› added 7 years ago

293

TIL That the reason the suffix ‘gate’ is tacked on to every scandal is because of William Safire, a speechwriter for Nixon and a political commentator at the NYT, who began affixing all scandals with -gate in the belief it would make his boss’s crimes seem less severe in the light of history

Read more bbc.co.uk

via ift.tt

XE6ZP TIL Dartmouth chemistry professor Karen Wetterhahn spilled 1 or 2 droplets of dimethylmercury on her gloved hand while working in a lab. Less than a year later she was dead from poisoning.
9wvMM TIL Brazil is, by far, the country that takes the most showers. On average, a Brazilian showers every 12 hours.
1aJV8 Babies don't poop like they did in 1926, and, as it turns out, it might be a big concern.
P1Weg TIL about Betty Lowman, who at 22 rowed a dugout canoe ~1,300km (~800 mi) from Washington state up the British Columbia coast to Alaska, by herself, in 1937.
v185r TIL that The Tornados' 1966 "Do You Come Here Often" is considered UK's first major label release of a gay themed pop song. The instrumental tune featured overdubbed flirty same-sex banter, at a time when violation of sodomy laws was punishable with prison time.