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TIL a study showed that US public opinion on policies has a “minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact” on the chance a bill will become law. Contrarily, economic elite’s opinions have substantial impact and high correlation with policy change.

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Me1LV TIL that it is illegal to feed or touch seals in the wild, even if it is believed a seal pup has been abandoned. Well-meaning people have illegally picked up seal pups in Oregon and Washington thinking they were abandoned or needed help, but that interference ultimately resulted in two deaths.
6EMw8 TIL of Mikhail Bulgakov, a Russian writer whose works were banned in 1929. In desperation, he wrote a letter to Stalin and asked to emigrate. To his surprise, Stalin telephoned him personally. Bulgakov said he didn't want to leave and asked to work at the theater. Stalin permitted his request.
vVPj TIL that Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors, a different kind of nuclear reactor, could generate the entire world’s annual energy needs using 7,000 tons of thorium mined from an area the size of a football field in Idaho.
yQNDa TIL In the mid-1970s, a lawyer from Akron, Ohio, wrote the Cleveland Browns football team with a complaint about paper airplanes being tossed around the Stadium. The Browns replied with a letter saying "I feel that you should be aware that some asshole is signing your name to stupid letters"
J1mej TIL the origin of the name of Mount "Pilatus", overseeing Lucerne in Switzerland, has been a matter of debate and theories, which include Pontius Pilate being buried there or that the mountain looks like the belly of a large man/Pilate lying on his back.