› added 1 year ago

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TIL when Theodore Roosevelt won the popular vote in the 1904 election, he won by the largest popular vote margin since James Monroe in 1820.

kWmm TIL that a decimal point was misplaced when the iron content of Spinach was measured in the 1870’s, leading people to believe it had 10x more iron than reality, and made you stronger. This is why the creators of Popeye decided he would eat spinach to grow his muscles.
xVdOB TIL there's a town in Oregon named "Bridal Veil" which despite being a near ghost town still have a popular post office still functioning that gets much of its business from people going there to drop off wedding invitations so they can be postmarked "Bridal Veil".
AD8Pa TIL during the US prohibition era, medicinal liquor was fraudulently exploited in many scams, one doctor cited for writing 475 prescriptions for whiskey in one day. Charles R. Walgreen, the founder of Walgreen's pharmacies expanded from 20 stores to a staggering 525 during the 1920s.
R7JE8 TIL that China's 17th-century Tianqi Emperor suffered from a learning disаbility, and was illiterаte. However, he was an outstanding carpenter and craftsman, spending vast amounts of time on woodworking, and he instructed his servаnts to sell his creations undercоver, to see how much they were worth
VBrDk TIL Polaroid sold cameras to the South African government for use in making internal "passports" for black South Africans. This practice was protested by Polaroid employees.