› added 9 years ago

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TIL the irish Peter O'Connor at the flag-raising ceremony in the 1906 olympics, in protest at the flying of the Union Flag for his second place, scaled a flagpole in the middle of the field and waved the Irish flag, while the pole was guarded by Irish and American athletes and supporters.

9YEpX TIL of the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion program, a failed project by the US Air Force to develop a nuclear powered jet engine
VMNrB TIL that Marvel's Star Lord was at one point not the only comic character to go by Star Lord. In 1978, a short lived British comic series called Starlord was published. Both Star Lords were not affiliated. However, Marvel's Star Lord debuted in 1976, making him the original, and the most popular.
9bKX TIL Carl Sagan thought he was able to explain things because for the most part, understanding difficult concepts didn’t come easy to him. “The very brilliant ones figure it out so fast they never see the mechanics of understanding.”
YDJd TIL there was a ship that hit a shoal, then ran aground. Its lifeboat’s engine failed. The first ship that tried to help it also ran aground, then a rescue aircraft tried to land on the nearby coast but dug into the dirt. Four days later, it was fixed, took off, then crashed again 43 minutes later.
4X066 TIL that Taco Bell announced in 2001 that it would give a free taco to the entire US population if Russia's MIR space station would land in a 40x40 foot target they set up in Australia. The space station ended up missing by 12 kilometers, and Taco Bell made a "consolation" offer of two tacos for $1.