› added 6 years ago

257

TIL in the 1st century AD in Rome, the lead actor in the play, 'Laureolus," would be switched out in the end with a condemned criminal and actually crucified on stage.

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Z8jyB TIL about Cat Burning, a form of entertainment in medieval Europe. It involved such "amusement" ranging from putting cats in a bag and throwing them into a bonfire to setting them ablaze and chasing them through the streets.
6EWYX TIL that Gerald Ratner, ex-CEO of a budget jewelry chain, destroyed £500 million in company value with a single speech in which he called his products "total crap" and "cheaper than an M&S prawn sandwich but probably wouldn't last as long." Such gaffes are now known as "doing a Ratner."
E11d0 TIL that to get Tyrian Purple, you had to boil thousands of snails just to get a few grams of pure dye of it.
kQkm TIL In 1973 Syria had such a powerful air defense system, it almost destroyed the Israeli air force in just 18 days. In 1982 the rebuilt Israeli air force launched the largest air battle since the Korean war, destroying nearly the entire Syrian air defense and air force in under 2 hours.
xjmw TIL Pavlov’s dogs were eaten during the Siege of Leningrad