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TIL a billion dollar French manuscript Ponzi scheme almost collapsed in 2012, but at the last minute the person behind it suddenly won the Lottery for $219 million, allowing the scheme to continue for another 2 years.

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v1ypR TIL about the IKEA effect which is a cognitive bias in which consumers place a disproportionately high value on products they partially created.
GYBEE TIL that a 14th century Moroccan explorer Ibn Battuta went as far as modern Indonesia, China, India, Russia, Central Asia, Balkans, Spain, Tanzania, West Africa and Maldives, and was by far the most well-travelled human before the modern era. He wrote an account of his travels, known as The Rihlah.
wLRV1 TIL At age 24, George Ellery Hale revolutionized solar observations with his invention of the spectroheliograph, making it possible to photograph the sun's prominences in full daylight. A spectroheliograph can tune-in to gases such as hydrogen and calcium, and photograph specific solar details
E1E0X TIL the first airplane dogfight was between two American mercenaries on opposing sides in the Mexican Revolution. Both men had orders to kill, but neither pilot wanted to harm the other, so they exchanged multiple volleys of pistol fire, intentionally missing before exhausting their ammunition.
rEbW TIL the cost of higher education in the US has surged more than 500 percent since 1985.