› added 6 years ago

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TIL the Barbie Liberation Organization swapped the voice boxes in ~400 talking G.I. Joes and talking Barbies, then returned them to stores. Kids bought them and heard Barbie say "Vengeance is mine!" and G.I. Joe say "I love shopping!"

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YxVZ TIL that despite the name originating from Tchaikovsky’s ballet, composed nearly seventy years prior to the movie, the name ‘Princess Aurora’ is now a registered trademark of The Walt Disney Company, creating copyright and licensing issues for any future performances of 'The Sleeping Beauty Ballet’.
KnP4 TIL ‘waiterless’ restaurants were pioneered in the late 1800s and were a hit in the early 20th century with the arrival of the Automat; the walls inside each store were lined with a series of small windows containing food. For a fee the window unlocked, allowing customers to pull out a meal.
rWbM TIL Young Benjamin Franklin was a street performer, composing songs, poetry, and prose about current events which he would perform in public and sell in printed form. His father convinced him to stop because of the stigma of buskers, which later contributed to his support of free speech.
xVM8g TIL the U.S. government saved every public tweet from 2006 through 2017 Starting in 2018, the Library of Congress decided to only keep tweets on “a very selective basis,” including elections and those dealing with something of national interest, like public policy.
oBrME TIL of the Bridegroom's Oak. A 500yo tree with its own postal address, those seeking love can both send love letters as well as check and reply to those they wish. It receives around 1000 letters a year and has allegedly been responsible for at least 100 marriages.