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TIL - Some people purposefully infect themselves with hookworm to treat allergies and other auto-immune diseases.

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PYXeG TIL That in 1998 a woman from Tennessee was elected Democratic State Senator as a write-in candidate after the original Democratic candidate, her husband, was assassinated by his opponent 2 weeks before the election. She won 95% of votes and 3 subsequent elections before retiring undefeated in 2013
BgQkL TIL in 1527, Charles V had Rome sacked and Pope Clement VII imprisoned for several months. That same year, King Henry VIII of England petitioned the Pope to annul his childless marriage to Charles aunt, Katherine of Aragon. The petition was denied and forced Henry to break away from Catholic faith.
gMLKL TIL that there's something called Bechdel Test which measures the representation of women in fiction, asking whether the work features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man.
JemB TIL That on an English political program the presenter’s Golden Retriever sometimes wanders around the set.
doGB TIL there is a tree that legally owns itself and the surrounding land and the land was inherited by its offspring, “The Son of The Tree that Owns Itself”