12 Bits of Trivia We Just Cranked Out of a Gachapon Machine

You can still peruse CNN’s hub for the coverage of O.J. Simpson’s murder trial, including questionable PNG selections and low-res JPGs of a gory murder scene.

In 2010, the U.S. Air Force strung together 1,760 PlayStations to create what they called the Condor Cluster. It was actually incredibly efficient — it cost a tenth of what a normal supercomputer would, and was the 33rd largest computer in the world at the time.

Yale’s mascot is a bulldog named Handsome Dan, a tradition started in 1889. When one dies (or retires), a baby bulldog is selected to become the new Handsome Dan. They’re on number 29 — that’s 15 more Handsome Dans than Dalai Lamas.

While carting 20 pounds of weed from California to Montana, two dudes got extremely paranoid and mistook random motorists for undercover cops. They ultimately made the funniest 911 call in recorded history: “Hi, uh, we’re the two dumbasses that got caught trying to bring some stuff through your border, and all your cops are just driving around us like a bunch of jack wagons, and I’d just like for you guys to end it.”

Adam’s Peak in Sri Lanka has what appears to be a six-foot-long footprint. In Hindu lore, it’s where Shiva stepped when he was dancing to create the cosmos; Muslims believe it’s where Adam first stepped when he left the Garden of Eden; Christians think it belongs to their boy St Thomas. Meanwhile, Buddhists say it’s running cover for the real footprint underneath: Buddha’s footprint stamped into a huge chunk of emerald.

After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Russia donated 60 tons of supplies to victims, then kicked in 50 tons after 2012’s Hurricane Sandy. Thus began a long, fruitful, uncomplicated friendship between the two superpowers.

Those little yellow corn-kernel-shaped heads have a hole straight through them so they’re more of a tube than a pebble. If a kid swallows one, they’ll still be able to breathe. 

Historically, the nickname “Braveheart” was more likely given to Robert the Bruce (the guy who betrays William Wallace in the film). Robert asked his friend to take his heart to the Holy Land, but mid-pilgrimage the dude decided to join a battle. He reportedly hucked the heart out in front of him and yelled, “Lead on brave heart, I’ll follow thee!”

Foreign diplomats can effectively park wherever they want in New York City — cars with diplomatic plates often aren’t ticketed, and when they are, their government can get out of paying by declaring they were on official government business. Egypt, for example, was once clocked at 141 outstanding tickets per diplomat.

President Zachary Taylor died a few days after a particularly indulgent Fourth of July celebration. He ate so many cherries (washed down with chilled milk) that he gave himself what was then called “cholera morbus,” essentially lethal bubble guts.

Pope Alexander VI, or by some accounts, his son Cardinal Cesare Borgia, threw a helluva party called the Banquet of Chestnuts or the Joust of Whores. Fifty “honest prostitutes” were employed to dance all night, while his guests threw chestnuts on the floor for them to pick up. He offered a reward for the guest who could have the most sex.

Bogart was an incredibly skilled chess player, and to fund his party boy lifestyle, he’d hang out on Coney Island and get people to play him for a dollar a game.