› added 2 years ago

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TIL about Capitol Hill's mystery soda machine. Operating from around the early 1990s to 2018, this machine would dispense rare discontinued beverages. Supposedly the nearby businesses had no idea who was restocking the machine. After the machine disappeared a note was left saying "Went for a walk".

0bQp TIL that while awaiting sentencing for income tax evasion and obstruction of justice, David Friedland went scuba diving, faked his own death, and fled to the Maldives where he built a chain of scuba diving shops, the success of which helped him get caught.
VMoxZ TIL A Marathon is so called, because the message runner from the Battle of Marathon, had to run 26 miles back to Athens to report the victory. He proclaimed "Nike, Nike" (meaning 'victory') before collapsing and dying.
x6kK0 TIL the world's longest constitution was the Constitution of Alabama from 1901-2022. At 338,882 words, it was 51 times longer than the U.S. Constitution and 12 times longer than the average U.S. state constitution.
GAVK4 TIL that Rose's hometown from the Golden Girls, St. Olaf, is a real place, named after Norwegian king Olaf II. It's not as weird as she made it out to be, though.
l7KdK TIL that some people can voluntarily contract their tensor veli palatini—a muscle near the ear and throat—which opens the eustachian tube (normally closed), making a clicking sound (same as when you swallow or yawn) which equalizes the pressure in the middle ear. This is useful for freedivers.