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TIL In 1938, Orson Welles on Halloween night, broadcast live an adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel War of the Worlds over the CBS Radio Network. The episode is famous for inciting a panic by convincing some members of the listening audience that a Martian invasion was really taking place.

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060A TIL - After the end of WW II, the Allies sold captured Enigma machines, still widely considered secure, to developing countries. These countries did not know that the machine had been broken, their supposedly secure communications were being read regularly by the major Western intelligence agencies
kO1Ve TIL that when the 24-7-365 restaurant Denny’s decided to close for Christmas in 1988 many stores realized that they didn’t have any keys, or even locks, since they never used them. 700 of the 1221 restaurants needed to get new locks installed for the holiday.
oReZL TIL During the 1800s, Hawai‘i became one of the most literate nations in the world with over 90% of the population able to read and write. Even King Kamehameha III proudly declared, “He aupuni palapala ko‘u” (“I have a kingdom of education”).
5Yj9R TIL the man who found Forrest Fenn's treasure is being sued by another treasure hunter who claims she solved the puzzle first and he hacked her phone. She had been searching in New Mexico and the treasure was found in Wyoming.
N75Qb TIL of the longest lasting construction project, the Corinth Canal. Dividing the Peloponnese peninsula and mainland Greece, it was first proposed as far back as the 7th century B.C.E., and was officially started by Nero in 67 C.E., but due to complications it was not finished until the 1890s.