› added 10 years ago

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TIL during the Siege of Baghdad, The Grand Library of Baghdad, containing countless precious historical documents and books on subjects from medicine to astronomy, was destroyed along with the House of Wisdom. The Tigris waters ran black with ink from the big quantities of books flung into the river

W7dBo TIL Spain's green energy has made it is so cheap for the consumer that it's discouraging investors in the industry
WklV9 TIL the 1908 endurance motorcycle race was dominated by Indian Motorcycle and upstart Harley-Davidson. Walter Davidson won the two-day, 175 mile trek to New York City which proved the then leader Indian Motorcycle had serious competition from the upstart H-D.
99EM TIL Alan Rickman had to fall 25ft into an airbag for his death scene in Die Hard. The plan was for the stuntman to drop Rickman on the count of 3. However, the director secretly had the stuntman drop Rickman after a count of 1. Because of this, Rickman’s reaction in the film is completely genuine.
womY7 TIL that the New Mexico Fish and Game department introduced several dozen South African Oryx in the 70s for novel hunting opportunities. The Oryx is now invasive in New Mexico, and there are thousands of them in the wild imbalancing ecosystems there.
j6Y0n TIL that e.l.f. Cosmetics ended its 2025 marketing partnership with comedian Matt Rife after public backlash over his past controversial statements, resulting in significant brand damage and ranking as one of the major celebrity endorsement failures of the year.