› added 1 year ago

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TIL The Space Shuttle Challenger was built as a vibration-test vehicle and then upgraded to become an operational Shuttle.

Read more nasa.gov

via reddit.com

XE9aE TIL Zucchini is also called "Italian Squash"
QNGYM TIL that at one point the sales of vodka accounted for 1/3rd of the Russian national budget.
v6nR TIL Eyeglasses and Sunglasses tend to cost so much because a company known as Luxottica owns the vast majority of eyewear companies and distributors.
7roBx TIL that originally (up until 1804) electors could cast two votes for two different U.S. candidates for President, and the first runner-up presidential candidate became Vice President to guard against electoral gamesmanship.
lOGa TIL that Native Americans may have been called Indians not because Europeans thought were from India, but because Columbus remarked on their gentleness and called them “una gente in Dios” (Spanish for “people of God”). The ’s’ was dropped and Indio became Indian.