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People realized that knowledge is power very early on and the phrase is often attributed to Sir Francis Bacon, an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General (1613-1617) and as Lord Chancellor of England (1617-1621).

Not everyone possesses the same knowledge, but not everyone is allowed to. At the same time, there are things that you think you shouldn’t know because it’s not your place, but actually it’s not classified information, it just sounds like it.

If you would like to hear some examples of such information, this list contains all sorts of cases when people think that it’s almost illegal to know what they know. The thread started when craftygalcreates asked “What's a piece of information you learned that now feels almost illegal to know?” In two days, the question got almost 40k upvotes as people were interested to read the secrets that are not really secrets.

More info: Reddit

This post may include affiliate links.

#1

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group When I was a kid, my dad taught me how to pick a lock. I became very interested in different kinds of locks and purchased a lock pick set. I practiced for years and became pretty good at certain types of locks. So over the years every now and then, if a neighbor locks themselves out of the house or a friend loses the key to a padlock or a lock box I’ve been able to help. But the reactions I tend to get from people, even while I’m helping them with their lock is mainly one of mistrust. I’m not a cat burglar. I just like locks.

Blameking27 , Ignat Gorazd Report

Final score:
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It's Me
It's Me
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't know about the US but there is a wonderful museum in Vienna (Austria) that you might enjoy... they have an exhibit of the most complicated and intricate locks I have ever seen.

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#2

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group Well I'm in med school and funny enough learning how to not kill a person involves learning about a s**t ton of ways to kill a person

TheFfrog , Photos by S.Harrison/UofL Report

Final score:
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#3

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group (This is England knowledge, other countries may vary) If you are struggling to pay bills, make water the first one you skip. Access to water is protected by law so the utility supplier cannot cut you off.

FailedTheSave , dani0010 Report

Final score:
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#4

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group You can ask scientists for their research paper that you usually have to pay money to view in a journal. They are allowed to just email it to you no questions asked and they like to do it!

SabreToothSandHopper , StateofIsrael Report

Final score:
336points
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kasei10 avatar
kasei10
kasei10
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yep, just go on Research Gate and message them. Remember most scientists are doing the work because they love exploring the intricacies of the world and the thrill of discovery, not for money.

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#5

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group Totally another route of what everyone else is posting but.... the lion at The Animal Kingdom safari ride isn't chained (Disney World park). He is fed a huge piece of meat every morning and sits on a rock that is changed to the perfect temperature for him everyday so he has no reason to attack anyone on the safari ride.

Meganfaith10 , Kelly Verdeck Report

Final score:
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#6

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group Unionization saves you more money than it costs you, you cannot be punished for attempting to do so, and it is NOT in any way illegal, rude, or improper to discuss your salary with your coworkers.

It feels illegal because every company on the f*****g planet has tried to make people think unions are evil monsters trying to get you to pay union dues for no return. This is false because union dues are much less expensive than a company underpaying you and trying to work you to death, which a union fights against. Unions are there to prevent worker exploitation, stop it if people were being exploited when they got there, and get you a fair wage that will actually let you live off of one job instead of needing 4-5 or to work criminal amounts of overtime.

alertArchitect , WisPolitics.com Report

Final score:
331points
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Francesca Annoni
Francesca Annoni
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not "on the f****ing planet...Only USA..in Italy we have "sindacati" and it's a normal thing..

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#7

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group Creating Nitrogen triiodide. When in liquid form it is stable but once it dries so much as a fly landing on it creates a purple smoke explosion. It's so unstable that alpha radiation can be used to detonate the stuff.

It's actually easy to get the materials and create the stuff. Filled my high school hallway stairs with purple smoke on the last day of school.

RyanNerd , The U.S. Army Report

Final score:
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#8

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group Police are allowed to lie to you. So are military recruiters.

PiratesOfTheA** , G20 Voice Report

Final score:
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#9

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group One thing I learned is in the state of California if you are squatting a property for five years and have been upkeeping it with proof, you can file a claim of ownership with the courts and take over any property as long as it was deemed that the original owner never tried to remove you within the same timeframe.

Fearmortali , Dr Garageland Report

Final score:
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germs
germs
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

These laws are s**t! A friend's neighbor built a garden stone thing a few feet into their yard "on accident" and they found out just in time that they had to charge him rent or he'd legally own that chunk. He's a lawyer. No way he didn't know what he was doing.

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#10

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group It is legal to grow opium poppies in the United States, but only if you don't know they can be used to make drugs

MakesCakesEatsMud , James West Report

Final score:
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#11

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group Read a personal finance book that recommended calling your providers once a year (credit card companies, TV/internet providers, cell phone company, etc) and demand a lower rate or price. I’ve been following that advice for two years and have not been denied once.

