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We know where they keep the good stuff

32 Random Bits of Trivia We Found Squirreled Away in the Back of a Goodwill

April 18, 2024

You can spend hours poking around the racks, if you want to waste your time. The good stuff is in the recently donated bins, because management hasn’t gotten a chance to yoink the big-ticket items.

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32

San Francisco's most iconic landmark was close to being an underwater tunnel. CRACKED COM The subterranean passage would have been beneath the Bay while boats traveled above. City officials initially supported the idea since costs were a third lower than building a bridge, but traded it for something a little showier. — Source

31

In 2014, the satirical Ig Nobel Prize was given to inventors of the comb-over. CRACKED.COM The prize honors research that makes you laugh, then makes you think. The late Frank Smith and his son Donald developed the comb-over in response to Frank's baldness in the 1970s. Не even submitted a patent to mar- ket and sell a spray to keep the comb-over style in place. — Source

30

A small uninhabited island called Ailsa Craig off the coast of Scotland provides granite for Olympic curling stones. CRACKED.COM The island was said to have been created through vol- canic eruptions over tens of millions of years. A spe- cial granite making up the surface of the island cre- ates ideal curling stones. — Source

29

The Beatles

The Beatles had huge successes with their films Help! and A Hard Day's Night. CRACKED.COM Thankfully they did not ever make Up Against It, a screenplay commissioned by the Beatles and written by play- wright Joe OrtonThe script was horribly offensive, there were scenes with sexu- al assaults written in for laughs, men and women fighting in a civil war against each other, and the band mem- bers dressing in drag and assassinating the Prime Minister. — Source

28

Long before the Capitol building in D.C. became a place synonymous with political chaos, it was a 19th Century marvel of architecture. GRACKED COM One detail, among the domes and the sculptures, is the number of steps from the basement to the top of the outer dome: 365. This was made intentionally to represent a step for each day of the year. — Source

27

The Pyramids

The Great Pyramid of Giza built in the 26th Century B.C.is the only Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that's still standing. CRACKED.COM While there are still many questions concerning how it has held up, and how Egyp- tians managed to build the pyramid, archaeologists be- lieve that ramp systems may have helped put the millions of blocks into their positions. — Source

26

In 1998, UC Berkeley scientists discovered that the western fence lizard could thwart Lyme disease if bitten by infected ticks. CRACKED COM These lizards have a specific protein in their systems that kills the infection. Western U.S. may also have fewer cases of Lyme due to the lyme-fighting lizard as opposed to the East- ern U.S. where Lyme disease runs rampant. — Source

25

The two main aircrafts used in WWII were the B-24 Liberator and the B-17 Flying Fortress. U 483514 F GRAGKED.COM An Army project called Opera- tion Aphrodite stripped down B-17s so they could essentially become flying explosives, if needed. An Army major cus- tomized one of these B-17 jets and liked to use it to gun past B-24 formations. — Source

24

In 1936, a sneaky violinist named Julian Altman stole a rare 1713 Stradivarius violin. GRACKED.COM A touring musician named Broni- slaw Huberman had left the instru- ment in his dressing room, and Alt- man gave a gullible doorman a ci- gar to slip by and steal it. Altman then played the stolen Stradivarius his entire life, only admitting on his deathbed that the violin was stolen. — Source

23

Before SNL comedian Chris Farley's untimely death, he was cast as the title character in Shrek. GRACKED.COM Farley had even recorded over three-quarters of the film's dialogue. In Farley's earlier version, Shrek was a teenage Ogre who was reluc- tant to enter into his family business, but who desired to become a knight. — Source

22

In 1929 New York Times reported that Empire State Building investors hoped zeppelins could dock at the top. ZEPPELIN ZEPPELIN FOR - CRACKED COM By 1930, a manipulated photograph circulated in newspapers interna- tionally showing a zeppelin that looked like it had done so. Not until 1931, did one ever actually dock. Due to the 40 mph winds, and the traffic it caused below, it only stayed there for three minutes. — Source

21

The British suffragettes were no joke. They often employed militant tactics to get their point across, and were met with violence in return by police and others. OGEIGR BJJ BJ m R ALE GRAGKED.COM Edith Garrud, of the Wom- en's Social and Political Union (WSPU) practiced jiu-jitsu and shared the skill with the other mem- bers. Elite members start- ed a secret fighting force called the Amazons. — Source

