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TIL that former NSA Intelligence Official William Binney blew the whistle on the NSA’s surveillance activities as early as 2002, and was raided by the FBI in July 2007 in suspicion of his role in a New York Times Expose on warrant-less wiretapping.

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R7kyQ TIL Richard Aoki was a Japanese/American raised in an internment camp and later became a Field Marshal of the Black Panther Party; active as weapons expert and armorer. After his 'suicide' it was learned he was an FBI informant since joining the US military.
nWGao TIL a group of engineering students from Purdue University built a licking machine to learn that it took 364 licks to get the the center of a tootsie pop. A conflicting mechanical licker built by a University of Michigan student took 411 licks. When licked manually, studies have taken 144-252 licks.
r7b0 TIL that Apollo Robbins, a pickpocket magician, struck up a conversation with Jimmy Carter and Secret Service agents. Within a few minutes he emptied the agents’ pockets of everything except their guns.
yV7AJ TIL that “The Girl from Ipanema” is the second most recorded song ever.
OMX1 TIL In 2001, 8-year-old Jessie Arbogast was attacked by a 7-foot-long bull shark that tore off his arm, his uncle hearing the commotion grabbed the shark out of the ocean and onto shore all the while when the shark still held the Child’s dismembered arm. Surgeons later reattached the boy’s arm.