› added 4 months ago

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TIL that during WWII, U.S. Navy cryptanalysts, led by Joseph Rochefort, tricked Japan into revealing their plans to attack Midway. By sending a fake uncoded message about a water shortage, they confirmed "AF" was Midway, allowing the U.S. to prepare and win the battle.

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yVApp TIL John Hughes chose to live in Chicago (where all his movies were set) rather than Hollywood or NYC because he preferred living among normal folks. "[In LA], you spend too much time with other people in the business and you trade ideas back and forth and it all sort of comes out looking the same."
gr8Yy TIL Canada did not have official residences for its political leaders until 1950. Laurier House in Ottawa was home to two Canadian Prime Ministers in the decades prior and served as PM Mackenzie King's unofficial office where he conducted much of the nation's business
wMGW TIL In the 1960s Pakistan briefly considered changing its traffic system from driving on the left to the right. However, camel trains often drove through the night while their drivers were dozing. The difficulty in teaching old camels new tricks was decisive in forcing Pakistan to reject the change.
XE1yk TIL If your net worth is -$962, you have more money than 10% of Americans
VMNRk TIL there was a direct bus service from London to Calcutta (now Kolkata) until 1976. It stopped in multiple cities enroute for passengers to shop.