The Empire State Area Code
Zip codes were originally invented to help the postal service determine where your mail needed to go. Larger cities had more inhabitants than smaller cities (duh), so the USPS separated neighborhoods by postal codes. When this happened, so much mail was going to the Empire State Building that it needed its own zip code. It still uses it by the way, so if you want to mail something to the Empire State Building, you have to use the 10118 zip code.
The Shortest War of All Time
The shortest war in history lasted just 38 minutes. When the sultan of British-protected Zanzibar died, a new sultan took over without British approval in 1896. The Brits were pissed about this, so they declared war on Zanzibar if Sultan Khalid bin Barghash didn't step down from his position. The sultan refused, and the British army spent less than 40 minutes mercilessly barraging Zanzibar with cannon fire until the sultan fled.
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