› added 4 years ago

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TIL that MI6 agents were encouraged to use semen as invisible ink, with the motto “every man his own stylo”. The practice only stopped after concerns were raised about the masturbatory habits of the agents.

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via reddit.com

epM6E TIL that the idea Daylight Savings Time was first started all because a New Zealand entomologist wanted more daylight just to collect insects after his shift.
oB7RE TIL that it's been more than 45 years since any human being has traveled far enough from our planet to capture a whole-Earth portrait like the famous "Blue Marble" photograph. 45 years!
v1mR8 TIL of Forrest Bird, the creator of some of the first reliable mass-produced mechanical ventilators. He sold his first units to the army, and they were made of strawberry shortcake tins and door knobs.
rRwDo TIL in an attempt to reduce the cleaning cost, Amsterdam airport installed a pic of a fly in the urinals so guy can aim at it and avoid splashing the urine outside. It worked.
xbjw TIL Robert Liston performed an amputation resulting in 300% mortality. His patient died, he cut his assistant who developed gangrene, and an observer died of shock.