› added 1 week ago

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TIL: the CIA once got brutally humiliated by the Cuban Government and Fidel Castro when they publicly broadcasted the identity of every single American spy in their territory on every local TV and Newspaper, including recordings of encounters the CIA believed were done in maximum secrecy

Read more cia.gov

via reddit.com

GQOJ TIL that in 986, Vladimir the Great, audited the major religions before choosing one to unify Russia. Apparently he decided against adopting the Muslim faith because “Drinking is the joy of the Rus’, we can’t go without it”.
yNQp TIL that a British soldier who fought in both World Wars was shot in the face, head, ankle, leg, hip and ear, survived a plane crash, tunnelled out of a POW camp, and bit off his own fingers when a doctor wouldn’t amputate them. He later said “frankly I had enjoyed the war.”
jErQ TIL that adding 10,000 years to the AD year count (i.e. 12014 for this year) gives us the Holocene Calender. It is an estimate of the number of years since the Neolithic Revolution, which is considered to have been the birth of civilization.
1aMJ7 TIL Through 1970 to 1971 TV networks cancelled some of their most popular and profitable shows including Green Acres, Lassie, Hee-Haw and The Beverly Hillbillies in what is often referred to as The Rural Purge.
1aRXO TIL that the dog breed St. Bernards were originally known as Barry Hounds, after a dog named Barry who lived at the St. Bernard hospice in the 1800s. Barry saved 40 people in the nearby mountains, and the hospice has always maintained one dog named Barry in his honor.