› added 8 years ago

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TIL the CIA spent millions of dollars installing spy equipment inside the body of a cat only to have it run over by a car on its first test mission.

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via reddit.com

G0A5 TIL that some knife makers attach a coin to each knife they sell, to circumvent the superstition that giving someone a knife as a gift severs the relationship: the receiver can ‘pay’ for the knife by returning the coin to the person who gave the knife to them, turning the gift into a 'purchase’.
VMPmk TIL In WW II, German submarines used the lights from US coastal cities to see US shipments. Coastal cities refused to limit lighting as was done in Europe due to tourism, and as a result much shipping was destroyed.
7rZNp TIL in the 1950s the US Government investigated a person named Robert Dorr because he kept writing to Boeing and asking for pictures of their planes. They discovered Dorr was a just teenager who loved planes, an "average and loyal American boy." He grew up to be a diplomat, author, and TV pundit.
kOAoe TIL "petface" dogs with puppy-like features have juvenile traits systematically built into their DNA through centuries of rigorous breeding. Many of the same traits that make these dogs "cute" give them a predisposition to respiratory disorders, skin conditions, reproductive issues and eye injuries
vevK TIL that Al Qaeda has a strategy planned out all the way to 2020, from angering the U.S., and having a war of attrition, to committing them to debt. Everything is going as they planned.