› added 5 years ago

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TIL: John Anthony Walker, a US Navy officer who reported secrets to the Soviet Union for 18 years. He got his son involved, and even tried to involve his daughter. He was finally exposed when his ex-wife reported him. When asked about his spying, he said "KMart has better security than the Navy".

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4kA8X TIL thanks to tree rings, we know global cooling caused piracy.
mx9Do TIL that the US stores apples in a process called Controlled Atmosphere. These are storage rooms that control the temperature, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and humidity levels to put apples in hibernation which “puts them in suspended animation”. This is why we can have apples that taste good year round.
8dM8 TIL Plane exhaust kills more people than plane crashes. Approximately 10,000 people are killed annually from toxic pollutants from aircraft compared to around 1,000 from crashes
d8l5Q TIL In 1867, thousands of formerly enslaved African Americans in New Orleans protested and achieved desegregation of the city's streetcars, nearly 90 years before the bus boycotts in Montgomery.
VyKm TIL a 1970s high school art project ceramic jug, found in a barn covered with chicken poop, was mistakenly identified as 19th century work and priced at $50,000 on Antiques Road Show.