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TIL Roald Dahl published a short story called "The Great Automatic Grammatizator" about a machine that can automatically produce award-winning books. It ends with the author praying for the strength to "let our children starve" rather than sign over his work to be used in the machine.

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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.
6P6w TIL that people only discovered the real shape of the clitoris in 2009
yVYyl TIL that britney spears's song 3 is 3 minutes and 33 seconds long
9wAp TIL on October 21, 1978, a 20yo Australian pilot flying over the Bass Straight reported an aircraft flying 1,000ft above him. His last transmission to ATC was “it is hovering and it’s not an aircraft”. No trace of the pilot or his aircraft have been seen since.
j6EJj TIL Mad World was originally by Tears For Fears and the Gary Jules version is a cover.