› added 4 years ago

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TIL that one part of Operation Anadyr, the Soviet Deception plan preceding the Cuban Missile Crisis, involved giving Cuban exiles in the USA correct information on the shipment of nukes and missiles, guessing (correctly) that the CIA would perceive them as lies to encourage an invasion.

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5Yrwr TIL About the Wick Effect, when a human body is destroyed by fire due to their clothing having soaked up melted human fat which then acts like the wick of a candle – external heat/fire sources warm the body and then ignite it. It has been touted as an explanation for spontaneous human combustion.
bNZ TIL The Mars company was a bunch of dicks and denied Steven Spielberg the right to use their product, m&m’s, in E.T. so Reese’s Pieces were used instead. Turns out, the joke was on them because after the movie came out, sales for Reese’s Pieces increased tenfold.
YJbA TIL a man who made fruit drink powder realized kids were eating it like candy. He repackaged it and sold it as Pixy Stix. He added a spoon, later replaced by a candy stick, which became the Fun-Dip. Parents complained about them being too messy, and Sweetarts were created with the same basic recipe.
R5mnQ TIL that in order to circumvent speaking limits designed to prevent filibustering, a Canadian politician introduced a bill that named every body of water in Ontario in its title.
wYnW TIL in 2011 a member of Anonymous was kidnapped by the mexican drug cartel Los Zetas. He was released when Anonymous posted a video to youtube that threatened to expose photos and names of several people who collaborated with the cartel such as police officers and taxi drivers.