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TIL John Travolta adapted L. Ron Hubbard's novel "Battlefield Earth" into a film directed by George Lucas' protégé. Travolta described it as "like Star Wars, only better!", however the film was a commercial and critical failure and grossed less than half its budget.

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XExKP TIL that humans have approximately double the lifespan of our ape cousins because of a gene that we evolved to regulate the effects of our meat-rich diets.
lABr TIL A plaque honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. mistakenly thanked his assassin, James Earl Ray, instead of actor James Earl Jones. When officials received their plaque they were horrified to discover that it bore an inscription thanking James Earl Ray for “keeping the dream alive”
D1WNJ TIL that cocks don't have a cock
5VylR TIL Saturns Ring is only 100 meters thick (about the length of a football field)
DeGD TIL Carl Sagan was denied tenure at Harvard University and was unable to become a member of the National Academy of Sciences because his role as a ‘popularizer’ of science had caused other scientists to dislike him, claiming he wasn’t a 'pure’ scientist.