› added 6 years ago

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TIL the British government accidentally published classified information about their nuclear submarines in a "redacted" report. The classified information had been "blacked out" in the document, but anyone who opened the document could copy and paste the "blacked-out" text in order to read it.

Read more telegraph.co.uk

via reddit.com

N7obQ TIL Scientists track solar cycles by counting sunspots. A high-powered telescope might show 10 or 20 and a powerful observatory may see 50 to 100, so there is a formula for the official sunspot number, R=k (10g+s)
AO9n TIL The German city of Konstanz was not bombed by the Allied Forces during World War II, because the city left all its lights on at night, and thus fooled the bombers into thinking it was actually part of Switzerland.
5YnJR TIL while only being roughly the size of North Carolina, the island of Java sustains a population of 141 million. Comparatively the population of Japan is 145.9 million and three times the size in area.
X0VnQ TIL that if you use the bagel function on a toaster, the halves should be facing outwards, because only the outer heating elements are on.
BrpNb TIL In 552AD two monks successfully smuggled silkworm eggs in their walking sticks from China to the Byzantine Empire, essentially ending the silk monopolies of China and Persia, and bringing silk manufacture to Europe.