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TIL that most East Germans could receive TV broadcasts from the West, so the authorities came up with a show called "The Black Channel" to explain what these broadcasts "really" meant.

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yQWxv TIL The man credited with saving both Apollo 12 and Apollo 13 was forced to resign years later while serving as the Chief of NASA when Texas Senator Robert Krueger blamed him for $500 million of overspending on Space Station Freedom, which later evolved into the International Space Station (ISS).
vPdMj TIL a guy dressed as Santa Claus in 1927 caused the biggest manhunt ever in Texas by robbing a bank. AND there use to be a $5k reward for civilians at the time for shooting a bank robber dead which meant over 100 people turned up to shoot Santa.
7DDp TIL Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) was required to be accompanied by crewmembers who wore high-visibility vests while in the forests of the Pacific Northwest filming scenes set on Endor, so as not to be mistaken for Bigfoot and shot.
BrQYD TIL JRR Tolkien was a supporter of the constructed language Esperanto, believing it could help unite Europe after World War I. He also created new languages like Elvish, calling it his "secret vice", and explained that for him the purpose was aesthetic rather than pragmatic
OxWY TIL George Washington was not in favor of political parties claiming in his farewell address that it would lead to “inter-political conflict, divide the nation, and give rise to cases of tyranny.”