› added 3 years ago

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TIL the UK's Secret Intelligence Service is said to train secret agents in field operations at a star-shaped 1700's castle called Fort Monckton. It is known as No.1 Military Training Establishment & is guarded by razor wire, high intensity lighting & an "in-house" security staff.

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4XBQ5 TIL Mr bean only had 15 episodes
l794G TIL that in the 1990s, the CIA developed a robotic catfish named "Charlie." This unmanned underwater vehicle was designed to collect water samples covertly, controlled via a line-of-sight radio handset. The details of its missions remain classified.
k7LW TIL Eastern Russia has a “Valley of Death” where volanic hydrogen sulfide gasses displace all oxygen for a metre or so above ground level. This kills animals which attracts scavengers who are also killed in an endless chain of death.
OGnG6 TIL Some scorpion species remove their tails when attacked. They also lose their anus in the process but live up to 8 months - hunting, eating, mating etc. they eventually die of constipation.
xVebw TIL "Motivated Reasoning" is why you can't change someone's mind on the Internet. Techniques include identity-protective cognition (being dismissive of uncomfortable ideas) biased assimilation (only remembering supporting ideas) and biased information search (staying in a bubble).