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30 Delicious Morsels of Trivia, Fresh Out of the Oven

December 25, 2023

Like a warm bowl of chili on a cold December’s night, these facts will hit the spot. They’re warm enough to hug your brain like a sweater, but unlike everything else on a cold December’s night, they magically won’t give you a fever. They care too much about you and your now snug, cozy brain.

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30

QR Codes were inspired by the game of go. In go, the players know where the pieces are even if they're slightly off-position, and the same idea was applied to QR codes to make it more error-proof. CRACKED — Source

29

White road centerlines were inspired by spilled milk. Edward Hines came up with the idea for the first modern centerline for a road in the early 1900s. Не was inspired by a spilled milk he saw on a newly paved road, so he decided to make the centerline white. MAG CRACKED — Source

28

CRACKED Sweeteners came from a dude not washing his hands. A researcher accidentally discovered saccharin, the first artificial sweetener, while working with coal tar derivatives in 1897. Не noticed a sweet taste when he put his fingers in his mouth after not washing his hands before lunch. — Source

27

Tea

Tea bags were originally a misunderstanding. Back in the early 1900s, American tea merchant Thomas Sullivan accidentally invented the tea bag when he sent out samples of tea in small silk bags, and people thought they were meant to be put in hot water. CRACKED — Source

26

Black Holes

We owe Wi-Fi to black holes. In 1992, to create Wi-Fi, a physicist used some math he had come up with while looking for signals from tiny black holes. This math was able to pick up faint signals hidden in a lot of noise, which was key to Wi-Fi. CRACKED — Source

25

TV was inspired by a potato field. Plowing a field at 14, Philo Farnsworth imagined a system that could break down an image into horizontal lines (like the furrows on the field) and then put it back together at the other end, creating the first electronic TV system. CRACKED — Source

24

World War I

CRACKED World War I started because someone took a wrong turn. On June 28, 1914, a wrong turn taken by Archduke Franz Ferdinand's driver put him within mere feet of a guy who had just tried (and failed) to assassinate him. The assassin got a second chance, and he killed the Archduke and his wife, ultimately kicking off World War I. — Source

23

GRAGKED.COM THE FBI KEPT FILES ON... THE MONKEES The FBI started a file on the made-for-TV pop group in 1967 after they showed pictures and messages protesting Vietnam during a concert. There's a second document that's fully redacted that the last living member of the group is filing a lawsuit in order to see. — Source

22

The FBI

GRACKED.COM THE FBI KEPT FILES ON... KISS The FBI report from 1980 includes a request of more information on the civil unrest caused by the band, especially over an instance in Texas that included attacks on police. A follow-up response assures that no such thing ever happened. Except maybe in Ohio, during a stampede...for a concert for The Who. — Source

21

Muhammad Ali

CRACKED.COM THE FBI KEPT FILES ON... MUHAMMAD ALI An FBI break-in by activists led to exposure of the FBI's secret Counterintelligence Program which illegally targeted groups and people of interest in the civil rights movement, including Muhammad Ali. That break-in was ironically timed with The Fight of the Century, featuring Ali himself, with the assurance that the fight would keep the agents glued to their screens. — Source

20

CRACKED.COM THE FBI HAD FILES ON... JOHN LENNON The FBI started a file in 1971 when the former Beatle traveled to New York on a visa to meet up with anti-war activists. The FBI proposed that Lennon should be arrested, if at all possible, on possession of narcotics charges which would make him more immediately deportable. The file includes a wanted poster for Lennon, but, despite having one of the most famous faces, they used a photo of another guy who had similar glasses. — Source

19

Don Juan

The first film to feature audio: 1926 WARNER VITAPHONE TALKING BROS. PICTURES WARNER CRACKED.COM Don Juan was the first film to use a Vitaphone audio film track to sync up the soundtrack. It just doesn't count as a Talkie, since there was no audible dialogue. — Source

18

The first Talkie: 1927 CRACKED.COM The unfortunately minstrel-heavy film The Jazz Singer was the first one to have some dialogue and singing sequences synched up to the action. — Source

17

The first official website: 1994 STAR TREK GENERATIONS STARSHIP CONSOLE MOVIE PREVIEW SIGHTS AND SOUNDS BEHIND THE SCENES CRACKED.COM STAP TREK SHOP Space Jam did it best, but Star Trek: Generations was the first movie to embarrass itself with a clunky 90s website. — Source

