› added 9 months ago

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TIL that in 1971, a man survived an accidental skydiving fall from 10,000 feet after his parachute failed to open, landing in snow and walking away with minor injuries.

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9Yrmr TIL that in the early 1990s, New York City's Metro Transit Authority had a mascot for their new MetroCard service (that replaced tokens) - the Caardvark
D1xbV TIL there’s an orangutan at the San Diego Zoo that likes to sneak out of his cage at night and wander the park, then sneak back in the morning
XaaR TIL Robert Heft designed the 50 star American Flag in 1958 as a 17 year old for a high school class project. He received a B-, though it was changed to an A after his flag design was chosen and adopted by presidential proclamation after Alaska and before Hawaii were admitted into the union.
7r57M TIL in order to promote Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, Ubisoft funded the exhumation, DNA testing, and facial reconstruction of famous 18th century pirate Amaro Pargo
7rZRb TIL: When foxes discovered fairy penguins on a small Australian island, they nearly wiped the colony out. Swampy Marsh, a chicken farmer, began sending Maremma dogs to protect the birds. Over the next 10 years not a single penguin was killed by a fox.