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TIL China used more cement in three years — between 2011 and 2013 — than the US did in the entire 20th century.

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xNO0 TIL In July 1975, a 17 year old boy was killed while riding his moped. He was killed exactly a year after his 17 year old brother was killed while riding the same moped, in the same intersection, by the same taxi driver carrying the same passenger.
7XNL TIL in 2008, a New Mexico man tried to stage his suicide to look like a murder by tying the gun to helium-filled balloons. The lead agent solved the “murder” when others pointed out the same thing happened in an episode of CSI.
rRKlw TIL that in 1958, Bank of America mass mailed 60,000 unsolicited credit cards, with a credit line of $500, to residents of Fresno, California. They chose Fresno so that if the plan failed, it wouldn’t get much media coverage. The program was wildly successful and marked the birth of Visa.
PY5ee TIL The NHS (The UK's national health service) is the fifth biggest employer in the world.
wkxP TIL As a struggling young writer, Harper Lee once got a year’s wages as a gift from a friend with a note, “You have a year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas.” She wrote To Kill A Mockingbird.