› added 10 years ago

139

TIL the State of Mississippi borrowed $7 million from creditors in England to issue bonds for the creation of two state-owned banks, and rather than repay the debt, Mississippi amended its constitution to prohibit repayment in its entirety.

Read more sos.state.ms.us

via reddit.com

OLr6 TIL there was a man-made mouse utopia called Universe 25. It started with 4 males and 4 females. The colony peaked at 2200 and from there declined to extinction. Once a tipping point was reached, the mice lost instinctual behaviors. Scientists extrapolate this model to humans on earth.
ZpLlB TIL - In the 1977 Formula 1 season, Niki Lauda won the driver’s championship with 2 races still to go. He didn’t drive those last 2 races, perhaps because he was changing teams the next year. Gilles Villeneuve drove the last 2 races for Ferrari, in Niki’s absence.
QJ086 TIL of Andre-Francois Raffray, who paid a 90 year old woman approx $500/month to own her apartment after she passed away. He paid her $184,000 over 30 years until he died himself. She ended up being the oldest woman to ever live, living to the age of 122.
m1OOp TIL about the Submarine Cable Map, revealing the intricate network of undersea cables connecting countries worldwide.These hidden lifelines carry our digital data across oceans, making Internet literally possible. What's even more intriguing is how a handful of massive corporations own all of these.
r7kM TIL that Ben Franklin wasn’t allowed to write the declaration of Independence because it was feared that he would hide a joke in it.