› added 7 years ago

194

TIL Jim Parsons thought "The Big Bang Theory" was a game show before auditioning for it. He confused Chuck Lorre with Chuck Woolery, who was the original host of Wheel of Fortune.

Read more mentalfloss.com

via reddit.com

l7LD1 TIL Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great’s harem housed over 5,000 women, from concubines to queens, each chosen for beauty, wit, or politics. Marrying Hindu princesses for alliances, Akbar turned his harem into a melting pot of power, where women influenced court politics and cultural fusion thrived.
8eEVX TIL of phantom islands, an island which was included on maps for a period of time, but was later found not to exist. Commonly the result of navigational errors, mistaken observations, or deliberate fabrication, some have remained on maps for centuries before being "un-discovered".
P1PjO TIL there was a briefly popular social movement in the early 1930s called the "Technocracy Movement." Technocrats proposed replacing politicians and businessmen with scientists and engineers who had the expertise to manage the economy.
R7Eg4 TIL The Great White Shark has the ability to evert their stomachs. It is their version of throwing up by pushing their stomachs out through their mouths. Sharks do it when they need to get something out of their stomach that they can’t digest, like hard bone or a license plate.
PYMQn TIL we have three types of tears - basal, reflex and psychic. Psychic tears, the ones we produce when we are sad, have a different chemical make up than the other two and contain a natural painkiller, leucine enkephalin, which is perhaps why we feel better after we cry.