TIL that Darryl Dawkins "Chocolate Thunder", who was most famous for his two glass shattering dunks, was the first NBA player to play out of high school. He once claimed to be an alien from the planet Lovetron, where he spent the off-season practicing "interplanetary funkmanship" with gf Juicy Lucy.
TIL about Jack Horner, a paleontologist, who along with his research partner discovered a new dinosaur genus which they named Maiasaura. He was the technical advisor for all of the Jurassic Park films and is now working on the DinoChicken project in hopes to create a dinosaur using chicken DNA.
TIL The Muppets were featured on the first season of SNL but they got a poor reception and were fired. Jim Henson then created a new set of Muppets and and The Muppet Show, which was a take-off of SNL. It was a success.
TIL Censorship board in Philippines wanted to cut nudity/sex scenes from Schindler's List. Spielberg refused, and pulled the film from screening in Philippine cinemas, which prompted the Senate to demand the abolition of the censorship board.
TIL Edgar Allen Poe wrote "William Wilson", a story where doppelgangers share a name and similar traits. In the 1980s, there were 2 switch hitter, center fielders, that shared similar traits and backgrounds, playing in the MLB. Their names were William Wilson.