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TIL that the first recorded vending machine was invented by Hero of Alexandria, an ancient Greek engineer, in the first century AD. It dispensed holy water in exchange for a coin.

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l7G1K TIL: Ledell Lee, a man convicted of murder, maintained his innocence until his execution in 2017. Years later, new DNA evidence revealed the presence of an unknown person’s DNA on the murder weapon, sparking renewed debate about potential wrongful convictions in the U.S.
d84mj TIL that the word 'disaster' literally means "bad star", and is derived from Italian 'disastro' (from 'dis-', expressing negation + 'astro', meaning star). The sense is astrological, of a calamity blamed on an unfavorable position of a planet
5Y0DR TIL of Da Shuhua, a Chinese tradition tossing molten iron onto cold bricks to create a dazzling light show.
kO9Yd TIL: Schwarzenegger Kept His Sword From Conan, and Kept it Around While He Was Governor
R7NY4 TIL that in the early twentieth century, film reels were often destroyed after their theatrical release, either by accident due to the use of flammable silver nitrate or on purpose in order to recover the silver contained in the film. As a result, an estimated 75-90% of all silent films are lost.