We’re replaying some of our favorite episodes about the Games and those who have competed in them. In this episode from August 2021, swimmer Eric Moussambani of Equatorial Guinea makes a splash at the 2000 Summer Games despite finishing well behind the rest of the competitors in his event. Plus: Canadian high jumper Derek Drouin won a gold medal in 2016 when his doctors might have preferred that he rest at home! 

African novice makes big splash (BBC)

Olympic high jump champion Derek Drouin competed in Rio with a double stress fracture in his back (National Post)

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We’re replaying some of our favorite episodes about the Games and those who have competed in them. In this episode from July 2021, a look at the men's marathon from the 1904 Games. You couldn't write a weirder race than this one.

Running a marathon was never crazier or harder than during the 1904 St Louis Olympics (ABC Australia)

8 Unusual Facts About the 1904 St. Louis Olympics (History.com)

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Today in 1959, Marine Corps pilot William Rankin passed through the middle of a thundercloud after having to eject from his plane. And despite the storm’s best efforts, he made it through in one piece. Plus: starting today in Tenino, Washington, it’s Oregon Trail Days.

Meet the Marine who ‘rode the thunder’ and lived to tell the tale (Air Force Times)

Oregon Trail Days 

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Summer travel comes and goes for most of us, but Tom Stuker, the "world's most frequent flyer," bought a lifetime plane ticket in 1990 and has been up in the air a lot since then. Plus: Monday in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, it’s the Rain Day Festival. 

New Jersey man dubbed ‘most traveled air passenger’ with nearly 24 million miles in the air (News12.com)

He has flown 23 million miles. Here are his travel secrets. (Washington Post)

Rain Day Festival 2024

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Today in 1978, the American release date of what looked like a blockbuster movie musical: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," starring some of the biggest music and movie stars of the era. Yeah, it didn't go so well. Plus: the Apollo 11 astronauts had to fill out customs declarations when they came back from the moon!?!

Beatles-Based Movie Is A Box Office Bomb (Songfacts)

Back from the Moon, Apollo Astronauts Had to Go Through Customs (Space.com)

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Today was the day in 1904 that a guy at the St. Louis World’s Fair took a pastry cone, put two scoops of ice cream inside, and changed the dessert world forever. Except that there are a bunch of ice cream cone origin stories from that World's Fair, and also, ice cream cones were around for more than a century before that. Plus: The US Postal Service is remembering game show legend Alex Trebek this year with a stamp that includes a Jeopardy-style clue.

Chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla : a history of American ice cream by Anne Cooper Funderburg

The Murky History of the Ice Cream Cone (TIME)

The USPS Commemorates Alex Trebek With a Forever Stamp in the Form of a ‘Jeopardy’ Question (Laughing Squid)

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It’s a busy time of year for transportation workers, especially here in the Midwest. Michigan's official state vehicle fleet includes a vintage Ford Model T, and not just as a nod to the state's long history with automaking. Plus: starting today in Ohio, it’s the Dayton Air Show.

Michigan DOT Still Has a Century-Old Ford Model T in Service (The Drive)

Dayton Air Show

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Today's believed to be the day in 1799 when French troops in northern Egypt found the Rosetta Stone, which unlocked a huge amount of knowledge about the ancient world. Or at least it would after scholars spent like two decades figuring out what it said. Plus: Atchison, Kansas is in the middle of its annual Amelia Earhart Festival, celebrating the community's most famous resident. 

Rosetta Stone found (History.com)

Amelia Earhart Festival

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For National Ice Cream Day this Sunday, the story of how New York state once upcycled some ice cream trucks into artificial reefs around Long Island. Plus: this Saturday in Pennsylvania, it’s the Made In Bradford Celebration, in the hometown of the Zippo lighter.

Sunken Ice Cream Trucks Were Used Create Artificial Reefs in NYC (Untapped New York)

Made In Bradford Celebration 

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This day in 1982 was the date at the top of a movie treatment for “E.T. 2: Nocturnal Fears." And as the title suggests, the sequel would have been a lot creepier than the first movie. Plus: starting tomorrow in Minnesota, it’s the Cosmos Space Festival. 

Why The ET Sequel Never Happened (ScreenRant)

Cosmos Space Festival 

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