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40 Random Bits of Trivia, Free to a Good Home

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40 Random Bits of Trivia, Free to a Good Home

April 11, 2024

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40

From 1757 to 1795, an anonymous writer published an annual directory of London prostitutes. HARRIS's LIST o F Covent-Garden Ladies: OR MAN OF PLEASURE's KALENDAR, For the YEAR 1993 Called Harris's List of Covent-Garden Ladies, it sold thousands of copies each year and detailed everything from their specialties to the size of their breasts. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

39

A Texas man was killed seconds after mocking an alligator in 2015. The 28-year-old was at- tacked and killed by an alligator almost immedi- ately after being warned by a bystander not to swim in the water, replying fuck that alligator before jumping in. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

38

3 geriatric Catholic nuns vandalized a US nuclear missile launch facility with hammers. The Roman Catholic nuns broke into a Minuteman III site and defaced the silo by swinging hammers and painting crosses in their own blood, as an anti war protest. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

37

American POWs during the Vietnam War used the notes ofshave and a Haircut to authenticate themselves. American captives would authenticate a new prison- er's American identity by tapping the first five notes of Shave and a Haircut against a cell wall, and wait- ing for the appropriate re- sponse: two more taps. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

36

Large cuts of meat stall while being cooked because they sweat. Port and brisket stay at the same temperature, sometimes for hours, while being smoked be- cause water evaporation is cooling them as fast as heat is being added. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

35

37 percent of all registered Steam games have never been played. This equates to 288 million of the 781 million games registered on the platform (as of 2014). Meanwhile, Dota 2 players have accu- mulated 3,828,000,000 hours, which equals 456,000 years. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

34

Bill Nye got his break into the entertainment industry by winning a Steve Martin look-alike contest in 1978. This was after being reject- ed to join NASA's astro- naut training program in the late 1970s four times, where he stumbled into a new career path that launched his career into stardom. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

33

The first Chinese-American US Marine Corps officer used Mandarin during the Korean War to confuse the enemy. While advancing at the Battle of Inchon, Kurt Lee shouted to the enemy in Mandarin Chinese to SOW confusion and then at- tacked with hand gre- nades and gunfire. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

32

Angelina Jolie scared little kids while in costume on the set of Maleficent. One kid said, Mommy, please get the mean witch to stop talking to me. Her daughter, Vivienne Jo- lie-Pitt, who played young Aurora, was the only child who was not scared of her. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

31

An undercover agent and KKK member sent 47 black residents to jail on his word alone. Many were sentenced to long prison terms; some served years be- fore release. For his wrong reports, the of- ficer got 10-years of probation. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

30

44% of deaths among Russian soldiers are due to suicide after being a victim of a systematic abuse. Called Dedovshchina, this is a practice of hazing and abuse of junior con- scripts, which consists of brutalization by more se- nior conscripts, NCOs, and officers. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

29

King Henry I of England died from eating an excessive number of lampreys. After enjoying some hunting in Lyons-la-Forêt and appearing healthy, the king ate too many of the eels, against his physician's advice, and fell ill. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

28

The worst wildfire in history lasted only two hours but killed 2,500 people across Wisconsin and Michigan. The reason the fire is for- gotten in the history books is it took place on the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, Great Michigan Fire, and Port Huron Fire. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

27

Rajputs would fashion false trunks for their horses, making them appear to be baby elephants during battle. Appearing as baby ele- phants, the elephants carrying the enemies would instinctively not attack them, giving the Rajputs an advantage of attacking first. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

26

$200 million in gold and silver bullion was buried under the World Trade Center after the 9/11 attacks. SUISSE KILO 6'000 gnoo KANGA Comex, the commodities exchange, kept thousands of gold and silver bars stacked on pallets in a warehouse beneath the city surface. All 29,942,619 ounces were recovered. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

25

All of the chainmail in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy was made by hand, link by link. The main characters wore lightweight chainmail, designed specifically for the films, that was 1/5th the weight of steel so the actors didn't suffer fa- tigue. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

24

Before 1939, if a Guinness brewer wished to marry a Catholic, his resignation was requested. GUINNESS It had no qualms about selling drink to Catho- lics, according to Thom- as Molloy, but it did ev- erything it could to avoid employing them until the 1960s. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

23

Sears tried to scam the inventor of a quick-release ratchet. SEARS Peter Roberts sold his in- vention to Sears for $10,000 who said that it was not worth very much. Sears then went on to make $44 million selling it, so he sued them for fraud and was awarded $1 million. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

22

Ernest Hemingway's third wife was the sole woman on the Normandy beaches during D-day. Martha Gellhorn was a rogue war correspon- dent who stowed away in the toilet of a hospital ship to be among the thousands of men on the beaches that day. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

21

You shouldn't worry about a baby deer that is without its mother. Fawns are often left alone for hours while their mothers forage for food. Sometimes well-meaning people 'kidnap' the fawn think- ing it's abandoned. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

20

A single farmer saved the penguin population on an Australian island. GRACKED.COM Foxes nearly wiped out the population of fairy pen- guins, so a chicken farmer named Swampy Marsh sent Maremma dogs to protect them. Over the next ten years, not a single penguin was eaten. — Source

