› added 6 years ago

353

TIL that Uber drivers in China changed their profile photos to ghosts and zombie images so that when potential passengers saw these pictures they would cancel the ride they’d just booked, thus earning the driver the cancellation fee.

Read more theguardian.com

via reddit.com

78EDX TIL that the Guinness World Record for the longest time a person has held their breath underwater is 24 min 37.36 seconds.
M7VVa TIL that the ball lightning is real, which has confused weather watchers through out the history and continues to intrigue researchers today.
l78Y5 TIL 15th century Europe experienced the Great Bullion Famine in which several nations were unable to mint their own currency. The causes include the black death and the bullion outflow from trade with the East. The famine was resolved through accessing new metal sources in the New World and Africa.
VOpQ TIL that the earliest attempts at destroying U-Boats by the British involved men in rowboats or picket boats putting burlap bags over periscopes or hitting them with hammers, rendering the sub blind. 16 U-Boats were disabled using this method.
WkeJL TIL: China accounts for 40% of the tobacco consumption worldwide. 52 percent of adult Chinese men smoke.