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TIL of Jack Lucas. He joined the Marines at 13 to fight in WW2, survived a blast after jumping on two grenades to save his team, and later survived a free fall from an airplane after both of his parachutes failed.

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ADXDd TIL one of Switzerland’s defense strategies is to demolish every main road, bridge and railway access into Switzerland in case of a foreign invasion, with at least 3,000 locations around the country prepared to blow at a moment’s notice.
4Xvm6 TIL that Physicist Ted Taylor was the first person to light a cigarette using a nuclear bomb. During a bomb test in 1952, he used a parabolic mirror to concentrate the light of the blast enough to heat a cigarette suspended from a tiny wire.
JYnrk TIL a man robbed two bank after covering his face in lemon juice, which he believed would hide him from the cameras because it was "invisible ink". His case led psychologists to describe the Dunning-Kruger effect, where ignorance leads people to overestimate their knowledge.
JYpmB TIL of Rita Crundwell, who embezzled $53.7 million during her 22 year career as treasure and controller of Dixon, Illinois. She used this money to support her championship Quarter Horse breeding operation. In 2008 alone, she was able to embezzle $5.8 million off of a city budget of $8-9 million.
DEDV TIL that in a 2009 paper, researchers found that the widespread introduction of television across India was associated with decreased acceptability of domestic violence against women, increases in women’s autonomy and an overall decrease in the country’s fertility rate.