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TIL Alexander Bell never called his wife or his mother after inventing the telephone because they were both deaf

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b6XxE TIL there’s a sound in Gustav Mahler’s 6th symphony that requires a giant hammer(or similar equipment) to make — now called the ‘Mahler hammer’.
rNk1M TIL about Lake Natron in Tanzania, which is so dangerously alkaline thanks to the magmatic limestone from a nearby volcano, any animal that dies and falls in is mummified. The only animals that go there are lesser flamingos, who use it as a mating ground, and even they sometimes die.
d8yZ7 TIL Chinese director Jia Zhangke has been praised as "the most important filmmaker working in the world today." Jia's status in China rose when he was allowed to direct his fourth feature film, The World, with state approval. His first short film was a documentary on tourists in Tiananmen Square
nwn9 TIL that the big US banks own 5 vacant homes for every homeless person
XREP TIL that during Pablo Escobar’s “career” it is estimated that 80% of the cocaine entering the U.S. was supplied by him and Escobar was considered one of the richest men in the world during that time.