› added 5 years ago

174

TIL 90% of Australians live within 100km of the ocean

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QbPX TIL that 6 months ago, Powerball officials lowered the odds of winning by more than 1 out of 120 Million in order to raise jackpots, generate more excitement, and sell more tickets.
XBER TIL that the ratification of the 19th amendment, which guaranteed women the right to vote, came down to the vote of one 24-year-old Tennessee representative who, at the last minute, decided to vote in favor of the amendment due to a note his mother had written asking him to change his vote
b6jO0 TIL that George Stephenson, who built the first passenger railway, was illiterate until 18 years of age
KYNeJ TIL of Yoshie Shiratori, a Japanese man who successfully broke out of 4 different Japanese prisons (once using miso soup to corrode and break his cuffs). After his 4th escape, he encountered a police officer who offered him a cigarette. Touched by this gesture, he willingly turned himself in again.
kJk05 TIL that the most successful pirate in history was a woman from China named Ching Shih. She commanded the largest fleet that nations couldn’t copy in numbers. She was a former prostitute who married a pirate that immediately considered her his equal & held massive control of the South China Sea.