Washington DC 1910 building height street width law

Washington buildings are limited by street width

A 1910 law limits building height according to the width of the street beside it, rather than by a limit tied to the Capitol or Washington Monument. City leaders have cited the rule as a reason for limited affordable housing and sprawl across the metro area.

Earth's magnetic bubble is much longer on one side

~10 vs >200 Earth radii

On the side facing the Sun, Earth's magnetic region reaches about 10 Earth radii into space. On the other side, the solar wind stretches it into a long tail more than 200 Earth radii long. Earth's magnetic surroundings are therefore far from symmetrical.

Greek writing added letters for vowel sounds

The Phoenician writing system used letters for consonants, but not vowels. When the Greeks adapted it, they reused some letters for vowel sounds. Greek became the earliest alphabet in the strict sense: a writing system with letters for both vowels and consonants.

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Washington DC 1910 building height street width law

Washington buildings are limited by street width

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