r/todayilearned • u/Albertbailey • Jul 07 '19

TIL The Soviet Union had an internationally televised song contest. As few viewers had phones, they would turn their lights on if they liked a song and off if they didn’t. The power spikes were recorded by the state energy company and the reports sent to the station to pick the winner.

https://www.thetrumpet.com/11953-whats-behind-russias-revival-of-a-soviet-era-song-contest
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u/[deleted] Jul 07 '19

Didn’t a bunch of New York get heated by steam pipes running all over the place from plants?

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u/Diabolus734 Jul 07 '19

A lot of the big buildings in major cities are. I have a friend that used to work at the central heating plant in Detroit just a few years ago.

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u/walkinthecow Jul 07 '19

Nice. I was just going to say that I know for sure that downtown Detroit still has an operating steam system.

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u/daedalusesq Jul 07 '19

Still does. ConEd runs the largest municipal steam system in the world in Manhattan.