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TIL that in 2004 Alicia Esteve Head, under the alias Tania Head, pretended to be a 9/11 survivor, created an online support group and ultimately was named President of the World Trade Center Survivors' Network before being discovered as a fraud in 2007 by The New York Times.

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v1XxK TIL The US cancelled $16.5 billion of Poland’s foreign debt as a reward for for a top secret Polish intelligence operation that extracted 6 CIA operatives from Iraq just before the Gulf War. Several countries refused to help in such a dangerous operation; only Poland agreed to help
vDwB TIL Scarlett Johansson auditioned for the lead role in “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,” but was considered too “sexy.” The role went to Rooney Mara instead.
4XR5X TIL Pope Formosus was tried Posthumously for Perjury and Violating Canon law.His nine-month-old corpse exhumed, propped up on a throne, and subjected to a mock trial.He was Found guilty, his election as pope was declared invalid, his acts were quashed, and his fingers of consecration were cut off.
1aGkP TIL Marvel's near collapse led to dominance. In The 90’s they desperately sold film rights to their characters for operating capital. A few hits(Blade & X-Men) led studios to consider the comic movie viable. Failure by most caused many of the rights to return to Marvel, who created Marvel Studios.
Z8rmQ TIL Sun Li Jen, a commander in the ROC in WW2 is known as “Rommel of the East” due to his military achievements in various campaigns. He is named the most capable Chinese field commander in WW2. He spent his last 30 years under house arrest in Taiwan due to suspicions on collaborating with the CIA.