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TIL in the 1930 elections, Republicans won a majority in the US House of Representatives by 2 seats. But before Congress convened, 14 Representatives-elect died. Democrats then won several subsequent special elections, and took control of the chamber.

Read more history.house.gov

via reddit.com

6rxm TIL that Gmail was believed to be an April Fools joke upon its release on March 29 due to its 1 GB storage space: Hotmail offered only 2mb at the time
dmxQ TIL that it would have cost NASA more money to fake the moon landing than actually doing it
0KYj TIL that the word oxymoron is an oxymoron itself. It is made up of oxy, meaning sharp, and moron, which means dull.
1aLZO TIL recent research argues that fear of spiders has cultural rather biological origins, is predominantly found in Western societies, and comes from an association between spiders and illness that started in the 10th century when the spider was blamed for the devastating epidemics that struck Europe.
GYvlQ TIL the phrase ‘Drop you a Line’ refers to a sending very short letter: a row of written text is the the singular ‘line’, delivered through a letter ‘dropped’ in a mailbox