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TIL Oliver Stone started writing the screenplay for Platoon on July 4, 1976 after a fireworks display triggered his Vietnam War flashbacks.

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XE0L6 TIL in 1996 Cory Foulk competed the Ironman Hawaii barefoot on a 61 pound beach cruiser promotion the World Triathlon Corporation to add rules enforcing footwear and race style bicycles.
Z48R TIL that while in a spin, a pilot ejected from his plane only to watch his unmanned F-106 recover from the spin and land safely in a field.
J1NE4 TIL Arnold Schwarzenegger was going to play Kyle Reese in the 1984 film The Terminator
78oOP TIL: The (now disbanded) British Colour Council produced indexes of named colours for use by government, industry, academia, and horticulture... including colour B.C.C 20 – "N_gger Brown".
dNmd TIL The UK has 4 nuclear submarines as a nuclear deterrent, each has an identical “letter of last resort”. These letters contain orders from the current PM should the government collapse due to nuclear attack. The PM has only four options to choose and they’re destroyed unopened upon a new PM.