Last week I saw a commercial for my internet provider offering a super low introductory rate so I called to demand that I get that rate. They said no problem and now I save an extra $700 a year because of a 5 minute call. I am a very passive introvert so it’s not the most easy or comfortable thing but the money I save is worth it. They may so no initially but if you ask a few times or ask to speak to their supervisor they very usually give in.

*Edit the book is called “I Will Teach You to be Rich” (cringey title, awesome book imo)

teflonjon321 , Magnus D Report

Final score:
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Catherine Binder
Catherine Binder
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I call bs. When has a call to an internet company ever lasted less than a half hour.

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#12

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group Hospitals have but don’t tell you about a program to reduce your bills depending on how much you make. You can go to their website and find a usually hidden link for financial assistance policies and really cut your bill down

Callyourmother_2113 , Alabama Extension Report

Final score:
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YoyoSthlm
YoyoSthlm
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In a hospital now in Sweden. 0$ per day including all the doctors, nurses, x-ray. Got my own room with tv and toilet. Meals 3x/day not included though (optional) but it's 5$ and delivered to your room.

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#13

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group Well, I gave my 9th grade chemistry class a detailed report on diacetylmorphine (heroin) for a project about organic molecules, including how to make it. It was pretty interesting to do and fun to present, but I feel like I broke the law somehow.

GoldH2O , US Coast Guard Academy Report

Final score:
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#14

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group When you have a debt with a collection agency you can pay the debt and then call back a few weeks later and say, “I was told when I called and paid that you’d remove this from my credit score.” And then you ask for documentation saying they’re gonna do it. Apparently collection agencies don’t keep super good records on stuff like that; they just want your money. It worked for me, and I hope it can work for you if you need it in the future.

Travelercam , Dirk Olbertz Report

Final score:
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#15

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group There is a book called "100 deadly skills" that teaches you how to do all sorts of potentially illegal stuff

temptedbyknowledge , Amazon Report

Final score:
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#16

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group I don't know if it's still a thing, but if you listen to Pandora radio the songs download into your temp folder under your browser. Just add the. Mp4 after it and you can play it.

I spent lots of college listening to Pandora, and if I liked a song I'd save it. If you paused the song in time then the most recent song was the top one in the temp folder.

LeGama , Mr.TinMD Report

Final score:
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#17

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group In Canada you can record any conversation with someone without their knowledge, unless it is in furtherance of an offence.

I had to do this with an auto restoration shop in order to do a Visa chargeback when they did nothing to my car but steal parts for almost a year (Curtis Customs in Nova Scotia - I don’t mind mentioning them because there are already news stories about their scams)

EDIT: A lot of replies from people possibly misreading. If "you" are recording a "conversation with someone," you are part of the conversation and would be the consenting individual (one party consent). It's definitely wrong and illegal to record just any conversation between two or more other people

TheKingOfDub , Uncalno Tekno Report

Final score:
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Monkey Spunk
Monkey Spunk
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah, my wife had a disciplinary at work, I bought her a USB pen (not admissible in court) but she used it to transcribe. The audio distorted slightly when her boss started shouting at her though (she sued and won for constructive dismissal).

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#18

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group How to make explosives with everyday home products.

mranderson2929 , evergleamy Report

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#19

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group You can ask the FBI if they have a file on you

Lexybabie21 , J Report

Final score:
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Eppe
Eppe
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Of course you can. But will they answer truthfully?

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#20

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group When companies ask for your name/age/sex/race/occupation/salary/etc. you can just lie.

You’ll never be able to remove the information about yourself off the internet, but you can muddy the water quite a bit.

Tahoeclown , Lukas Koster Report

Final score:
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#21

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group Aluminum foil can block the thefts detection signals in super markets.

inobody_somebody , Eric Hunsaker Report

Final score:
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#22

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group Confidence can open a lot of doors. A lot of times, you can get away with more with some swagger than you otherwise would being meek about it.

crappotheclown , Sirenz Lorraine Report

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#23

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group 90% of home locks are easily pickable with a little know how and a couple pieces of metal.

Training-Pop1295 , Marie-Louise Lynge Report

Final score:
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Rachel Ainsworth
Rachel Ainsworth
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Despite this, most burglars either find an open window or break the glass. So locks are generally effective at their intended job.

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#24

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group That in Ireland there is no legal age to get tattoo. Legally you can tattoo a newborn as long as the parents consent. We can get done for bodily harm to a minor if their is no consent. We have an industry standard of 16 with parent or 18 with ID. I'm a tattooist in Ireland.

KawaiiGoth666 , charcoal soul Report

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#25

We can’t see the 4th dimension but the 4th dimension can see us.

Mellopiex Report

Final score:
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Eppe
Eppe
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Something in the 4th dimension or the 4th dimension itself? Also, read Flatland.

