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TIL in 1949, 15 ‘smokejumpers’ were parachuted in to deal with the Mann Gulch wildfire, but they soon had to run for their lives. Only 3 survived, one of whom did so by lighting his own escape fire, to give him a charred patch to enter, so that the main fire went right around him

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xVYD0 Today I learned that Colleen Fitzpatrick, who played Amber Von Tussle in the original 1980's movie Hairspray by John Waters, went on to perform as Pop Star Vitamin C, known for the songs "Smile" and "Graduation( Friends Forever)
wLemM TIL of corruption in billion trees tsunami in Pakistan, and that only 240 million were actually planted. The claim of billion tree is currently being ivestigated by anti corruption board of Pakistan
b6bE TIL Stanley Kubrick’s decision to only use classical music in what would become the iconic soundtrack for “2001: A Space Odyssey”, was made last minute in post-production. Alex North, who’d written an entire score for the film, didn’t find out his music had been discarded until the premiere.
J1JKQ TIL that at the time of the French Revolution the majority of people in France did not speak French. It is estimated that at the time of the French Revolution in 1789, only half of the population of France could speak French, and as late as 1871 only a quarter spoke French as their native language.
OWrY TIL that the longest prison sentence ever received was 141,078 years, handed out to Thai national Chamoy Thipyaso for her part in a Ponzi scheme that defrauded 16,000 investors.