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TIL from 1948 to 1952, future West German Chancellor Willy Brandt was a paid informant on the U.S. Counterintelligence Corps, providing reports on the situation in East Germany.

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5YkOR TIL about Mario Rigby who walked from Cape Town, South Africa, to Cairo, Egypt. It took him 2 years and he walked 7,456 miles. He was greeted with kindness in most villages on his journey and offered free lodging and food.
bR44 TIL Jon Heder was only paid $1,000 for his role as Napoleon Dynamite
rNKOe TIL Digesting Duck was an automaton unveiled by Jacques de Vaucanson on 30 May 1764. The duck was made to fake eating and digestion but Vaucanson wished for a real digesting machine. In 2002 Wim Delvoye revealed his "Cloaca Machine" which digested food; the excrement was sold to art collectors.
Z8dJa TIL Subaru put seats and carpet in the back of their Brat truck to get around a light truck tariff
XEOv8 TIL that Polynesians may have traveled to the Americas in pre-columbian times. Sweet potatoes originated from the Americas were found in the islands when Cpt. Cook discovered them. The Maori word for sweet potato "kumala" is almost the same as the Quechuan's word "k'umara" for sweet potato.