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TIL in 1968 Elton John attempted suicide but was discovered by Bernie Taupin. Upon finding Elton's head in the oven, resting on a pillow, with the gas on low, and all the windows open, Bernie couldn't stop laughing. This event inspired the hit single "Someone Saved My Life Tonight"

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wEwo TIL the NYPD once strip-searched a black man, cuffed him with his hands behind his back, sodomized him with a plunger, then jammed the plunger handle into his mouth. His colon and bladder were severly damaged. The NYPD claimed his injuries were the result of “abnormal homosexual activities”.
YKyd TIL Charles Darwin suffered from agoraphobia (panic disorder). He suffered constant nausea, trembling, and crying; rendering him virtually bedridden from the age of 30 until his death. His disorder was so severe he even avoided conversations with his own children.
ApRg TIL A Polish immigrant, who didn’t speak English, was tasered to death by Canadian police. A memory card containing video of the incident was later taken away from a witness.
4Elo TIL the man who supervised the construction of the CTV Building, which collapsed in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, faked his engineering degree. 115 people died, over half the total earthquake deaths. Gerald Shirtcliff had stolen the identity of a retired engineer based in the UK, William Fisher.
ANJZn TIL that (one of) the oldest surviving depiction(s) of Jesus is a piece of graffiti from about 200 AD, mocking a man worshipping a figure on a cross with a donkey head.