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535

TIL that the Library of Alexandria was never burned down or destroyed; instead it slowly deteriorated due to the purging of intellectuals from Alexandria as well as a lack of funding and support.

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b609p TIL about Tadeusz Kościuszko, a national hero in Poland, the United States, Lithuania, and Belarus, who fought in the American Revolutionary war and willed that his estate be used to free slaves after his death. His wish was never honored.
DQ1gV TIL About the "Senate Investigation into Motion Picture War Propaganda" a 1941 investigation by anti-war Senators who were concerned that Hollywood was pushing for America to join WW2. It was abandoned after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
b9On0 TIL of the Watermelon War, a riot in Panama City (1856) which started because a drunken American wouldn't pay 5 cents for a slice of watermelon. It led to the death of 15 Americans and 2 Panamanians.
GYrv4 TIL After reviewing 50 years of literature from 1947 to 1997, Salman Rushdie concluded that Indian writers writing in English is proving to be a stronger and more important body of work than most of what has been produced in the 16 'official languages' of India
x6AEo TIL that the berries of a plant called heavenly bamboo contain alkaloids like nantenine that are being used in scientific research for an antidote to ecstasy.