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25 Ways the World Used to Be a Lot Weirder

We may not be perfect, but we’re doin’ way better than these silly old ancestors

25 Ways the World Used to Be a Lot Weirder

January 16, 2024

It seems like we as a species are a work in progress. To be fair, in the grand scheme of things, we haven’t been around for that long. And the time we’ve been able to record and now look back on is a lot shorter than that. From the looks of this short history book of humanity, we need some more time to get things right.

24

World War II CRACKED.COM Ice cream rations were more coveted than cigarettes and fresh socks. Look at the Battle of the Coral Sea from 1942. While engaging the Japanese, the USS Lexington sank. But before the crew abandoned ship, they carried out one important task: They ate all the ice cream. The men broke into the freezer and scooped all the ice cream into their helmets, licking them clean before evacuating at the last minute. — Source

23

Ancient Rome CRACKED COM In ancient Rome, laundromats pretty much ran on urine. The practice continued even after the invention of soap, as many Europeans preferred the all-natural goodness of bladder water. And long before toothpaste, 9 out 10 Romans agreed that gargling urine was the best way to keep your teeth clean and sparkly. — Source

22

In WWI, two enemy captains just decided not to fight. SS Gwendolen, the British ship The captain of the British ship and the German ship patrolling Africa's Lake Nyasa (now Lake Malawi) didn't want their decade-long friendship ruined. So when WWI started, the British captain shot the German ship once and faked the capture of its captain. Then they got back to hanging out and drinking as usual. CRACKED COM — Source

21

On the Manhattan Project, safety standards basically didn't exist. In a key experiment, the plutonium was contained by one technician holding a screwdriver. But the screwdriver slipped, and the plutonium killed the technician. This happened twice. CRACKED.COM — Source

20

In WWI and WWII, a French village mourned a latrine. During WWI, the villagers of Bourg, France, where general Patton ran a tank school, thought a sealed pit with two crossed sticks was a U.S. soldier's grave. It was a latrine, and the sticks meant keep away. Patton didn't correct them. When he came back in WWII, it was still treated like a grave. CRACKED.COM — Source

19

A WWII submarine had a reindeer onboard for six weeks. The British sub HMS Trident carried Pollyanna the reindeer, a personal gift from a Soviet admiral, back to England. She ate so much food (plus some navigation charts) that she got too big to walk out, and had to be lifted out with a winch (a sailor with a broom helped). CRACKED.COM — Source

18

King George V's time of death was chosen for its PR value. When George lay dying in 1936, the royal family wanted the morning journals, not the lower-class evening ones, to announce his death. So he got a lethal dose of morphine and cocaine at 11:55 p.m. on January 19. Не apparently wasn't asked, and probably wouldn't have approved. CRACKED.COM — Source

17

At Mao and Stalin's first meeting, the USSR stole Mao's poop. On Stalin's personal orders, the sewage pipes in the house where the two met were rerouted to special storage boxes. The thinking was that an analysis of the chemicals in his poop would reveal secrets about Mao's psychology. (Did it work? Nobody knows.) CRACKED.COM — Source

16

Isaac Newton was a waiter. Until he got an undergraduate scholarship, he waited tables at Cambridge. CRACKED.COM — Source

15

The repeal of the prohibition of alcohol in 1933 led to the CRACKED.COM emergence of the modern drug cartels. Crime syndicates needed a replacement for their source of income, and drug trafficking was the best alternative available. — Source

14

Walt Disney himself helped to design a Mickey Mouse gas mask Though few remain, you can find several on display in various museums in the United States. CRACKED.COM — Source

13

Due to fire, decay, negligence, or deliberate destruction, 75% T US 42 la - of all American CRACKED.COM silent movies на RA no longer exist. — Source

12

Greetings From The BX Secret B G TENNA City During WWII, Oak Ridge TN was commissioned to develop and build the first atomic bomb. The vast majority of the city's workers had absolutely no idea what they were working on and only found out after the first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. CRACKED.COM — Source

11

The infamous Milwaukee serial killer and cannibal, Jeffrey Dahmer, was a class clown in high school. 75 72 69 66 63 MILWAUKEE COUNTY MILWAUKEE COUNTY p SHEKIFF b DEPARTMENT His pranks and antics I - were known as doing a Dahmer around school. CRACKED.COM — Source

10

Salt Lake City has the widest streets of any major U.S. city. At 130 feet, they're twice as wide as Manhattan's. CRACKED.COM Brigham Young, the Mormon president who planned the city, chose the wide streets so settlers could turn their cattle around without resorting to profanity. — Source

9

Pepsi was once the 6th largest navy in the world. L'Est CHIN Y VIII MITH IN IV . F WIL HE VI VII - IV - XI VII WILL ... es hwep ПЕПСИ-КОЛ ПЕПСИ ПЕПСИ-КОЛА - ЗОВАРНЫЙ E ПЕПСИ-КОЛА SPAR RANBER ТОВАРНЫЙ il AOR - - NET НИ the - DE 13 11 17 .. 33 : DE 12 ЛЬНИЙ 179 11 21 = 37 27 13 15 17 10 The USSR had restrictions on transporting rubles outside of their territory, so they made good on a $3 billion contract in 1990 with 17 submarines, a frigate, a cruiser and a — Source

8

Yang Kyoungjong was a Korean soldier in WWII who was forced to fight on 3 sides of the war. V Не was conscripted into the من Japanese army, captured and forced to fight by the Soviet army, then again by the German army, over the course of 5 years. CRACKED.COM — Source

7

Ohio and Michigan once went to war - over Toledo. N Est L MICHIGAN Maumee Toledo Bay Disputed Toledo Strip Perrysburg OHIO Maumee River Aniwage From 1835-36, the two states argued over a thin strip of land at their border. It escalated to a brawl wherein someone was stabbed with a pen knife, but that was the only casualty. CRACKED.COM — Source

6

The 1767 expedition of the HMS Dolphin had to be cut short due to accidental horny mutiny. Captain Samuel Wallis noticed his crew were dismantling the ship for iron parts, which were traded for sex with locals. CRACKED.COM — Source

5

The Anglo-Zanzibar War was the shortest war in recorded history. N Est The 1896 skirmish between Aniward the British Empire and the Zanzibar Sultanate lasted 45 minutes, tops. The British managed to kill 500 soldiers in that time, while losing only 1 of their own. CRACKED.COM — Source

4

The largest bell ever made was lost by a greedy governor. Est Portugese warlord Filipe de Brito e Nicote was granted a governorship, then promptly declared independence. Не tried to melt the Shwedagon Pagoda's 23-ton bell to make cannons, then dropped it in a river. De Brito was executed at the stake. CRACKED.COM — Source

3

An astronaut pooped and puked all over Apollo 8 in mid-orbit. Frank Borman got briefly but violently ill, to the extent that it overwhelmed the waste system. Meaning: poo and spew orbs floating around the cabin. CRACKED.COM — Source

2

In WWI, the German ship SMS Cap Trafalgar was disguised to look like British ocean liner RMS Carmania in order to raise hell behind enemy lines. But the first ship the Trafalgar encountered was the real Carmania, which laid waste to the imposter. CRACKED.COM — Source

1

Napoleon's first wife performed a sex act that baffles modern historians. NNEst ft. S S They exchanged tons of extremely dirty letters, which mentioned, but never explained, something called a zig-zag. CRACKED.COM — Source

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