20

Many people thought Mitch Hedberg's death announcement was an April Fools' joke. Comedian Mitch Hedberg was found dead in a hotel room in Livingston, New Jersey on March 30, 2005, by multiple drug toxicity. His death was announced two days later, on April 1st. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

19

The Civil War changed the way people pluralized The United States. Prior to the American Civil War, most citizens of the United States referred to their country in the plural (The United States are wealthy, The United States have a large popula- tion). CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

18

Thomas Jefferson tried for years to send a giant stuffed moose to a French count. This was to counter claims that America is a land of swamps, where life putre- fies and rots, and as a re- sult of living in a cold and wet climate, all species found in America were weak and feeble. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

17

Dr. Seuss wrote How The Grinch Stole Christmas about himself. Seuss stated that he wrote it to rediscover some- thing about Christmas that obviously I'd lost. The Grinch mentions he is 53 in the book, the same age as Seuss when he wrote it. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

16

The Russian squat is a carryover from Russian and Soviet prison culture. Russians often seen squat- ting in pictures are called Gopniks. They are known for posing, and hanging out in large groups, in a squatting position because the ground is too cold to sit on. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

15

Surfing

Surfing dates all the way back to 5,000 years ago. Cultures in ancient Peru fished in kay- ak-like watercraft (mochica) made of reeds that the fisher- men surfed back to shore. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

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14

The heaviest living person in 2013 was ordered to lose weight, by his king. 118 117 120 16 611 not 78 77 79 76 75 74 92 DO Khalid bin Mohsen Shaari, a Saudi man, was at that time the second heaviest person ever recorded at 1340lbs. Не lost 1195 Ibs and weighed 150 Ibs in 2017. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

13

Serge Voronoff was a French surgeon who transplanted monkey testes into humans. Не claimed to be able to rejuvenate his millionaire patients by transplanting them with testicles of exe- cuted criminals. Не eventu- ally turned to use monkey testicles when supplies ran low. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

12

Kate Mara has a clause in her acting contracts for when the Steelers and/or NY Giants play the Super Bowl. Mara is the great-granddaughter of both the founder of the NY Giants, Tim Mara, and the founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Art Rooney. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

11

Nike

Nike's stock valuation dropped by $1.1 Billion after a college basketball player got hurt in their shoes. Duke freshman Zion Wil- liamson had one of his shoes come apart during a game in 2019, causing him to fall and sprain his knee. Nike shares fell 1.7% the next day. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

10

Camels now live in Australia as an invasive species. There are records of ab- original people first seeing them; one man, Andy Tji- lari, recalled following the camels with his family, concluding that this horse is ignorant. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

9

Mozart's sister was also a child prodigy. Maria Anna Mozart was considered one of the finest pianists in Europe until outshone by her younger brother. What were their parents feed- ing these kids? CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

8

Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan, is the only capital in the world without traffic lights. DRUNAGE GOEM SAT-SUN-2 Shous DRUK GE GOEN CONM TIME г. P.M. Some years ago, they did install traffic lights but the people hated them so much that the govern- ment had to remove them and put a traffic police- man instead. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

7

The last film John F. Kennedy ever saw was an early print of From Russia, With Love. JFK was a huge James Bond fan, so he got an early look at the film at the White House on No- vember 21st, 1963. Не was killed the next day in Dallas. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

6

Saving Private Ryan

Steven Spielberg promised Tom Sizemore a role in Saving Private Ryan as long as he never failed a drug test while shooting. If he failed once, even on the last day, Spiel- berg promised to kick him out of the movie and reshoot all of his scenes with a new ac- tor. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

5

Rita Hayworth

Rita Hayworth's face was painted on atomic bombs that were tested in the '40s, because she was a bombshell. When she found out she flew into a rage and want- ed to hold a press confer- ence announcing her con- demnation, but Harry Cohn, the president of Co- lumbia Pictures, told her it would be unpatriotic. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

4

3

In 2014, researchers said Facebook will lose 80% of their users by 2017. ebook Facebook reported nearly 1.2 billion monthly active users in 2014. Right now, 1.9 billion daily users ac- cess Facebook's plat- form, a 6.89% increase year-over-year. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

2

Cobalt

The element 'Cobalt' gets its name from the German 'kobold' which means 'goblin.' Miners found cobalt veins near their silver, and blamed this strange and dangerous metal on goblins, and thus named it after them. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

1

Spiders in space = cool

NASA sent two spiders into space in the 1970's. It took the spiders a cou- ple days to figure it out, but they eventually end- ed up making webs that were finer and more com- plex than their earth counterparts. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

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