› added 10 years ago

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TIL India has 814 million registered voters, 900,000 polling stations and takes India 9 days to Vote for the government. Indian Voters also get to record their displeasure with all the candidates, with the introduction of the “none of the above” option on the ballot

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Z89GB TIL that while the guillotine was being prototyped, King Louis XVI "recommended that an oblique blade be used instead of a crescent blade, lest the blade not fit all necks". His own was "offered up discreetly as an example". He was later beheaded in 1793 during the French Revolution.
E7xW TIL that in 67 AD, Roman Emperor Nero was in such deep mourning over the death of his late wife Poppaea Sabina that he castrated and married a young man who bore an uncanny resemblance to her and even started calling him by his late wife’s name.
Brad TIL In 1922 there was a riot in New York City because of people wearing straw hats after the date that it was considered socially acceptable to do so, September 15th.
v1RVj TIL that the rare genetic condition myostatin-related muscle hypertrophy can give babies and toddlers the ability to perform amazing feats of strength. One such case was Liam Hoekstra, who could perform upside-down situps, and could lift himself into an Iron Cross position across his mother's hands.
nWoB7 TIL that a study in 1974, to test if leading questions can distort eyewitness testimony, indicated that indeed "the questions asked subsequent to an event can cause a reconstruction in one’s memory of that event."