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Today’s lesson — a whole bunch of random silliness

25 Old Bits of Trivia, Which, When Adjusted for Inflation, Are the Equivalent of Reading One Actual Textbook

December 21, 2023

In the textbook of nuttiness, please flip to chapter “Whoa… What?!” We’ll be grading yesterday’s quiz on “Damn, that’s interesting” while you take in the random tidbits of the day. The truly bonkers ones will no doubt delight, but a quiz on “Oh my good golly, that happened in that year” is coming. You better be ready.

25

The ancient Greek court system actually had trial by jury, like we do today... except with WAY more jurors. A typical jury contained around 500 jurors. This was to prevent bribery... by making it impossible to afford. CRACKED.COM — Source

24

Ryuzu Waterfall is a gorgeous landmark in Japan, featuring twin cascades and beautiful foliage. The name Ryuzu means dragon head waterfall, because of the waterfall's resemblance to a dragon's head. CRACKED.COM — Source

23

The Arc de Triomphe is an incredibly meaningful and beautiful landmark in the city of Paris. It was also really, REALLY expensive to build. The final cost of the Arc was 10,432,000 francs. In 1806. CRACKED.COM — Source

22

The mule is the most well-known hybrid animal, and we've seen a few ligers here and there. But you might not have heard of the cama, a cross between a camel and a llama. CRACKED.COM — Source

21

People remember Dolly the Sheep for being the first cloned mammal, but she's far from the only cloned animal. The list of successful clones now includes: cows, goats, pigs, monkeys, cats, rats, horses, ferrets, and carp. CRACKED.COM — Source

20

Soldiers-and-sailors is the nickname of the lungwort plant. With a name like lungwort... it was needed. The name comes from the flowers turning from red to blue, like the (old) uniforms of british soldiers & the navy. CRACKED.COM — Source

19

BARELY ANYONE SMOKED POT IN THE 1960s. Ah, the '60s. Flower power, peace and love, everyone was high... Except that by 1969, only 4% of Americans had ever tried marijuana, and a whopping 34% didn't even know what its effects were. CRACKED.COM — Source

18

THE U.S. CONSTITUTION IS RIDDLED WITH MISTAKES. We domestic the People L light Hyprovide de Articl All Power We're not talking here about stuff such as not giving everyone the right to vote- we mean the many misspellings contained in the Constitution. Just ask the delegate from Pensylvania. GRACKED.COM — Source

17

China

SEVEN OF HISTORY'S TEN DEADLIEST WARS WERE FOUGHT IN CHINA. It comes with having a historically high population. A couple of wars in the region had a higher body count than World War I. CRACKED.COM — Source

16

THE NORMANDY LANDINGS WERE AMERICA'S FINEST DAY-EVEN IF AMERICANS WERE IN THE MINORITY. There were over 83,000 men in the British Second Army that stormed the French beaches, compared with 73,000 in the First United States Army. CRACKED.COM — Source

15

AN AMERICAN PATROTIC SONG TOPPED THE CHARTS AT THE HEIGHT OF THE BRITISH INVASION. Do you think the '60s were all about The Beatles? Nope! The Ballad of the Green Berets, . by Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler, was the #1 song on the Billboard chart for 1966. CRACKED.COM — Source

14

THE STRONGEST OPPOSITION TO THE VIETNAM WAR CAME FROM OLDER AMERICANS. - STER HT UND AGRESSION INVETNA WORLD NIKENOSTEN 11 . COME EST THAMESISCHEN VIEW - ... - 12th CUT April LA DANK COMINE WITH VIETIVA GET THE HELL Yes, visible protestors tended to COPTERS OUT OF be young. But according to polls of the time, young people were VIETNAM more likely to support the war than older citizens- particularly those over 50. CRACKED.COM — Source

13

WEIRD WORLD The Ukrainian Ambassador to Japan posed as a Samurai warrior. It was for a message to Russia that he tweeted - and he was in full Samurai get-up, with a katana and everything. CRACKED.COM — Source

12

WEIRD WORLD A married couple in NYC live in separate apartments, and it's worked great. They say that it's done wonders for their marriage, and they started living apart in October. CRACKED.COM — Source

11

WEIRD WORLD There's such a thing as uncombable hair syndrome, it turns out. A toddler in Georgia was diagnosed with it, and it's kind of exactly what it says on the tin - but it's extremely, extremely rare. CRACKED.COM — Source

10

WEIRD WORLD A 14-year-old tried to hire a hitman to kill her ex-boyfriend. And it didn't work, luckily, because she tried to do it via rentahitman.com, which is a fake website and which reported the case to the police. CRACKED.COM — Source

9

WEIRD WORLD The Tinder Swindler is now setting his sights higher- on a government job. Apparently, he'd like to be the foreign minister of Israel, he said. CRACKED.COM — Source

8

WEIRD WORLD A British man revealed on TV that he has 50,000 balloons at home. Не also revealed a sexual obsession with balloons - on a show called, appropriately, My Strange Addiction. CRACKED.COM — Source

7

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles started out as a joke. One day in 1983, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird doodled a parody of hot comic book trends back then - mutants (like Uncanny X-Men), teenage superheroes, and ninjas. Eastman and Laird put them all together, and made them talking animals to make it funnier. CRACKED.COM — Source

6

Kramer SEINFELD CRACKED.COM Kramer is based on Larry David's neighbor, Kenny Kramer. Не was actually named Kessler in the pilot, but the real Kramer reached an agreement with NBC to use the rights to his last name, which sounds like a genuine Kramer subplot. — Source

5

CHUCK e. CHeese IS THe mouse MASCOT FOR KIDS, GAmes, & PIZZA. не STARTeD OUT A CIGAR- CHOMPING, PANTSLESS RAT. WHEW, IT TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH... / WAS RUNNING OUT OF INSULTS LET'S FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET HOME. WHERE ARE WE? DON'T BE SO-0-0 MEAN TO-0-0 BABY... CHUCK! SHUT UP ALREADY!! In Rat Tales, the comic book about Chuck E.'s adventures, he's snarky and sleazy, and his singing is so terrible that it actually destroys the restaurant. CRACKED.COM http://www.showbizpizza.com/info/promo/ptt/ptt_rattales.pdf — Source

4

J. Jonah Jameson grew up with his stepfather, who abused his mother and him all the time. Не was a war veteran and decorated officer, and nobody suspected what he did at home. That made Jonah suspicious of anyone widely hailed as a hero. CRACKED.COM — Source

3

Darth Maul got his facial patterns because his designer was trying to fix his mistakes. Designer lain McCaig was having trouble with a concept drawing for Darth Maul, so in frustration he stuck tape over all of his mistakes, creating a Rorschach pattern. Both he and George Lucas ended up digging the look. CRACKED.COM — Source

2

Katniss THE HUNGER GAMES CRACKED COM Katniss is a plant from the genus Sagittaria, also known as the arrowhead plants. Sagittarius, of course, as any latin student or person on a date telling you about astrology knows, meaning archer. — Source

1

THRee BLIND mice, see HOW THEY RUN. IS ACTUALLY ABOUT noBLemen executed BY BLOODY MARY. Some experts say the farmer's wife is a reference to Queen Bloody Mary I and her enthusiasm for torture and death. The three mice supposedly represent three noblemen who were prosecuted for conspiring against the queen. The noblemen were burned at the stake. The blindness of the mice is thought to represent Protestantism. CRACKED.COM Albert Jack, 2009. Pop Goes the Weasel The Secret Meanings of Nursery Rhymes. — Source

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