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TIL: In 1994, the DEA seized a supercomputer from a drug cartel. The cartel acquired an IBM AS/400 and used it to record bribes, vehicle and telephone data of enemies, and the entire Colombian DMV record. The cartel had computer analysts using it to locate individuals to wiretap. The DEA was stunned

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QNZXp TIL during WWII, the code word for "Hitler" was "Crazy white man" for the Comanche Code Talkers
GAJn7 TIL Virtually all dialogue in the movie This Is Spinal Tap (1984) is improvised. Actors were given outlines indicating where scenes would begin and end, but everything else came from the actors. As often as possible, the first take was used in the film, to capture natural reactions.
4l6b TIL that UN weapons inspector and UK government Bio-weapons expert David Kelly was found dead 2 days after testifying in parliament against Iraqi WMD claims. His autopsy was also meant to be sealed for 70 years by judge order.
l7ZZB TIL that when reconstructing the Khufu Ship, a funery boat buried next to the Great Pyramid, Ahmed Youssef Moustafa spent years researching ancient egyptian boat building from reliefs in tomb walls, modern wooden boating techniques and model boats found in egyptian tombs.
NggN TIL that until 1966 the Catholic Church had a list of forbidden books which aimed to protect the faith of followers by preventing the reading of “immoral” books of authors such as Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Immanuel Kant, Descartes, Galilei and Pascal. Darwin’s works were never included in the list.