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TIL Bakhtiyar Khilji, the Muslim general who invaded and destroyed the ancient university and library of Nalanda (india) in 1193 it took 3 consecutive month's for 9 million books to burn

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N94Q TIL that in 1978, a man was shot clean through the face by a particle beam and is still alive today.
dA1K TIL Billy Joel pursued a music career when he realized he wasn’t going to graduate high school at the end of his senior year. As he recounted, “If I’m not going to Columbia University, I’m going to Columbia Records, and you don’t need a high school diploma over there.” Columbia ended up signing him.
995G TIL In 2006 casino mogul Steve Wynn was set to conduct the largest art transaction in history by selling Picasso’s Le Rêve for $139 million. The day before the transaction was set to take place Wynn accidentally stuck his elbow through the painting.
Y7nnd TIL: The first air conditioner was used not for personal comfort but to remedy high humidity that interfered with the printing process
Oo5jX TIL Regulatory capture is a form of government failure where those bodies regulating industries become sympathetic to the businesses they are supposed to be regulating. Regulatory capture can mean monopolies can continue to charge high prices.