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TIL During the height of the Cold War, the US built an embassy in Moscow that was so riddled with eavesdropping equipment, by 1985 the building was abandoned after spending $136 million. Eventually, the embassy was taken apart brick by brick and rebuilt over 15 years at a cost of $240 million.

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oRkyE TIL The newly independent nation of Zambia launched a space program in the 1960's. 13 people were chosen for space training which included tasks like swinging on a swing and rolling down a hill inside an oil drum. The program ended when the only female trainee got pregnant by another trainee
EgAX TIL Jackie Kennedy undertook a historical renovation of the White House that sought to replace the cheap furniture bought by the Trumans with pieces of WH historical furniture. She famously asked the Eisenhowers to give back the Washington era China they had taken home after leaving office.
7rl1O TIL that in WWII, an Australian soldier removed his own appendix in the middle of a Philippine jungle in 1944, without any anaesthetic and with only the use of a mirror and an ordinary knife. The operation took 4 and a half hours and he stitched himself up with jungle fibre.
olYR TIL that during the WWI First Battle of the Marne, French reinforcements were transported to the front from Paris using a fleet of taxis, running up a fare of 70,012 francs.
rNKgx TIL: In 1977, George Lucas agreed to cut his pay by $500K in return for merchandising rights. He sold his rights to Disney in 2012 for over $4B.