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TIL One of Niccolo Machiavelli's many talents was improvised song writing: his friends would try to challenge his rhyming skills by opening a random page of any random Latin poet and asking him to translate and turn into into a song, which he was able to do on the spot while playing the lira

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LkWkP TIL Xylitol, a sugar alcohol rapidly growing in popularity for it's benefits to human health, is highly toxic to dogs and several other animals. A dose of only a teaspoon can be fatal to even large breed dogs.
4A1w TIL that Kevin Carter committed suicide 3 months after winning the Pulitzer Prize for a photograph of a starving toddler being stalked by a vulture
d957 TIL River Pheonix was supposed to be the interviewer in Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) but died. Christian Slater took his place, and donated his entire paycheck from the movie to all of River’s favorite charities.
4knmX TIL that Sue, one of the most complete T. Rex skeletons ever discovered, was discovered on a Sioux reservation. This caused a five-year legal dispute over ownership, after which the skeleton’s owner auctioned it for $7.6 million.
mxn9v TIL William Jennens was the richest commoner in England when he died. He had gone to sign his will but forgot his glasses and brought it home to sign the next day and died before he could. The court case over inheritance was argued for 117 years, until the money was exhausted by legal fees.