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TIL the US government killed an estimated 10,000 people by intentionally poisoning alcohol during prohibition

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l71W1 TIL when flies land on your food, they basically spit on it — because they have to release digestive juices to liquefy it into a predigested, slurpable soup they can swallow.
wLm5Y TIL the winner of the discuss throw in the first modern Olympics had never seen a proper discuss until he arrived in Athens. The version he commissioned to train with was 25 pounds heavier than the competition model because he based it solely on images from an ancient vase.
JYrnV TIL Michael Jackson liked the song “Behind the Mask” by Japanese electronic group, the Yellow Magic Orchestra, so much that he wanted to include it in Thriller. He added lyrics, melodies to make it a song about a girlfriend would often hide her emotions behind a "mask"
OoxK6 TIL Western Union sent it's last telegram in 2006
kOMjW TIL the allies had plans to assassinate Hitler in 1944, but decided against it because they considered him to be less competent than anyone who might have replaced him (likely Himmler, Bormann, Goebbels, or Goering). He made enough strategic mistakes that it was probably better to keep him around.