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TIL Parachute riggers, guys who pack the parachutes in the US Air force, jump their own parachutes. At any given point, rigger can be asked to jump a parachute that they packed or any other rigger packed. And if they can't jump because of illness or injury, they can't pack.

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xRX1 TIL Andrew Jackson was the first sitting president to almost be assassinated. After the first pistol failed to be discharged a second pistol was pulled, that one too misfired. The likelihood of both pistols misfiring was 120,000 to 1.
8eQj4 TIL Aristotle's History of Animals contains several facts that were deemed fantasy until the 19th century. Such observations include octopuses having a sperm tentacle and dogfish growing inside their mother's body. The book also has obvious errors like assuming flies have four legs.
J4LQ TIL A group of women navigated canvas and plywood planes at night to drop 23,000 tons of bombs over invading German armies in WWII. Their stealthy swooshing sounds led them to be known as the Night Witches.
9w6wm TIL that core samples provided evidence that the tug of Jupiter and Venus has caused shifts in Earth’s orbit every 405,000 years for at least 415 Million years.
GYVWG TIL Bill Haast began extracting snake venom at 15 years old. He founded the Miami Serpentarium and injected himself with venom for 60+ years. His blood was used to save 21 snakebite victims. He created a venom serum to cure polio. He was bitten over 170 times and lived to be 100.