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TIL that the word “alligator” comes from the Spanish term “el lagarto”, which means “the lizard,” but alligators are not actually lizards, they're part of the family Crocodilia, which does not include lizards.

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0dw7A TIL Jeannette Rankin of Montana was the first female elected to Congress (1916). A suffragist who helped get the 19th Amendment passed, was a staunch pacifist, opposing WW1, WW2, and was out marching in protest against Vietnam when she was 61 years old. A badass.
Od7a TIL that in the old days (before 1960s or so) moviegoers would show up partway through a movie, watch it to the end, and then stay to watch the beginning, hence the phrase “This is where we came in…”
dvw9 TIL when Adolf Eichmann, aka “the architect of the Holocaust”, was on trial for his war crimes, he couldn’t afford the attorney he wanted. Not wanting any reason to question the legitimacy of the trial, the Israeli government paid for Eichmann to be represented by the lawyer of his choosing.
logPK TIL Made up of women, the 588th Russian Night Bomber Regiment flew missions behind German lines, in planes built of wood and canvas with no radio or radar, their bombs held to the wings by wire. The Germans referred to them as the Night Witches.
D1alD TIL in 1907 a 9,317 mile automobile race from Peking to Paris was held after a French newspaper asked if anyone could prove their claim that if a man has a car, he can go anywhere. The race was held despite the race committee cancelling the race and the winner won a bottle of champagne.