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TIL That in 1762, Benjamin Franklin had a hollow walking stick created that could secretly hold ~1 pint of oil in it. When the head of the stick was pushed down, it would release oil from the bottom. He did this to trick his friends into thinking he had the power to calm waves in troubled waters.

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E1lWx TIL: There is a city in the United States called "Truth or Consequences". It's in New Mexico, and 6,000+ people live there.
Yp60B TIL of the "Elfstedentocht" (eleven city tour). An ice skating tour held on natural ice in the province of Frisia. It visits all 11 historical towns in Frisia and spans almost 200 km. It can only take place when the weather is favorable and has only taken place 15 times since the first one in 1909.
LkXmr TIL of pro-butter Senator Gordon Roselip. In a 1955 Wisconsin senatorial blind taste test Roselip preferred margarine, insisting it was butter. It later transpired that Roselip’s wife, worried about his heart, had for years been substituting yellow margarine for butter at the Senator’s dinner table.
BYok TIL that the Hanwha Eagles, a South Korean baseball team, has robot fans. These robot fans are controlled by real fans who can’t attend the game. The bots can cheer, chant, and do the wave.
OoWm4 TIL that Lawrence Public Library in Kansas has one of the biggest collection of videogames in the libraries'world, from PS3/X360 till next gen. Users can loan them and play at home for free and they also send them to other US libraries with Interlibrary Loan service.