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25 Schrodinger-Esque Bits of Trivia That May or May Not Exist, the Only Way to Find Out Is to Click on This Article

These should nestle nicely into your brain folds

25 Schrodinger-Esque Bits of Trivia That May or May Not Exist, the Only Way to Find Out Is to Click on This Article

January 03, 2024

What are you looking for exactly? Are you in the mood for some facts about the Appalachian Trail? Whistles? Hot dogs? An artist who paints with his own blood? If you’re not going to tell us, then we’re just gonna have to throw them — and a bunch of other randomness — all at you. Happy?

25

Paul R. Williams was an architect who designed for Frank Sinatra and Lucille Ball. Не learned to draw upside down because many white clients weren't comfortable sitting next to a Black man. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

24

Mike Rowe was an opera singer with the Baltimore Opera. The Dirty Jobs host learned the simplest aria he could find, auditioned, and got a job. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

23

Raven Wilkinson was one of the first Black ballerinas to dance full-time for a company. KKK members once stormed a performance, and a Georgia hotel owner refused to let her stay with the rest of the company. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

22

Vanilla Ice was the sixth fastest jet skier in the world. # In the '90s (after his hit single), he landed a sponsorship deal with Kawasaki. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

21

Victoria Woodhull was the first woman to run for U.S. President in 1872. She was arrested a few days before the election. It was 48 years before women's suffrage. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

20

Mr. Rogers replied to every fan letter he received. X Не would get 50 to 100 letters a day. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

19

Annie Kopchovsky was the first woman to cycle around the world. She learned how to ride a bike just two days before. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

18

Johnny Cash was a military code breaker. Не was the first man outside of the Soviet Union to learn of Stalin's death. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

17

Benjamin Franklin tried to do away with the letter С. No, he didn't have a grudge against that particular letter - he wanted to introduce a more phonetic alphabet, dropping unnecessary letters like С, which could be replaced with К or S, depending on the sirkumstanses. No one was interested. CRACKED COM — Source

16

The Western idea of chakras doesn't look a lot like their Hindu origins. The body's energetic centers your yoga teacher will tell you about bear only a passing resemblance to any ancient Indian tradition. The chakras' association with colors, gemstones, emotional states, and so on are all Western spiritual fanfiction of the early 20th century. CRACKED.COM — Source

15

Two-thirds of the disinformation about COVID vaccines comes from 12 people. In March 2021, the Center for Countering Digital Hate found that 65% of COVID vaccine- related bullcrap originates from just 12 anti- vaxxers, with a collective reach of about 60 million followers. This Disinformation Dozen includes heavy hitters like Joseph Mercola and freaking Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. CRACKED.COM — Source

14

13

Richard Donner tricked Gene Hackman into shaving his mustache for Superman. Hackman refused to wear a skull cap to play Lex Luthor - and to shave his '70s 'stache. Donner said, you take yours off, I'll take mine off, and Hackman grudgingly accepted. Only after the deed was done did Donner reveal his own facial hair was fake. Hackman wasn't pleased. CRACKED.COM — Source

12

Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot was a trap Arnold Schwarzenegger baited for Sylvester Stallone. Schwarzenegger knew right away that the movie he was being offered was crap - but knowing how hyper-competitive Stallone was, he pretended to be interested in taking the role, so his rival would try and take it away from him. And Sly just went and swallowed the bait. CRACKED.COM — Source

11

Making Gizmo work was a nightmare. Gizmo was supposed to be in just about 25 minutes of Gremlins, but then Steven Spielberg decided at the last minute that the fuzzball had to have a bigger part. So the puppeteers were left to improvise with a severely limited puppet that wasn't really made for basic stuff, like making it walk. CRACKED.COM — Source

10

Boneless ham seems to be solid because of a quirk in protein chemistry. After the bone is removed, the meat is tightly pressed into the packaging, and salt breaks down some of the proteins in it. Those proteins reconnect, making the meat an unbroken whole again. CRACKED.COM — Source

9

Bananas are actually everyday factories of antimatter-literally. Every 75 minutes or so, the potassium in a banana produces a single positron (an antimatter particle). CRACKED.COM — Source

8

In 2019, a robber who'd just robbed a bank tossed all the money on the street. - - - ULLERS UNITED STATES B05040302 8 MORE | g 1 t 1 E THE I a MUTER or 2 ! BRIDE - - - - - - 2 B - SERIAL د 2 : PACKARE DO NOT REQUESTI THE I - В 2 جمعية 2.3 - 1 В 05040302 Y 2 1 INGLUDE WUR in SUBSTITUTED INDIANE 1 2 - - - AT ONE DOI RUN an I ELLINA I MITTER TRAN WT DE OF 2 ANTER Ones H THE THIN HUMBERS — Source

7

The US is home to about 200 million starlings, and it's because of Shakespeare. In 1890, there was a program to bring every bird species from Shakespeare's plays to North America, and that included releasing 60 starlings in Central Park. Eventually, that number grew to 200 million. CRACKED.COM — Source

6

Some of the trails in the International Appalachian Trail are in, uh, Ireland. The International Appalachian Trail includes trails not just in North America, but also in Greenland, Scandinavia, Great Britain, France, Germany, even Africa - and Ireland. CRACKED.COM — Source

5

"Ship it, I don't care!"

Nintendo lied to us about Donkey Kong 64. When Donkey Kong 64 was released, you needed an Expansion Pack to play it. The official explanation was that the game was too DM big for the N64's regular memory setup - but this was a filthy lie. The real reason was that the game shipped with a bug that caused random crashes without the extra memory. CRACKED.COM — Source

4

CRACKED.COM Whistles were used to hack phone systems. Before phone networks went digital, phone hackers (named phreakers) would use whistles to reproduce the frequencies used by the system for communication. A legend in the field is John Draper, nicknamed Captain Crunch, who used used a whistle from a cereal box to get free long-distance calls. — Source

3

GRACKED.COM nau HELS Nathan's Famous used fake doctors to sell hot dogs. When Nahum Handwerker opened his first hot dog stand in 1916, he used a few publicity tricks - including planting fake customers dressed in white coats. People assumed these were doctors from a nearby hospital - and if these cheap hot dogs were good enough for doctors, then they couldn't be all that bad. — Source

2

Artist Vincent Castiglia creates huge paintings - with his own blood. Brooklyn-born Castiglia says that blood defines humanity, and is imbued with life's instructions, our genes, as well as our psychic energy. Не also calls his art a savior that helped him transcend years of childhood abuse. CRACKED.COM — Source

1

CRACKED.COM All old-timey laugh tracks were made by one guy. If you hate canned laughs, you can thank Charles Douglass for them. Douglass invented the Laff Box, a gadget to add pre-recorded snickers, guffaws, and chuckles to TV comic material. Не had a virtual monopoly in the canned-laugh business. — Source

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