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TIL Joan Murray survived a 14,500 ft fall when her main parachute failed while skydiving. She landed in a fire ant mound. Numerous venomous stings caused an adrenaline rush to keep her heart beating long enough for doctors to assist.

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gMJk9 TIL In 1969, amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst secretly abandoned the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race while reporting false positions to appear to complete a circumnavigation without actually doing so. His boat was found unoccupied; it was presumed that he committed suicide or fell overboard.
e0yRE TIL About Nikola Petkov, a Bulgarian revolutionary who helped establish Bulgaria as a republic, only to be executed by its government after a show trial when he tried to preserve democracy
wLJJY TIL that there are only seven countries where alcohol is illegal: Afghanistan, Maldives, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen
mx4O TIL that there is a satellite called LAGEOS that will return to earth in 8.4 million years. Inscribed on it is a picture of what scientists think the continents will look like at that time.
rwnx TIL that King George VI was appalled when the South African government instructed him to only shake hands with white people while on his visit there in 1947. He referred to his South African bodyguards as “the Gestapo”.