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#26

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group I worked for a giant tech company and apparently share the same name as a very high up hardware engineer, got put on email threads I definitely didn’t belong on.

just4funloving , Sean MacEntee Report

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90points
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Bettie-Jean Neal
Bettie-Jean Neal
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Had a co-worker who made me stalk my boss. Found out he had a girlfriend and was paying for her apartment. Felt awful every time his wife called. Kept my mouth shut though. Looking at you Cliff D.

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#27

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group I had a stats prof who used to work for the US government. I'm not sure exactly what his job was, but it definitely involved evaluating the status and readiness of nukes, both ours and the USSR's (he was probably at least 70 and had been retired from that job for a while). One day in class he just started talking about the percentage of nukes that fail (ours and theirs) and why they fail and all kinds of other, seemingly sensitive, information. I don't think he would have told us anything classified, but his personality was boisterous and irreverent enough that I am not sure. I literally expected a team of spooks to bust down the door at any minute and drag us all off for interviews in windowless rooms.

punkinholler , aaron_anderer Report

Final score:
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BA Nelson
BA Nelson
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wonder if we had the same stats teacher. He would tell stories about statistics applied to calculating how long until a nuclear facility had a meltdown.

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#28

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group someNSFWprofile said:

How to make a few different drugs. Organic chem at uni

xk543x responded:

How to make many illegal drugs

Freelance Pharmacy institute of research and testing

someNSFWprofile , UC Davis College of Engineering Report

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#29

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group LittleOrangeBoi said:

When you're on a jury you can vote for someone as innocent even if you think they did it. Most common reasoning for this would be if you just think that they shouldn't be punished for whatever they did. I can't remember the term for it something like Third Option.

rjlupin5499 added:

Jury Nullification. It's definitely a thing in the U.S.

LittleOrangeBoi , Patrick Feller Report

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olx
olx
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

juries in the uk used to do this a lot during the Bloody Code era

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#30

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group In regards to military grade bombs and missiles, it takes actual effort to make one go off on the ground. Like, you literally have to go out of your way to arm the fuse, then sit around for a timer to detonate said bomb.

Its not like in the movies, where a soft breeze or some nutjob with a hammer, will make a bomb just explode for no reason.

cgtdream , John Crowley Report

Final score:
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kasei10
kasei10
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Okay cool, but why the hell would you just sit around unless you're also suicidial?

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#31

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group You can say no when cashiers ask for your email or phone number.

Haniloo , Midnight Believer Report

Final score:
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Benita Valdez
Benita Valdez
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah I say no all the time; I do not want companies blowing up my inbox

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#32

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group 1284x is a Ford fleet key. Not chipped, can be found on Amazon for $7 and perfectly legal to replicate.

Searching "1284x" filetype:.pdf site:.gov

Will pull government bids that involve that key, and also show you what agencies you could open up or drive away a police car.

Gregorofthehillpeopl , Tom Hentoff Report

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#33

The last airplane you rode was likely assembled with parts not fully conforming to qc standards but passed through inspection anyways.

Cstud_69 Report

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Sarra Johanssen
Sarra Johanssen
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Can confirm. I have friends who work at Boeing and they say that the QA people and the Manufacturing Line people are always butting heads.

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#34

When you do a kfc survey you get free food, you can do them over and over again Steps- go in the survey site, it’s usually (franchise)listens on google Next enter a random code and keep refreshing for a good 15 seconds, then do anything on the survey because they don’t care, then just show them your code at the register, they also have to do it because it’s part of their job, this also works for crispy cream and other places to, don’t do it heaps because it’s sorta scummy (but enjoy)

munchmunch69 Report

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madbakes
madbakes
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A lot of places get bonuses or reprimands for poor service scores, so don't "just put anything in"

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#35

If you rent out your home for 14 or fewer days a year, you do not have to pay taxes on this income….Section 280A(g) of the Internal Revenue Code

SlySkyGuy18 Report

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Sean Matherne
Sean Matherne
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Regardless of the amount of rent? "No I didn't win the lottery. Someone rented my house for a million dollars per night."

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#36

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group Most large retail employers don’t have a policy against recording your interactions with your bosses.

APe28Comococo , Joe Haupt Report

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#37

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group The tricks doctors use to distract you when they’re trying to check your reflexes

bottleglitch , Yuya Tamai Report

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#38

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group How to make Thermite. I don't know why, Thermite itself itsn't actually all that useful or destructive. It burns hot sure, but it's not going to melt anything very well without a proper vessel to contain and direct the heat into the thing you want to melt.

Jhawk163 , tygerdsebat Report

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51points
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Jefferson Selvy
Jefferson Selvy
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The Ukrainians have found that it's good for permanently parking Russian tanks

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#39

40 Bits Of Knowledge People Learnt That Feel Almost Illegal To Know, Shared In This Online Group 51 is divisible by 17

IsThisNameTakenThen , Jim Champion Report

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#40

What the inside of a British post box looks like

Causton97 Report

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