Brian Phillips tells the fascinating story of Nellie Bly, a female journalist who 125 years ago set out to win a bet she made with her newspaper:

“It is impossible for you to do it,” he told her. “You are a woman and would need a protector.” Even if she could travel alone, he said, she’d want to take too much baggage. “There is no use talking about it,” he insisted. “No one but a man could do this.”

“Very well,” she said. “Start the man, and I’ll start the same day for some other newspaper and beat him.”

She was 24 when she said this. The next year, a few months after her 25th birthday, the paper said yes, and she set sail.

She brought one suitcase.

So great.

Via The Loop.