› added 8 years ago

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TIL that the term Gerrymandering comes from a literal Gerrymanderer - Elbridge Gerry, who drew the voting districts of Essex County, MA in such a way that a local paper compared it to a salamander, dubbing it the ‘Gerry-mander"

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kOxe4 TIL that in a 2005 questionnaire about substance abuse, 18.2% (163/894) admitted to taking derbisol – a drug that does not exist
kJwV4 TIL Israel attempted to land a rover on the Moon in 2019, but crash landed due to gyroscope failure. The mission spilled a few thousand tardigrades onto the lunar surface, which probably survived, making them the 2nd species to reach the moon, after humans.
94ym TIL the Georgia state legislature once debated the regulation of alligator rides, until someone pointed out that the bill called for regulating the sale of alligator hides.
kO7K1 TIL that Helen Keller's family forbade her from marrying her fiancé, Peter Fagan, an ex-newspaper reporter who was working as her secretary, because of her disabilities. And society of her time believed women with disabilities shouldn't experience romance of any kind.
nWd6b TIL that as far as 5,000 B.C., people believed the false notion that the unmistakable pain that we now recognize as a toothache was caused by a tiny tooth worm, which was thought to bore into its victims’ teeth.