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TIL in 2005 there was an erroneous Emergency Alert TV/radio broadcast in Connecticut that called for the evacuation of the entire state. Residents did not evacuate, and the most common response was to simply change the channel.

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DaXp TIL a previously owned black slave was asked to calculate the number of seconds in 70 years, 17 days and 12 hours in order to prove equality in intelligence between blacks and whites. Not only did he accomplish the feat in 1.5 minutes, but he included the leap years in his calculations.
YAbP TIL that Moby Dick was inspired by the sinking of the Nantucket whaler ‘Essex’ by an 85 foot sperm whale.
epeVk TIL that Urdu was made the national language of Pakistan at independence even though only 5% of Pakistanis spoke the language. Even today, while Urdu is widely spoken and understood, it is only the native tongue of around 5% of the population.
4GDN TIL that until the early 20th century, young boys wore dresses or gowns until around the age of 8, when they reached the age of breeching, an important rite of passage in the lives of small boys when they wore breeches or trousers for the first time.
P1Q9n TIL Over the past decade there has been at least a four- to five-fold increase in the number of oral cancers in the US as a result of HVP infections. The odds of HPV-positive throat cancer increased five-fold in those patients with six or more oral sexual partners.