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Turn those umbrellas upside down. It’s raining facts!

29 Bits of Trivia We Sold to Old Arthur Slugworth After Our Tour of the Wonka Factory

December 27, 2023

Do you ever go on a movie-trailer binge? We do. That short, punchy, compressed version of the movie is a mini thrill ride of its own. And that’s why we love facts. They’re the trailer of the knowledge flick. If you like the fact enough, you can hunt down an entire article or Wikipedia page or go old school and drive to the library for more on the subject — after reading this entire list of course. We hear that the Cracked higher-ups like when you do that.

29

CRACKED.COM Our brain is shrinking! Over the past 20,000 years, the average human brain has shrunk 10%. From 1,500 cubic centimeters, the average human brain is now down to 1,350 cubic centimeters. That's about the equivalent of 5-6 slices of ham. — Source

28

Our bones have become weaker. According to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the transition of early humans from foraging to agriculture around 6,000 years ago reduced our overall physical activity which led to the decrease of our bone mass by about 20%, and to the increased risk of us having bone fractures and osteoporosis. GRACKED.COM — Source

27

OUR HOMES ALMOST TRIPLED IN SIZE In the 50s, the average family house was 983 sq. ft. By 2004, the new normal was 2,349 sq. ft. CRACKED.COM — Source

26

Girls are hitting puberty earlier than ever. Average age Year onset of puberty of females 1860 16.6 years 1920 14.6 years 1950 13.1 years 1980 12.5 years 2010 10.5 years GRACKED.COM — Source

25

Food allergies are much more common now. GRACKED.COM gy allergy allergy allergy alle llergy allergy a gy There has been a 50% rise of food allergic kids between 1997 and 2011 in the U.S. Although scientists are not sure about the reason, one of the theories is that Americans are simply too clean. — Source

24

Domesticated blueberries are only just over 100 years old. CRACKED.COM They were thought to be impossible to domesticate until it was discovered they thrive in acidic soil. — Source

23

The FBI was told about the attack on Pearl Harbor before it happened but they ignored it. CRACKED.COM A Serbian double agent named Duško Popov knew about the attack on Pearl Harbor months before the attack. — Source

22

During the French Revolution, radicals tried to introduce two competing religions. CRACKED.COM The atheists had the Cult of Reason, and the deists had the Cult of the Supreme Being, all to replace Christianity. — Source

21

Charlize Theron

Charlize Theron was discovered by a talent agent when she was yelling at a bank teller. CRACKED.COM The teller had refused to cash a check the 19-year-old Theron needed to pay her rent. She got the attention of a talent agent behind her, who introduced her to casting agents and an acting school. — Source

20

Wyoming’s All-Female Town Council

In 1920, the town of Jackson, Wyoming elected an all-female town council. CRACKED.COM The petticoat rulers won by a margin of 2-1 over the men, drawing the most voters the town had ever seen. They served for 3 years and did a great deal to clean up the notoriously lawless town. — Source

19

A type of small Australian mammal mates itself to death. CRACKED.COM The male of a tiny marsupial species called the antechinus goes into a mating frenzy once in its short life and has sex with as many females as possible until his body disintegrates. — Source

18

Queen Elizabeth had to use clothing ration coupons to pay for her wedding dress. CRACKED.COM She was given hundreds of clothing coupons by brides-to-be to help her, but she had to return the coupon gifts as it was illegal to transfer them. — Source

17

Eminem repeated the 9th grade three times. CRACKED.COM After spending three years in ninth grade due to truancy and poor grades, he dropped out of Lincoln High School at age 17. — Source

16

Violent crime in the US and Europe was at its highest in areas with the most lead pollution. CRACKED.COM Violent crime peaked 20 years after lead additives in petrol and paint were banned, before declining thereafter. — Source

15

THE BLACK KEYS ARE NAMED AFTER SCHIZOPHRENIC RAMBLINGS. The band name came from a series of answering machine messages that went, This is Alfred McMoore. Your black key is taking too long. McMoore was an artist who struggled with schizophrenia, and the calls (sometimes 40 in a single day) were meant for drummer Pat Carney's father. Apparently the phrase was one McMoore would repeat when he couldn't get ahold of someone. http://www.akroncf.org/ContactUs/NewsEvents/View CRACKED.COM Article/tabid/96/Articleld/47/Black-Keys-Fund.aspx — Source

