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TIL That a 1956 report on the CIA’s covert activities found that the CIA was influencing foreign elections as part of their Cold War operations. The report also concluded that the CIA was exerting “almost unilateral” control on US foreign policy.

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KA5a TIL that at Russia’s “Black Dolphin” Prison, convicts arrive and are transported with blindfolds, bent over with their hands handcuffed behind them to disorient them and render them powerless. They’re only fed soup and bread. Guards are assisted by huge Caucasian Mountain Sheperds.
b6lR9 TIL that the common human silhouette found on many traffic/information signs is unofficially referred to as "Helvetica Man", due to its near-universal acceptance.
gM5mD Today I learned "Good Times" is a spin-off of a spin-off. Good Times is a spin-off of Maude, itself a spin-off of All in the Family.
O0BY TIL all Hass avocados (the ones you get in grocery stores) descended from a single tree in California, which was planted using unknown seeds
VDbB TIL prescriptivism, which prescribes rigid grammatical rules to written English, only came into favour in the late 1800s. Prior to this most writers were comfortable using multiple spellings and grammatical conventions within a single text.