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TIL that in 2005, a Ph.D. student at the University of British Columbia nominated a fire hydrant to run for the Board of Governors (and even acted as its "translator"). The hydrant pulled in 900 votes, missing a seat by six ballots.

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jNwaQ TIL that adolescents who smoke marijuana as early as 14 do worse by 20 on some cognitive tests and drop out of school at a higher rate than non-smokers. But if they hold off until age 17, they're less at risk, and performed equally well as adolescents who did not use cannabis.
kOlV5 TIL lightning fertilizes plants. When lightning strikes, it rips nitrogen bonds in the atmosphere and the rains carry them into soil.
y4GM TIL Australia’s explorers Hume and Hovell, fought constantly during their historical 1824 expedition. They agreed to split up, dividing equipment and cutting the tent in half but physically fought over the frying pan. It fell apart, with one man taking the pan itself and the other taking the handle.
0451 TIL that since 2013, a YouTube view is counted as a sale of a song, in the sense that it is counted toward the certification of a song as Gold (500k copies), Platinum (1M copies), or Diamond (10M copies)
LaNZ TIL that only one person signed all four major American founding documents (the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution): Connecticut Senator Roger Sherman.