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TIL The first vending machine was in Egypt and dispensed holy water, not Coke

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xVE65 TIL President James Buchanan regularly used to buy slaves in Washington, D.C. and quietly freed them in Pennsylvania
yVQnw TIL in 1925 William Randolph Hearst purchased the cloisters of a Spanish monastery, had it dismantled brick by brick, and shipped it all to the US. The pieces sat in a Brooklyn, NY warehouse for 26 years until two entrepreneurs bought them and rebuilt the structure in North Miami, FL.
MejPB TIL Clarence Birdseye, inventor of frozen foods, had previously worked as a hunter for the US government. Seeking to find a cure for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Birdseye was assigned to collect small animals and search them for the ticks which transmitted the disease. He found nearly 4,500 ticks.
kRVE TIL the lyrics of the first original USSR anthem commissioned by Stalin, the lyrics of the second anthem (after De-Stalinization) and the lyrics of the current anthem of Russian Federation were all written by the same man, Sergey Mikhalkov (who was mostly a writer of children books and fables).
KOLWG TIL the religion of Zoroastrianism believes the otter ("water dog") is a highly sacred animal and believe in harsh punishments for those who kill them.