› added 5 years ago

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TIL the FBI supplied 48 police agencies with Stingray surveillance hardware that mimics cell phone towers, and had them sign non-disclosure agreements to stop them confirming their use of it or its capabilities to anyone, including courts of law. Cases would be dismissed rather than expose the tech.

Read more theguardian.com

via reddit.com

dDnV7 TIL, in a 1962 operation known as 'Starfish Prime', the United States detonated a nuclear bomb at high altitude, ~900 miles south of Hawai'i. The electromagnetic pulse from the detonation caused bright auroras to appear in the atmosphere over a large area of the Pacific Ocean.
4XLxa TIL that a moment was a medieval unit of time that corresponds exactly to 90 seconds
nejN7 TIL in England, after 2 thieves broke into a mans home and made off with his laptop, they inspected the device, found serious child abuse material and went to the cops regardless. The paedophile got 3 yrs in jail. The judge gave robbers a 12 month community service orders in light of their good deed
YpX9A TIL although the crew of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood rarely talked to Fred off the set, and mercilessly made fun of him behind his back, while he was rehearsing with his puppets before each show, these same men would sneak into the studio and ask his puppets for personal advice, which Fred kindly gave.
xVyVo TIL of Edith Garrud, a 20th century suffragette who knew Jujitsu and was one of the first female martial arts instructors in the West. She taught the "Suffragettes Self-Defence Club”, and was an instructor for “the Bodyguard” a 30-women unit that defended fugitive suffragettes and fought the police.