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TIL In 1958 nuclear weapons were proposed as a tool for petroleum extraction. The plan was to detonate 100 nuclear bombs in the Alberta Oil Sands, thus adding heat and decreasing viscosity, the bitumen could then be easily pumped out. The project was put on hiatus due to risk of Soviet espionage.

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VMo5k TIL in 1962, Johnny Carson found out his wife had a secret apartment. He broke into the place with a gun and found football player Frank Gifford's framed photos. Getting sad, he drank all night and joked "That guy plays three positions on the field. I could never get Joanne to go for more than two."
78ZaP TIL about the 2010 book "Barbie: I Can Be A Computer Engineer" and that Mattell apologized for the book after extensive online criticism because Barbie had her male friends code the game she was designing and that her male friends fixed Skipper's computer that Barbie had infected with a virus
eBob TIL that suggests Pepsi’s success over Coca-Cola in the “Pepsi Challenge” is a result of the flawed nature of the “sip test” method. Tasters will generally prefer the sweeter of two beverages based on a single sip, even if they prefer a less sweet beverage over the course of an entire can.
D1dXj TIL about Alexander Bogdanov, a Russian physician who experimented with blood transfusion to gain eternal youth. He died after injecting himself with blood from a student infected with malaria and tuberculosis, who also may have been the wrong blood type.
b69RZ TIL airports renumber their runways because the magnetic pole is not fixed, and headings change slightly over time