12 Trivia Tidbits for Monday, April 15, 2024
Don’t fill up on facts and figures. I’ve been cooking up these tidbits all day!
Click right here to get the best of Cracked sent to your inbox.
The REAL Confederate Flag
The National Museum of American History has on display a weathered yellow napkin that’s sometimes called “the last flag of the Confederacy.” It was a towel used by Robert E. Lee’s troops to signify their surrender at Appomattox as General Custer approached. Cutser held onto it for posterity.
Survival of the Most Collaborative
A study has shown that “survival of the fittest” and arguments that competition dominates evolution may be missing the mark. It may be the case that organisms and creatures who are most cooperative actually boost the survival rate of themselves and those around them.
What’s the Most-Lost Luggage Item? Hint: What Do You Always Over-Pack?
Unclaimed Baggage is an Alabama-based reseller of luggage that has been left unclaimed in airports for 90 days. They’ve released a report of the items they get in the most abundance, and underwear tops the list, followed by shoes, tablets and T-shirts.
Unclaimed Baggage Also Made a List of 2023’s ‘Most Fascinating Finds’
Included on the list are: a mounted ram head, “a voodoo box with the person who opened the bag’s name on the bottom” (needless to say they were a little freaked out) and “two live snakes!”
Want to Work for NASA?
NASA is collecting all kinds of crazy eclipse data — how animals reacted to the eclipse, for example. They’ve launched the Eclipse Soundscapes Project and are looking for volunteers to fills roles from observer to data analyst to make sense of it all.
Stephen Hawking Said Don’t Talk to Strangers
Stephen Hawking warned that, should we ever get the opportunity and technology to do so, we absolutely should not talk to aliens. Any alien civilization that’s capable of seeing or communicating with us will likely be much more advanced, and that doesn’t bode well for us: “If you look at history, contact between humans and less intelligent organisms have often been disastrous from their point of view.”
Uncle Sam Says Eat All the Lead You Want!
It’s recently come out that some Lunchables contain up to 74 percent of California’s maximum daily recommended consumption of lead. This has brought to light the fact that the federal government has no opinion on how much lead is too much lead.
The Revolutionary A.I. Pin That Dares to Suck
Electronics company Humane just released its much-hyped wearable pin-like device that aims to replace your smartphone. But reviewers say it’s a $700 dump on the rug: It overheats easily, the photo quality is at least a decade behind and the images it projects onto your hand in lieu of a screen are unreadable in the sun.
Three Shipwrecked Dudes Used Cartoon Tactics to Get Rescued
Three fishermen got stranded on a small island in the Pacific ocean for over a week. They spelled out the word “HELP” on the beach in palm leaves, which caught the attention of the U.S. Coast Guard.
Authorities Broke Up a LEGO Smuggling Ring
California authorities served a series of search warrants that uncovered $300,000 worth of LEGO products that had been stolen from places like Target and Home Depot.
A Single Kids’ Show Is Responsible for Over a Quarter of Disney+ Traffic
Bluey accounted for 29 percent of views on Disney+ in Q4 of 2023. Disney doesn’t own it, but is reportedly interested in shelling out for the show, which has been valued at about $2 billion.
A Lucky Detour Saved an Entire Family
A group of sorority sisters was traveling from the University of Georgia to Savannah for a party weekend, when they made an impromptu brunch stop. When they resumed their journey, they arbitrarily picked a route to the highway that took them through a more rural area. They chanced upon a car that had fallen into a creek, and were able to save a woman and her two young sons who were trapped inside.
