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TIL In 1897 a Swedish Balloonist and his two colleagues began their nationally covered journey to fly over the North Pole in a hydrogen balloon. Four decades later a whaling ship came across their remains on a small arctic island, having crashed and perished in the tough arctic climate.

Z8dX4 TIL that Robert De Niro stalked his own autograph hunters and even agreed to meet one of his long-term stalkers to prepare for his role as an obsessive fan in The King of Comedy
gx8X TIL in 1951 a 21 year old Clint Eastwood was a passenger aboard a Douglas AD-1 bomber that ran out of fuel and ditched off the coast of California. He escaped serious injury and swam 3 miles to shore.
vdJB TIL that the hacker Kevin Mitnick was kept in solitary confinement for 8 months because “law enforcement told the judge that he could somehow dial into the NORAD modem via a payphone from prison and communicate with the modem by whistling to launch nuclear missiles.”
ANwMB TIL that the 1954 film "On the Waterfront" was projected in three aspect ratios: 1.66:1, 1.85:1, and 1.33:1. This was because in 1953, Columbia was moving to the new widescreen format and said that all upcoming films, including On The Waterfront, would be suitable for projection in any aspect ratio.
R7kp4 TIL that when drivers began using radar detectors, police forces began purchasing radar detector detectors, which led to radar detector manufacturers adding radar detector detector detector circuits to their devices