› added 4 years ago

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TIL that James McCormick sold the ADE 651, a fake ‘bomb detector’, all over the world (specifically Iraq) by purchasing novelty golf ball detectors for less than $20 and reselling it for $5000 each. His scam has cost lives and the ‘bomb detectors’ are probably still in use today.

Read more bbc.co.uk

via reddit.com

69GMm TIL when Australia first joined Usenet in 1983, data was stored on tape and physically sent via air mail to the University of Sydney for dissemination. This was cheaper than an international data link then.
kOJ4g TIL that Keurig K-Cups generate 10 times the solid waste that would be generated from a standard drip brewer and most of that waste isn't recyclable. Co-founder John Sylvan said, "I feel bad sometimes that I ever did it.”
jNL5X TIL that if you read the famous novel 'Cloud Atlas' in the US, you read a different version of it to readers in Europe. The same has happened with many novels, and it's down to the way works of fiction are handled by editors. Keep track of your changes...
69Bvl TIL “Let's Get It Started” was originally released as “Let’s Get Retarded”.
kO5r5 TIL The mile was originally 5000 feet, until Parliament changed it in 1592 to match up with eight furlongs.