14

SAVAGE GARDEN IS NAMED AFTER A LINE IN A VAMPIRE NOVEL. In the Anne Rice novel The Vampire Lestat, which was just one in a series of 1990s novels that inspired the movie Interview With The Vampire, the title character describes the world around him as the savage garden. In the movie, Lestat is played by Tom Cruise. GRACKED.COM http://vampirechronicles.wikia.com/viki/Anne_Rice — Source

13

THE BACKSTREET BOYS ARE NAMED AFTER A FLEA MARKET. TOM 0 e Flea Толкеt BARN 7 The best-selling boy band in history decided to name themselves after the Backstreet Market, an outdoor flea market in Orlando, Florida that was a teen hangout. Their early performances were at malls, schools, and theme parks, but (perhaps ironically) not the flea market. CRACKED.COM http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/backstreet-boys/biography — Source

12

THE NAME CHUMBAWAMBA CAME FROM A DREAM. In an early interview, band member Danbert Nobacon explained the origin of the post-punk group's name: Не had a dream where he needed to take a piss but didn't know which door to use in a public toilet because the signs said Chumba and Wamba instead of Men and Women. CRACKED.COM Brent Mann, 2003. 99 Red Balloons And 100 All-time One-hit Wonders — Source

11

An engagement ring for a man is referred to as a mangagement ring. Before men even regularly wore wedding bands, jewelers tried to make mangagement rings catch on in the 1920s. Man + engagement, get it? CRACKED.COM — Source

10

The wedding ring is worn on the fourth finger because people used to believe that the finger had a direct vein to the heart. Wedding rings are the oldest and most universal marriage symbol. The finger placement of the ring has changed over time, but the left hand is traditional because most people are right-handed. The ring finger was an (incorrect) symbol of love. CRACKED.COM — Source

9

Diamonds range from 1 to 3.5 billion years old. Compare that to synthetic diamonds, which have only been around for 60 years. The most valuable diamonds are colorless or blue. Exposure to intense radiation or heat can cause diamonds to change color. If you wear a natural diamond ring, you're carrying a piece of pre-history. CRACKED COM — Source

8

Bacteria dies on copper and copper alloy surfaces. Infection rates have been found to be significantly lower in hospital rooms with copper equipment. Cheap copper rings that turn your fingers green are looking a lot less dirty, right now. CRACKED.COM — Source

7

Wristwatches were exclusively worn by women until the early 20th century. - IIX Men used only pocketwatches, but wristwatches for men came into style during WWI, when soldiers needed precise timekeeping to coordinate military tactics. They were originally marketed as women's bracelets. GRACKED COM — Source

6

Even light drinking is bad for your brain Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but even half a beer a day is linked to reduced brain volume. One to two drinks a day is equivelant to aging two years in the brain. CRACKED.COM — Source

5

We solved a mystery of the Venus of Willendorf Created over 30,000 years ago, the ancient piece of art is now believed to have been made from material from Italy. That shows us that the material moved from south of the Alps to the Danube north of the Alps, an incredibly long journey for early modern humans. CRACKED.COM — Source

4

We can understand the emotion behind pigs' grunts Using 7,000 audio recordings of pigs, researchers have created an algorithm that can reveal if a pig is experiencing a positive (happy or excited) or negative (stressed or scared) emotion from their grunt, with the goal of improving animal welfare among livestock. CRACKED.COM — Source

3

There's more evidence fish may be self-aware The cleaner fish Labroides dimidiatus is believed to be able to pass a mirror test, one of the ways researchers determine if a species is self-aware. CRACKED.COM — Source

2

Performance pressure can negatively affect even monkeys Tufted capuchin monkeys were given tests with rewards and timeout consequences, and their performance suggests that higher stakes may cause some monkeys to choke under pressure. CRACKED.COM — Source

1

Scientists were able to regrow frogs' lost legs Sounding straight out of a Marvel movie, scientists equipped frogs with a wearable bioreactor that gave them a five-drug cocktail that allowed the frogs to regrow a functional lost leg. CRACKED.COM — Source

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