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TIL that in the late 1800's and early 1900's, gambling on US elections was extremely widespread. In New York, the amount of money spent on betting on elections would often exceed the total trading in stocks and bonds. Since there weren't modern polls, betting odds were how newspaper predicted races.
9YWEQ
TIL that Isaac Newton was elected to parliament to represent Cambridge. It is reported that the only time Newton spoke in parliament was to say, "The window needs closing."
QJQL9
TIL In 1968 the Ford Motor Co. set the value of a life at $200,000. When performing a risk/benefit analysis deciding if fixing a major fuel tank issue was worth paying $11 per car ($137M), or instead paying 200k per death (Est $50M). They didn't fix it, Which nearly ended up costing $145M in court.