› added 13 years ago

201

TIL The most profitable movie of all time is My Big Fat Greek Wedding, with a 6150% return on investment

Read more cnbc.com

via reddit.com

4mYJ TIL the word “thug” comes from a group of professional assassins called “thuggees”; a fanatical religious group in India that killed in the name of the Hindu Goddess Kali. Thuggees would find a group of travelers and gain their trust before strangling them at night with a handkerchief.
Z8x0v TIL of Peter O'Connor, an Irish Olympian forced to compete under Great Britain due to a rule change. Unhappy with this, he smuggled in a green Irish flag and proceeded to scale Britain's flag pole during the award ceremony. He waved his flag at the top while his teammate guarded the bottom.
ADplB TIL of Marcus Crassus the creator of the first Roman fire brigade, employing 500 slaves. At the first cry of help, they would stand while Crassus offered to buy the building for cheap. If refused, he let it burn and simply rebuilt it with slave labour. He is often called "The richest man in Rome".
4KGa TIL when a man asked Xerxes to exempt his eldest son from serving in the army, he had the young man cut in half and ordered his army to march between his two parts
X0jdX TIL that there is a surge of vasectomies in March so the recovery time will sync up with March Madness