› added 5 years ago

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TIL that Winston Groom, the author of "Forrest Gump" the source for the titular movie, was contracted to earn 3% share of the profits. The film made about $678 million on the budget of $55 million, but Paramount did not pay Groom, using Hollywood accounting to posit that the film indeed lost money.

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5VQ4p TIL that gummy bears were originally called “dancing bears” and were inspired by the trained bears that performed at circuses and festivals in Europe in the 19th century
wRKo TIL that male puppies will let female puppies win when playing. Even if they have an advantage, just to keep the game going.
v1p0B TIL the original Lego bricks were not invented by Lego but by a British company called Kiddicraft. As the Lego company was close to bankruptcy they found out about the bricks, marketed them as their own and made a fortune out of it.
yQd58 TIL that in China there are centres for internet addiction with treatments that can be so rough that some patients have died. Some facilities use electro-shock treatment as part of the cure, and among roughly three hundred such centres in China, there have been seven reported deaths.
9YnB6 TIL 99 years ago 4,500 tonnes of a mixture incl. ammonium nitrate fertilizer exploded at BASF in Oppau, Germany, killing 500-600 people, injuring 2000 more. The explosion, estimated to have 1–2 kilotonnes TNT equivalent, could still be heard more than 300km away in north-eastern France and Munich.