› added 7 years ago

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TIL Stan Lee had a contract awarding him 10% of the net profits of anything based on his characters. The first Spider-Man made more than $800 million in revenue, but the producers claimed it did not make any profit and Lee received nothing.

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ZRrG TIL that in 1967 Vladimir Komarov became the first to die during a space mission. Reportedly he knew the mission would fail but went up anyway to save anyone else from dying. A final recording exists where he curses his commanders for ignoring his warnings as he burns up in re-entry
ADvNd TIL of Pierre-Simon Laplace, often referred to as the French Newton, he is credited with translating the geometric study of classical mechanics to one based on calculus. Laplace was one of the first scientists to propose the existence of black holes and the theory of gravitational collapse.
1aGQO TIL there's a theory which suggests that early humans were first inspired to settle down and adopt agriculture in order to produce beer, rather than bread.
e01r6 TIL that all F1 races have had the same safety car driver since the year 2000. Bernd Mayländer has driven over 700 laps total in all the F1 circuits around the world.
yL5a TIL: The Dutch royal family took refuge in Canada during WW2 occupation, upon the birth of Princess Margriet, the Ottawa maternity ward was temporarily declared to be Dutch territory by the Canadian government. Since then every year the Dutch people send Canada thousands of tulips in appreciation.