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TIL that Rome has a centuries-old tradition of "talking statues" that provide an outlet for people to write anonymous satire and criticism of figures of power. After authorities tried to prevent people from leaving messages at the original statue, the number of talking statues increased.

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OoG8e TIL Keiko the Orca, of Free Willy fame, died after only about a year and a half after being fully released due to a failure to adapt to life in the wild. The project to free him cost roughly US$20 million.
R71ra TIL the term "butterfly effect" in chaos theory might have its origins in a 1952 Ray Bradbury short story. In it, a time-traveler travels back 66 million years where he accidentally crushes a butterfly, resulting in an altered timeline observed upon his return.
9aj6 TIL that in 2009, Disney-owned Lucasfilm successfully sued Verizon Wireless over their line of Android phones named “DROID” as “droid” is a registered trademark of LucasFilm. Since the Steve Jobs Trust is one of Disney’s largest shareholders, Jobs’ estate makes money when a DROID is sold.
Y7jwZ TIL that Native Americans in the American West were managing and riding horses by the early 1600s, decades earlier than thought. This challenges earlier theories that they acquired horses only after the 1680 Pueblo Revolt, when Spanish settlers were expelled from New Mexico.
5YZgp TIL In 1940 9,169 British people were killed in road traffic accidents during the wartime blackout. One person died that year for every 200 vehicles on the road; today the figure is one for every 20,000.