› added 7 years ago

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TIL that in 2002, China discovered 27 listening devices installed in a Boeing 767 which was going to be used as the Premier's transport. The Chinese allege that the devices were installed by the CIA while the aircraft was undergoing maintenance in Texas. The CIA and White House refused to comment.

Read more telegraph.co.uk

via reddit.com

KOmm4 TIL in 1633, a Turkish gentleman by the name of Lagâri Hasan Çelebi launched himself into the air on a rocket filled with 140 lbs of gunpowder. He landed in the river and was rewarded with silver by the Sultan. Mythbusters later tested this story in 2009 and considered it implausible.
aPBJ TIL When three-letter airport codes became standard, airports that had been using two letters simply added an X.
r5Rw TIL that the largest cave in the world, which houses a rain forest in its largest chamber, wasn’t discovered until 1991, and wasn’t explored until 2009.
Oo894 TIL the much of the NYC subway system's control signals are still based on hundred year old technology. When parts fail, they must be scavenged from scrapped parts or custom made at great expense.
LQBvd TIL the man that deposed the Jin Dynasty and founded the Liu Song Dynasty was a descendant of the Han Dynasty (which was deposed two centuries earlier by Cao Wei, Jin’s predecessor)