› added 6 years ago

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TIL that when China ordered a Boeing 767 from the U.S. in 2002 to serve as its presidential jet, its intelligence service discovered nearly 30 bugging devices onboard the plane, "including one in the headboard of the presidential bed." The C.I.A. and the White House refused to comment.

Read more telegraph.co.uk

via reddit.com

N7rK8 TIL Canada's nuclear reactors (CANDU) are designed to use decommissioned nuclear weapons as fuel and can be refueled while running at full power. They're considered among the safest and the most cost effective reactors in the world.
wlZM TIL that in 1974 a US soldier stole a helicopter and flew to the White House in Washington, D.C. As he hovered above the south grounds, the Executive Protective Service shot and injured him, forcing him to land. He only received a one-year prison sentence and $2,400 in fines.
WkeEY TIL that Kurt Gödel, an Austrian-American logician and mathematician, died of starvation when his wife was hospitalized. Gödel refused to eat food prepared by anyone else, as he was suffering from an obsessive fear of being poisoned
X0mN6 TIL that Earth is closer to the Sun during (northern) WINTER, not summer. The seasons are caused by Earth's tilted axis, not the distance from sun.
9wvLr TIL that Jim Morrison loved reading so much, that he once excused himself from class, telling his teacher he needed to get a "brain tumour" removed, and instead spent the rest of the day reading. When Jim was offered a graduation gift from his parents, he chose the complete works of Nietzsche.