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TIL on Nov. 26, 1977 a television station in southern England had their broadcast hijacked by an entity referring to itself as Vrillon of the Ashtar Galactic Command who disrupted regular programming to give a six-minute message about humanity's future. The mystery has never been solved.

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DdbJ TIL carob seeds were used to verify the purity of gold. A solidus (pure gold coin) would equal 24 carob seeds. Any variation indicated impurity. Carat, the measure of purity of gold, is derived from Carob seeds and even today pure gold is called 24 carat.
VMxG TIL that a computer as powerful as the human brain would be able to perform about 38 thousand trillion operations per second and hold about 3,584 terabytes of memory.
LkXy9 TIL a committee of five men was originally organised by Congress to draft the Declaration of Independence. However none of the senior members wanted the tedious burden of actually writing it. The task was foisted on junior member Thomas Jefferson who didn't want the job either.
ANa1a TIL actor James Marsters took the role of Zamasu in the Dragon Ball Super anime for zero pay, as he felt he had to redeem himself to fans after appearing as Piccolo in the infamous critical disaster Dragonball Evolution (2009)
MeXMW TIL that proper Belgian waffles are not meant to have any toppings, instead including caramelized sugar in the dough. Icecream in particular is scorned, as it reduces the warmth of the waffle.