16

The first movie to star a dog: 1905 CRACKED.COM There's no rule that says a dog can't star in a movie, and the silent drama Rescued By Rover was the first to figure that out. It was so popular, they had to reshoot the whole film, TWICE, because they wore out the negatives making copies. — Source

15

The first movie writer: 1900 CRACKED.COM Journalist and humorist Roy McCardell was the first person hired by a production studio for the explicit job of writing movies. Не wrote over a thousand, including A Fool There Was, the first movie to make vampires cool. — Source

14

Lillian Gish

The first film actress: CRACKED.COM Known to act so hard she'd collapse, Lillian Gish was the first actress hired specifically for film. She method-acted so hard, she gave herself permanent nerve damage and almost starved to death on film. — Source

13

Blade Runner

BLADE RUNNER WAS UPSTAGED BY E.T. In summer 1982, movie screens were overtaken by the whimsical tale of a friendly, Reese's Pieces-loving alien. What chance did a ponderous examination of what it means to be human have against that? Blade Runner narrowly beat out Firefox, a Clint Eastwood movie you just learned existed. CRACKED.COM — Source

12

CRACKED.COM Most reviews shredded Friends when it premiered. They complained the characters just aimlessly drank coffee and chatted, and that the show used pop culture references too much. — Source

11

Led Zeppelin's debut was slaughtered by critics. Rolling Stone's John Mendelsohn bashed Jimmy Page's weak, unimaginative songs and called Robert Plant prissy. John Paul Jones later said, In our naïveté we thought we'd done a good album, and then this venom comes flying out. GRAGKED.COM — Source

10

THE WIZARD OF oz WASN'T PROFITABLE FOR YEARS. Fantasy movies are a big draw today - but in 1939, audiences weren't too keen on magical tornado rides to alternate universes. It didn't help that the movie cost a ton of money to make. MGM didn't turn a profit on it until the 1949 re-release. CRACKED.COM — Source

9

BREAKING BAD BECAME BIG ON NETFLIX. For most of its run, Breaking Bad was just another AMC show. It got most of its fanbase when the first four seasons were released on Netflix - and over Season 5, audience numbers climbed from just 2 million to 10 million. CRACKED.COM — Source

8

Reviews were The not good for GodfatherII In 1974 The NYTimes claimed it was unoriginal and disjointed, particularly disliking its non-linear form. The review even goes so far as describing the dialogue as 'dumb' and 'cartoon captions'. CRACKED.COM — Source

7

A CHRISTMAS STORY TOOK YEARS TO BECOME A HOLIDAY CLASSIC. While the movie did somewhat OK in theaters, it completely vanished from screens after a few weeks. Its popularity slowly grew over the years on television, though - eventually becoming inescapable if you turned on your TV during Christmas season. CRACKED.COM — Source

6

100 years before Rosa Parks, there was Elizabeth Graham. She hopped on a horse-driven streetcar despite being told it was full, and the driver had her forcibly removed. She sued, and her lawsuit eventually led to the desegregation of New York Public Transport. Incidentally, her lawyer was Chester А. Arthur. CRACKED.COM — Source

5

Galileo didn't invent the telescope. Hans Lippershey did. The Dutchman tried to patent it, but was denied for no discernible reason. A few countries over, when he heard about Lippershey's work, Galileo quickly built his own telescope. CRACKED.COM — Source

4

The power behind Alexander the Great was his mother, Olympias. After Alexander's death, she waged wars on behalf of her grandson's failed claim to the throne. On his deathbed, with Olympias eager for the opportunity his vacant seat would provide, Alexander's regent Antipater coughed out a warning to the Macedonians to never let a woman rule over them. CRACKED.COM — Source

3

Eliot Ness didn't catch Al Capone. Frank Wilson did. COU Не and prosecutor George E.Q. Johnson had to prove Capone was a millionaire with zero documentation. It took three years. Ness brought up 5,000 violations of the Volstead Act, but none of them stuck. Wilson found 22 charges of tax evasion, and these brought Capone down. CRACKED.COM — Source

2

Sally Ride wasn't the first woman in space. Nor the second. First was Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova. In June 1963, when Ride was just 12, Tereshkova was already taking laps around the Earth aboard the Vostok 6. When she finally hung up her spacesuit, Tereshkova had racked up more time in space than all astronauts combined. CRACKED.COM — Source

1

Ub Iwerks invented Mickey Mouse. Besides creating the character, he also animated Mickey's first five cartoons. But he just wasn't all that funny, and was pretty shy. So he stepped back and concentrated on solving technical problems, while Disney got all the attention and credit. CRACKED.COM — Source

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