› added 7 years ago

89

TIL Maj. Iván Castro is the only active duty blind officer serving in the US Army Special Forces. Castro lost his eyesight in 2006 in Iraq when a mortar round severely wounded him. After being told he’d never see again, he learned to train and serve without sight. He was promoted Captain in 2008.

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5Gg9 TIL Helium is a non-renewable resource, the US used to stockpile it, and we may run out eventually
1KKD TIL that pandas in the Canada are on loan from China, and when a baby Panda is born, by agreement, it is sent back to China to help expand the gene pool. The baby pandas are shipped back by FedEx.
nOQY TIL canned food may last decades longer than the expiration dates suggest
YpwwA TIL that in 1969 a representative of the Soviet government contacted an American diplomat in Washington to ask how the US would feel if the Soviets were to attack and destroy China's nuclear installations. The American at first thought this was meant as a joke.
WkOV9 TIL a cockroach can "karate kick" an emerald jewel wasp in the head. If not kicked away, a wasp injects venom into a roach's brain & midsection which paralyzes a roach's front legs & makes it a zombie to be led by its antennae; then it gets stuck with a wasp egg & eaten alive by wasp larvae.