› added 10 years ago

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TIL During Larry Ellison’s divorce shortly after founding Oracle, his wife forfeited her claim to the company in exchange for $500. Ellison is worth about $50,000,000,000 today.

mxW8M TIL about kyōtei - literally "Boat Race" - which is one of only four 'public sports' that you can legally bet on in Japan. It's been called "Japan's NASCAR". Competitors are randomly given a boat and motor and they then have a period of time where they can tune it.
BrQ5K TIL that Industrial Light & Magic created the visual effects for the 1988 film "Willow", which led to a breakthrough in digital morphing technology. The techniques developed for the sequence where one of the characters morphs into different animals, was later used for Terminator 2: Judgement day.
O9Ba TIL Field Marshall Montgomery once made a bet with Walter Bedell Smith that is if he could capture the city of Sfax by April 1943 he would receive a B17 bomber. When Monty completed his half of the bet, Smith backed out: The matter escalated all the way to Eisenhower who ensured Monty got his B17.
0kGy TIL that in order to get seeds from lettuce, the grower has to neglect them. Once they begin to die, their only priority is to ensure the next generation, and thus the only time they seed. (SN: you preserve lettuce seeds in powered milk).
6E7XJ TIL: Nearly 3,000 euros are thrown into Rome's Trevi fountain every day, totalling over a million in the course of a year. There are regular attempts to steal the money but it is illegal to do so. The money has been used to fund a supermarket for the needy.