› added 9 years ago

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TIL that 20 African countries are now collaborating to build the Great Green Wall of the Sahara, a wall of trees along the Sahara desert that would prevent further desertification and land degradation.

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GAMj1 TIL the name ‘Anakin’ originated from Star Wars. When I (25) was like 5, I had a friend named Anakin, so I always assumed that it was a normal name that Star Wars just used for the character.
9YR8X TIL there was a Battle of Thermopylae in WWII, which featured outnumbered New Zealand troops holding off a larger Nazi formation at the cost of horrendous casualties
PY1yZ TIL that smoking killed more people in the 20th century than both world wars combined.
R5NAQ TIL that the man commonly credited with inventing the sandwich was in charge of the Royal Navy during the American Revolution. His incompetent leadership was a factor in the American victory. It was said about him that "Seldom has any man held so many offices and accomplished so little."
WG98 TIL that suicide candidates in 18th-century Denmark were afraid to take their own lives because they believed it would send them to hell. Instead, they resorted to killing other people to receive the death penalty and repented before execution, believing that doing so would send them to heaven.