› added 13 years ago

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TIL in the United Kingdom, if an election has resulted in a tie in which candidates receive exactly the same number of votes after three recounts, the winner can be decided either by drawing straws/lots, coin flipping, or drawing the high card in a pack of cards.

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via reddit.com

lowmN TIL about Kumbh Mela, the world's largest event that brings more than 50 million into one place for a religious festival, that is more than ten times those who attend The World Cup and Olympic Games. The Hindu festival happens after every 12 years and lasts for approx 55 days.
dmpj TIL that lawns began in England as a symbol of status; it showed that the owner could afford to keep land that was not being used for a building, or for food production.
R74n7 TIL about Viola Desmond, a Nova Scotian woman who in 1946 was charged with tax evasion of one cent for refusing to leave a whites-only section of a theatre. She is featured on the new $10 Canadian bill.
wo8Do TIL that TON 618, 18.2 billion light years from Earth, is one of the largest black holes in the universe. The gas cloud that surrounds it has a diameter of at least 100 kiloparsecs(330,000 light-years), twice the size of the Milky Way.
yQkAp TIL Tom Cruise himself actually created the character (and the dance) for Les Grossman, suggesting "What about some greedy pig studio executive who really represents the gross part of Hollywood?” because of how much he enjoyed the script of Tropic Thunder and wanted to be in the movie.