› added 4 years ago

104

TIL about Herostratus: A person who burned the Temple of Artemis, which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, because he wanted to be famous. “Herostratic fame” was coined after him where a person earns fame through misdeeds.

Read more fellowprimo.com

via reddit.com

7jR7 TIL In 1713, Venetian Baroque composer Giuseppe Tartini had the devil come to him in a dream where he played the violin with such virtuosity that the composer felt enchanted. Upon awakening, Tartini in an attempt to recreate what he had heard composed his greatest piece, which to him didn’t compare.
PO6V TIL during the dot com bubble in 1999, Mark Cuban was prevented from selling his Yahoo stocks due to a lock-up clause. So, he sold insurance against the share price rising, and used the profits to buy insurance in case the share price fell. In total it cost him nothing, and made him a billionaire.
wBVE TIL Two privacy researchers from the University of Texas were able to unmask Netflix users’ political and sexual orientation by taking the “anonymized” movie ratings (released as part of Netflix Prize) and comparing them against non-anonymized movie ratings posted at IMDB.
4RmN TIL Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon earnings were invested in a floating restaurant, a fudge-making hotel, a computer game, a film nobody saw, a skateboard company, a car hire business, and a children’s shoe factory. All complete failures. They fled to France as tax exiles and recorded The Wall.
RY5Q TIL billionaire Warren Buffet ($66.7 billion net worth) still lives in the same house he bought in 1958 for $31,500.