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TIL roosters have a built-in volume limit to avoid deafening themselves when they crow

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8eQg8 TIL that in 2008, the city of Chicago sold the rights to collect revenue from its parking meters to a foreign-owned company, receiving a sum of $1.2 billion against a 75 year lease. Investors have collected $2.1 billion so far, for a yearly RoR of only 4.3%. Chicago has made a handsome profit.
YAx7 TIL the expression “May you live in interesting times” is known as the Chinese curse
kJl14 TIL: The British lost the cure for scurvy and had to rediscover it
9YG8m TIL I learned that catfish can breathe partly through their butts -- and maybe we can too. So can loaches (a type of freshwater fish) and orb-weaving spiders, and apparently also mice, rats, and pigs. (Bonus: So can some turtles.)
mxaQo TIL the eggs of Southern Cassowary is green like green(raw) mango. The eggs become green due to biliverdin, a common pigment found in bird eggshells. Their eggs color is used for camouflage against the surrounding vegetation in tropical forests.