› added 8 years ago

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TIL that at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, Hawaiian American Duke Kahanamoku overslept and missed his qualifying heat in the 100m freestyle. His main rival, Cecil Healy of AUS, convinced judges to hold a special qualifying race for Duke. Duke ending up going on to win the gold, and Cecil took silver

8oVV TIL of a black New York pastor in 1947 who decided to travel to Alabama in a turban and with a fake accent, posing as a foreign dignitary. His disguise allowed him in white-only areas, and he was treated with little discrimination.
0wkBL TIL about Picher, Oklahoma. A town that had to be abandoned after it was discovered that an old lead mine was poisoning the residents. The real nail in the coffin came when an F-4 tornado hit in 2008. Today, the town sits completely empty.
8ek8Z TIL Charles Schulz, creator of the comic strip Peanuts, continually hated his comic’s name throughout his life. Whenever he was asked what he did for a living, he avoided using the comic’s official name, and instead said, "I draw that comic strip with Snoopy in it, Charlie Brown and his dog".
m1OrR TIL Peter Steele of Type O Negative appeared as a nude centerfold of Playgirl in 1995. Steele regretted the decision after finding out only 23% of the magazine subscribers were female. Stating “Not that I'm homophobic, but it was certainly irritating” about his decision.
6Eda7 TIL Magdalena Solis, a Mexican prostitute was paid to imitate an Incan goddess as part of a scam. She began to believe she was a goddess so she took over the cult and began sacrificing her followers.