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TIL Theodore Maiman made the first laser operate in 1960 by shining a high-power flash lamp on a ruby rod with silver-coated surfaces. He promptly submitted a short report of the work to the journal Physical Review Letters, but the editors turned it down.

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oBKOA TIL: Vasa Syndrome, a term for problems in communication and management that can cause projects to fail, is named after the Vasa, one of the largest and most spectacular warships ever built, which sank in 1628 on its maiden voyage because it was too unstable to withstand a gust of wind.
4XOW6 TIL The East India Company controlled its own army, which by 1800 comprised some 200,000 soldiers, more than twice the membership of the British Army at that time. The army was used to carry out officially sanctioned looting within Indian States, along with forced over-taxation.
7rj4L TIL Chinese restaurants in California helped punk rock and punk rock bands by allowing the bands to play in the restaurants
X0WQ TIL Thomas Edison had his people steal a copy of A trip to the Moon (1902, listed as the 82nd best movie ever made) and made a fortune from it while the creator and founder of modern cinema Georges Méliès who planned on taking it to America ended up bankrupt shortly after.
OGJV1 TIL that plague doctor costumes actually provided some protection during the bubonic plague. The waxed robes prevented fleas from clinging to the wearer’s body.