TIL Sylvester Stallone commissioned Arkansas Knife Maker, Jimmy Lile, to create a knife for Rambo. Lile, instructed not to make a prop, responded with a blade that could "Cut through the fuselage of an aircraft" and a unique hollow handle to store survival necessities.
TIL of Mary Carey, a pornographic actress who ran for the Governor of California in 2003 as a publicity stunt. Her platform included promises of taxing breast implants, making lap dances tax-deductible, and creating a "Porn for Pistols" exchange program.
TIL A scam artist tricked multiple US government agencies into spending over $20M on fake intelligence software. In 2003 the CIA grounded a US-bound flight after the software detected a credible threat had been made, and the con was discovered when the airline conducted an independent investigation.
TIL the last time the British Empire expanded was 1955, when they annexed a tiny rock 300km off the Scottish coast to prevent the Soviets spying on their ballistic missile tests.
TIL about Mary Ann Brown Patten, who took command of a merchant vessel in 1856 when the captain, her husband, became ill and the first mate was found to be sabotaging the voyage to win a bet he'd placed on a competitor. She defeated a mutiny attempt and brought the ship safely back to port.