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TIL a teenage Mozart, while visiting Rome, heard “Miserere Mei, Deus” and copied it on paper by ear. The Vatican threatened excommunication for distributing the work, but when the pope heard of the prodigy transcribing it by ear, he showered the 14 year old with praise.

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XEywQ TIL the 42-story Cathedral of Learning on the University of Pittsburgh's campus is the tallest education building in the Western Hemisphere. It includes 31 "nationality rooms" that are designed to celebrate different cultures and nationalities.
7rBRr TIL To judge the people by their actions not words
gMA0L TIL that Princess Leia's hair in Star Wars was inspired by women of the Mexican revolution.
xVAPk TIL on 1955, after parishioners barred the Rev. Gerald Lewis, an African American priest, from celebrating Mass at St. Cecilia’s Chapel (Louisiana), Archbishop Joseph Rummel put this church under interdict, banning Masses and other sacraments from being celebrated
8gZV TIL that one of the primary goals of alchemy - transmuting a base metal into a noble metal - was achieved as early as 1924 when gold was produced by neutron bombardment of mercury.