› added 6 years ago

163

TIL that the most powerful pirate lord in the 19th century was a Chinese prostitute named Ching Shih. She commandeered over 1800 ships and gained her success by being shrewd and maintaining strict rules.

Read more headstuff.org

via reddit.com

vPEyK TIL that the domain name "CarInsurance.com" holds the record for being the most expensive domain name ever sold, fetching a price of $49.7 million in 2010.
loGyV TIL that the character Tinky Winky from the British TV series 'Tellytubbies' was attacked by the religious right in America for being a "gay role model".
mxa0x TIL Chien-Shiung Wu's “Wu experiment” won Nobel prize, but it was given to her male colleagues, completely ignoring the work she put on it.
9wNO6 TIL the world record for longest breath held underwater is 24 minutes 37 seconds by Budimir Šobat from Croatia. The average person can achieve about 2 minutes - afterwards less and less oxygenated blood reaches our brain which at around 6 minutes forces a blackout to trigger automatic breathing.
mP5x TIL that Jack Nicholson was brought up believing that his mother was his sister and his grandparents were his parents. For 37 years.