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TIL that in 1807 the British Navy put together the West Africa Squadron. Slaver hunters that chased down any slaver ships they could find crossing the Atlantic, and fining them up to £100 per slave on board. Slavers would often throw slaves overboard to avoid paying.

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b66k7 TIL about Srivijaya, a lost 14th century city that ruled Indonesia and much of Southeast Asia for over 600 years but which disappeared without a trace. Its location was recently uncovered when fisherman on the River Musi discovered golden artefacts from the city caught in their nets.
MeJEV TIL that some plants such as trees are able to communicate with each-other through fungi networks around their roots, and that certain plants can exhibit a form of memory. These, among other things, suggest that plants could have a form of intelligence.
WkvvL According to Texas A&M’s Urban Mobility Report 2019, the average auto commuter spends an extra 54 hours in his or her car every year on top of the time it should actually take to get to the office. If you live in a city like Los Angeles, San Francisco, or New York, that figure doubles. In Los Angeles, for example, commuters spend 119 hours each year delayed in their cars—that’s almost three full weeks spent idling.
x6O55 TIL that in 1950, the Italian town of Colobraro declared itself “the town of the living dead” after a local curse and started wearing white sheets at night to protect themselves from misfortune.
7K0b TIL we had to make the undersea cables that carry the internet shark-proof.