› added 12 years ago

76

TIL that when Donald Sutherland was cast in Animal House, he was offered either a 40k upfront payment, or a percentage of the film. Thinking that the film wouldn’t be a success, he took the 40k. Had he taken even just 1% of the film’s revenue, he would have made $1,416,000.

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W76K8 TIL that elements of the ancient Mesopotamian religion (first formed in the 6th millennium BC) may have survived until the early 20th century. The Shamsīyah, a sect of sun-worshippers, persisted in southeastern Turkey (sometimes outwardly adopting Christian customs) until the early 1900s.
W7EMA TIL that the “Mozart Effect" (the claim that "listening to Mozart makes you smarter" or that early childhood exposure to classical music has a beneficial effect on mental development) stems from a single published in the Nature journal in 1993. The results were highly exaggerated by the press.
yQD5a Today I learned that Velveeta was the first cheese product to gain the American Medical Association's seal of approval
kvLB TIL animals have been shown to plan ahead. This was shown by a chimp who collected rocks to later throw at people when he got annoyed.
kOGX4 TIL that a saxophone was among the casualties of the Challenger disaster.