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TIL when a Dutch columnist proposed making an artificial mountain 2 kilometres tall and 5 kilometres wide, the Eindhoven University of Technology actually calculated the cost of such a project. It turned out that the potential cost of the mountain would be up to 7 trillion euros.

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7rVpb TIL the survivors of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crash mutually agreed that if they died, the others could use their bodies for sustenance. At the beginning they only managed to eat skin and muscles, but in the end they also ate hearts and brains.
4rDb TIL that the father of French author Alexandre Dumas (The Three Musketeers, etc.) was simultaneously born into slavery & nobility & became the highest ranking person of color of all time in a European Army.
e0P54 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"
9Q7D TIL The BBC News channel has a show dedicated to viewers criticising how well they have reported the weeks events
b9jnE TIL about Twilight sleep, a procedure used for labor in the early 1900s. Women were drugged, restrained in a dark room with gauze on their eyes and ears plugged. The purpose of the drugs was to cause the women to forget the childbirth, not prevent pain, as they were still conscience the whole time.