19

Mike, the lowest ranking member of a chimp group became the alpha male of the community overnight. 3 CRACKED.COM Не stole empty ker- osene cans from the researcher's camp, and banged them to scare the other chimps. — Source

18

In 2009, Airman Colton Read went in for gallbladder surgery and woke up with both legs amputated. CRACKED.COM Military doctors punc- tured his aorta and waited 8.5 hours to get him proper medical care. Read isn't legally allowed to sue for damages. — Source

17

Webcams were invented by lazy scientists checking on their coffee. 1080р БОГРУ logi - O GRACKED.COM In 1991, two scientists at the University of Cambridge set up the Trojan Room coffee pot live video so people working in the building didn't have to go all the way to the computer lab to check if there was coffee. — Source

16

Ice is a mineral, like quartz, copper, and gold. GRACKED.COM Ice is a naturally occurring compound with a defined chemical formula and crys- tal structure, thus making it a legitimate mineral. Its only limitation is that it is not stable at room tem- perature. — Source

15

European folklore has a smelly bull cryptid called the Bonnacon. CRACKED.COM This mythological crea- ture is said to have in- ward curling horns that are useless for defense, so it sprays caustic poop from its butt to escape pursuers. — Source

14

The 9/11 Boatlift after the 2001 terrorist attacks saved 500,000 people. U. S. COACRACKED.COM When all transport out of the city was shut down, boat owners managed to transport over half a million peo- ple from Manhattan Is- land. — Source

13

The parasite which causes malaria in humans wears the membrane of a blood cell to go undetected. GRAGKED.COM Plasmodium Falciparum first infects the liver, de- veloping there for months without any symptoms. Then it in- fects red blood cells to wear as a disguise. — Source

12

The British army created units of short people during WWI. RECRUITING OFFICE PLANDERS JON DACE GRACKED CON The British army low- ered the minimum height requirement from 5 feet 3 inches to 5 feet in response to protests and created the 'Bantam Battalions.' — Source

11

One of the only acknowledgments of The Black Cauldron in Disneyland is in Tokyo. GRACKED COM Tokyo Disneyland once hosted a Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour, featuring encounters with classic Disney vil- lains, ending with the Horned King. — Source

10

Gleaning leftover crops was a legally enforced entitlement of the poor in a number of Christian kingdoms. CRACKED.COM Gleaning was a historical practice of collecting left- over crops from farmer's fields after they had been commercially harvested or if they were not profitable to harvest. — Source

9

The baseball hand signals were invented by a 19th century deaf player. DI S GRACKED.COM William Ellsworth Dum- my Hoy played for sev- eral teams from 1888 to 1902 and is sometimes credited with developing the hand signals used by umpires to this day. — Source

8

A gentlemanly bank robber in the early 20th century stole $2 million over 40 years. GRAGKED.COM Willie Sutton never robbed a bank with a loaded gun because he didn't want anyone to get hurt, and al- legedly never robbed a bank when a woman screamed or a baby cried. — Source

7

A burglar was caught after his 82-year-old victim drew a caricature of him. CRACKED.COM Australian cartoonist Wil- liam Ellis Green called the police after confronting the intruder, and produced a pen and paper to quickly capture his likeness. The criminal was soon appre- hended. — Source

6

London has paid rent to the Monarchy every year since 1211. CRACKED COM The symbolic ceremony consists of officials hand- ing over a knife, an ах, six oversized horseshoes, and 61 nails to the Crown's Re- membrancer, the oldest ju- dicial position in England. — Source

5

Getty Images sold unauthórized licenses of photos donated to the Library of Congress. CRACKED.COM Carol Highsmith donated 100,000 of these images and then received a letter from Getty, demanding $120 for displaying them on her personal website. Highsmith sued for $1 bil- lion, but lost. — Source

4

Mickey Mouse is based off of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. CRACKED.COM Walt Disney created Oswald but rights to the character were taken by Universal Stu- dios. Walt created Mickey Mouse as a replacement and made sure all future charac- ters were owned directly by Disney. — Source

3

George Lucas was turned down from the US Air Force because of his speeding tickets. CRACKED.COM Lucas tried joining in 1967, after he graduated with a BFA in film, but had too many traffic citations. Не was later drafted into Viet- nam but was once again turned away due to his dia- betes. — Source

2

The cover of the Nickelodeon Time Capsule was sold at auction for $19,200. MICKELODEON THE FIRST WOILD URANDA YEAQUEARISMS FLERIDA STUDIOS FOR 123 tar FL 2147 SK222 I EL DUY NICKELODEON SUCH THAT BLE CRACKED.COM 56 ZGGL A time capsule filled with books, rollerblades, movies and more was buried at Nickel- odeon Studios in Florida in 1992, to be opened in 50 years. The studio closed and the cap- sule moved, with the 45 lb cov- er being auctioned off. — Source

1

The alien species from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial appears in The Phantom Menace. GRAGKED.COM George Lucas included them as a tribute to his long-time friend Steven Spielberg, as well as showing them existing in the same universe. — Source

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