› added 1 year ago

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TIL about the Somaliland campaign, a series of military expeditions in northern Somalia by the British Empire against the Dervish movement from 1900 to 1920. It ended when the British aerially bombed the Dervish capital. 100K to 150K Somali civilians were ultimately killed in the campaign.

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XEjJk TIL: lakes near ocean coasts have a slightly higher salt content because of wind. Wind transfers salt off the ocean to fresh water lakes, altering the ecosystem and hostng unique forms of microbial life
gMy1X TIL: The amount of radioactive cesium that was leaked from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster is about equal to 168 of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima at the end of World War II.
GYv5G TIL that Postman Pat was fired by the Royal Mail in 2000 because "he no longer fits in with the company's corporate image." Pat Clifton branched out in to SDS courier services and to this day the Royal Mail brand no longer features on any of his vehicles.
b9ymj TIL that Italian is often the second language of most older native Italians, and while the locals are said to speak different, they actually predate modern Italian which became the national language in 1861. The “dialects” are often so different that locals can’t understand the other dialects
p8PBZ TIL that a £1,000,000 and £100,000,000 banknote exists from the Bank of England. Whilst offically non-circulating, the notes were traded between banks which led to a robbery in 1990, where £292 million were stolen. 2 of the £1,000,000 notes are still unfound.