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TIL that in 1997, a 50-pound pumpkin was speared atop a tower at Cornell University, 173 feet in the air. It stayed in place for months. Alumni are still trying to figure out who did it without being noticed -- and how.

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pKrp TIL Michael Crichton had an MD from Harvard, although he never obtained a license to practice medicine. He also believed patients too often shunned responsibility for their own health, relying on doctors as miracle workers rather than advisors.
a8PjZ TIL Vince Gilligan described his pitch meeting with HBO for 'Breaking Bad' as the worst meeting he ever had. The exec he pitched to could not have been less interested, "Not even in my story, but about whether I actually lived or died." In the weeks after, HBO wouldn't even give him a courtesy 'no'.
4DWJ TIL it is a mortal sin to withhold a just wage in Catholicism. Remuneration “should guarantee man the opportunity to provide a dignified livelihood for himself and his family on the material, social, cultural and spiritual level.”
45oX TIL the ancient Babylonians worked out that there are solar eclipses that occur 18 years, 11 days, and 8 hours apart. This period, 223 lunar cycles, is called the Saros cycle. The 1999 eclipse and this year’s eclipse are Saros cycle solar eclipses.
N79Jb TIL North Korea has trillions of dollars of minerals and rare earth elements in its earth reserves, but cannot exploit these deposits as the country cannot afford the infrastructure and technology to do so.