted subjects ranging from profanity to interracial relationships, shaping…
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Nicolas Flamel is globally famous in the wizarding world and occult history as the legendary immortal alchemist who successfully created the Philosopher's Stone and turned lead…
Nicolas Flamel is globally famous in the wizarding world and occult history as the legendary immortal alchemist who successfully created the Philosopher's…
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Saturn return is an astrological milestone that occurs every twenty-nine point five years when the slow-moving ringed planet finally returns to the exact mathematical position it was in when you were born.
Saturn return is an astrological milestone that occurs every twenty-nine point five years when the slow-moving ringed planet finally returns to the exact…
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Roman mythology heavily influenced modern astrology by deciding that Mars should represent war, aggression, and masculine energy simply because the planet happens to look slightly reddish in the night sky.
Roman mythology heavily influenced modern astrology by deciding that Mars should represent war, aggression, and masculine energy simply because the planet…
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Johnny Carson’s rerun problem helped create Saturday Night Live.
Johnny Carson’s rerun problem helped create Saturday Night Live. When NBC needed new programming for the Saturday slot previously filled by Tonight Show…
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International Astronomical Union officials mercilessly downgraded Pluto from a major planet to a mere dwarf planet in 2006, triggering widespread outrage among nostalgic science…
International Astronomical Union officials mercilessly downgraded Pluto from a major planet to a mere dwarf planet in 2006, triggering widespread outrage…
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Heavy metal bands in the 1980s were aggressively accused by panicked Christian parents of hiding secret mystical incantations and Satanic recruitment messages in their records…
Heavy metal bands in the 1980s were aggressively accused by panicked Christian parents of hiding secret mystical incantations and Satanic recruitment messages…
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Early American movies faced a gatekeeper made of patents.
Early American movies faced a gatekeeper made of patents. The Motion Picture Patents Company, formed in 1908, pooled important film-industry patents and used…
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Gorbachev turned up in a Pizza Hut ad.
Gorbachev turned up in a Pizza Hut ad. Filmed in 1997, the commercial has restaurant diners argue over his political legacy before agreeing on pizza. His…
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Feng shui is currently used by wealthy interior designers to justify charging thousands of dollars to rearrange your living room furniture so your couch doesn't block your chi,…
Feng shui is currently used by wealthy interior designers to justify charging thousands of dollars to rearrange your living room furniture so your couch…
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Medical astrology was considered a highly respected scientific discipline during the Renaissance, where each zodiac sign was formally assigned to govern a specific part of the human anatomy.
Medical astrology was considered a highly respected scientific discipline during the Renaissance, where each zodiac sign was formally assigned to govern a…
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Nazi counterfeiters forced Britain to rethink its banknotes.
Nazi counterfeiters forced Britain to rethink its banknotes. Operation Bernhard used prisoners at Sachsenhausen to produce convincing forged British notes.…
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Greece features the island of Santorini, globally recognized for its stunning whitewashed buildings, blue-domed churches, and jaw-dropping sunsets over the caldera.
Greece features the island of Santorini, globally recognized for its stunning whitewashed buildings, blue-domed churches, and jaw-dropping sunsets over the…
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