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TIL child prodigy Adragon De Mello's father planned for his son to get a Ph.D. in physics by age 12, win the Nobel Prize by age 16, and then become a Senator, a President, the head of a world government, and ultimately the chairman of an "intergalactic government".

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grwkD TIL that Nazi food scienists made synthetic butter (margarine) out of coal
1aZE8 TIL that in an attempt to enforce Prohibition, the Prohibition Bureau began adding poison to industrial alcohol to prevent its consumption, killing between 10,000 and 50,000 people. This was supported by people like Wayne Wheeler, who argued that the victims had committed suicide by breaking the law
gMn6W TIL of the meteor that hit the Russian town of Chelyabinsk, The light from the meteor was brighter than the Sun, visible up to 100 km (62 mi) away and released 26 to 33 times as much energy as that released from the atomic bomb detonated at Hiroshima.
D1mnP TIL world's largest pillow fight involved 7,681 participants in Minnesota.
pYxMZ TIL Chen Mengjia, who opposed the Communist government's proposal to simplify Chinese characters. During the Anti-Rightist Movement, he was labeled a Rightist and sent to a labor camp. In 1966, at the start of the Cultural Revolution, he faced severe persecution again and committed suicide.