› added 7 years ago

139

TIL that in 1987, FBI agent Robert Hanssen was tasked by his superiors to find a mole within the agency after the FBI’s moles in the KGB were caught. In reality, he was the mole, working with the KGB since 1979.

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wBjP TIL that asthma inhalers containing ozone damaging CFCs were banned in 2008 in spite of their small environmental impact. Drug companies have greatly benefited from the ban because they can change more for HFA inhalers that are still patented. The drug has not changed, only the delivery mechanism.
loDGK TIL that "salting the earth" was a way to totally screw a vanquished enemy by poisoning their land so nothing would grow there. Obvious question: how did they get that much salt?
bjL7 TIL that Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone, was so talkative that on a two hour car ride the rest of his family remained silent to see if Rod would notice their lack of participation. He did not, talking nonstop through the entire car ride.
e01DE TIL of crow funerals - crows are among the few social creatures that have certain rituals that honor their dead fellows.
AD49d TIL: A camel after standing in 109 F (43 C) heat all day decapitated his absent-minded owner after he remembered to untie him.