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TIL that in 1861 a slave took over on a confederate ship and delivered it to the Union. He later was given the ship to command during the Civil War. After the war he bought the house he was a slave in, and became a US congressman.

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XE7Pj TIL that Maryland passed the United States' first campaign finance reform law in 1811. It prohibited candidates from purchasing alcohol for voters, which was an extremely common practice at the time.
9EWp TIL South Korea, despite having completed the transistion to digital broadcast (ATSC) in 2012, still maintains analogue broadcast near its borders for North Koreans watching South Korean TV in secret.
91lD TIL Netflix runs its streaming service almost completely off of Amazon servers
wEJJ TIL there is a Superhero Supply store in Brooklyn with a Cape Fitting room with a wind tunnel. They also sell Oxygen Gum, Bottled Chaos and have an Invisibility Testing Center.
OoOWY TIL that in 1969, the Penn Central Railroad Co. planned to build a tower on top of Grand Central which would have required removal of a portion of the station's facade. The NYC Landmark Preservation Commission rejected the design, leading to a landmark Supreme Court "takings-clause"case in 1978.