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40 Random Bits of Trivia to Activate Your Midi-chlorians

Use the Force, my dude

40 Random Bits of Trivia to Activate Your Midi-chlorians

April 27, 2024

What are Midi-chlorians, you ask? It’s basically spiritual space VD, and George Lucas is patient zero.

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40

A beer mile is a 1-mile drinking race where runners must drink a pint of beer for every quarter-mile. Other variations of this sport includes a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream for 4 miles, as well as a variation in which runners must solve a Rubik's cube along with each beer for their mile. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

39

More than 5,000 babies across the United States were abducted by a supposedly charitable organization. The group targeted poor Southern fami- lies between 1924 and 1950 and devel- oped a black market for white babies. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

38

Albert Einstein was an avid, and terrible, sailor. Einstein was always run- ning his small sailboat aground because he was too busy relaxing. His family was convinced he'd die on the water, or in it - as he did not know how to swim. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

37

The US and Europe raised funds for the Statue of Liberty with auctions, a lottery, and boxing matches. The statue was planned to be ready by the United State's centennial, but fundraising took longer than expected. It cost the French an estimated $250,000 (more than $5.5 million in today's money). CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

36

Apple made retailers buy their multicolor iMacs in five-packs, one in each color. This way, Apple wouldn't get stuck with the ипрори- lar colors, only the retailer. Around 2002 the most popular colors were blue- berry and grape, beating out strawberry, tangerine, and lime. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

35

There used to be a terrible statue of Christopher Columbus in front of the Capitol Building. The statue depicted Co- lumbus holding the world in his hand as a Native American woman cowered beside him. It remained there from 1844 until 1958 when Native Americans protested. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

34

There is a bacteria that poops gold. Delftia acidovarans ex- cretes gold when it's in a toxic solution, possibly to keep the metal from en- tering its cells and to de- toxify gold that breaches its cell walls. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

33

The National Museum of American History has props from The X-Files. The museum curator said the show cleverly used the sci-fi genre to address such contemporary issues. Other important parts of American culture include Star Trek and Teenage Mu- tant Ninja Turtles. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

32

Dodge sued Ford for trying to use company profits on their workers, and set the precedent for US corporate law. Ford Ford wanted to use extra profits to raise employee wages and employ more people in 1919, but Dodge sued them, saying a corpo- ration's only responsibility is to increase shareholder value. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

31

Eating cheese after a meal can counteract the acid left behind by other foods. Dark chocolate (70% cacao) is also beneficial for the teeth due to a compound called CBH, which was proven in ani- mal tests to help harden tooth enamel. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

30

Residents of the US kept picking the wrong country so the Census had to be changed. In the 1970s, the U.S. Cen- sus Bureau removed Cen- tral and South American options as nationalities be- cause people from the Midwest and the Southern USA would mistakenly pick them. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

29

Most of Reykjavík, Iceland is heated by volcanic activity. In 2008, natural hot wa- ter was used to heat roughly 90% of all build- ings in Iceland with geo- thermal heating systems for both residential and industrial districts. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

28

A German civil servant told his colleagues he did no work for 14 years as he retired in 2012. 1 The 65-year-old found out he was going to be out of a job due to cutbacks, so he sent an email to 500 of his fellow employees an- nouncing he hadn't done a thing since 1998. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

27

The San Francisco Bay wasn't discovered for over 200 years after Europeans first discovered California. Expeditions were so fearful of the Farallon Islands that they sailed west to avoid them, thus missing the small Golden Gate inlet. The Bay was later discov- ered by land. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

26

Rick Allen, the drummer for Def Leppard, lost his arm after a car accident in 1984. Не thought he could never play in the band again until a fellow drummer helped him design an electronic drum kit that could be played with one arm. Не returned to the band in 1986. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

25

In 1968, an elite group of North Korean commandos snuck across the DMZ to assassinate the South Korean president. The group of 31 made it to within 100 meters of their target, Park Chung-hee, in his residence at the Blue House, before their plot was foiled. All 31 were ei- ther captured, killed, or forced to flee. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

24

Movie ratings are decided by about a dozen parents in Los Angeles. There are usually about 10 to 13 parents on the board, usually with kids aged 5 to 15, and they live in Los An- geles while on the board. They see a movie at the same time and then vote privately. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

23

The Rocky Mountains were once a plateau higher than Tibet. However, because the mountains are much older than the very young Himalayas, they have eroded away over 60 million years to their present altitude. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

22

Whitney Houston lip-synced her 1991 Super Bowl rendition of the U.S. National Anthem. The performance is fre- quently considered one of the best anthems in history but her micro- phone was turned off and a pre-recorded ver- sion was played. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

21

A border collie in Australia fell off a boat during a huge storm and swam 5 nautical miles through shark-infested waters. The dog, Sophie Tucker, washed ashore an uninhab- ited island and reverted back to her wild instincts to hunt and eat feral goats. She survived a month be- fore being reunited with her owners. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

20

A 550 lb woman got stuck in a chair in her home when her skin began to attach to it. GRAGKED.COM The 75-year-old couldn't be moved because she was attached to the fabric of the chair, and when police tried to remove her, her bones started breaking. She died after a month in the hospital. — Source

19

The costume designer for Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice designed the SpaceX space suits. CRACKED.COM Elon Musk commissioned Jose Fernandez, and said he wanted the suits to look badass and heroic. Fer- nandez didn't know what SpaceX was at the time, and thought it was for a film. — Source

18

A message in a bottle from a doomed Titanic passenger was found near his home. CRACKED.COM The mother of 19-year-old Jeremiah Burke recognized his handwriting, and an- nounced that the bottle was the same holy water bottle she had given to her boy on the day of his departure. — Source

17

Beer, rather than bread, may have been the inspiration for our ancestors to domesticate grains. CRACKED.COM Demand for reliable sup- plies pushed humans first to plant the wild grasses and then over time to se- lectively breed them into the high-yielding barley, wheat, and other grains we know today. — Source

16

The first international war crime trial took place in 1474. Liln and Branbe MICH Wegbaling Cross Babies Barm des Kom Desding Habon Company Pfale Mamberg - Bland Ambidan: H Kim Sodurs bern Class David Thujia Calout Dagman Bainn Supply authodign . Delicio Standard Krinegh credition Gavaben Searching - Melloverb Delen Sam Stramberg Baten Cutting KUL CRACKED.COM Peter Von Hagenbauch of Alsace, Germany was found guilty of atrocities committed during the ос- cupation of Breisach and beheaded in the Holy Ro- man Empire. — Source

15

The voice of Tigger from Winnie the Pooh was an inventor that created many patents still in use today. GRACKED.COM Paul Winchell was one of the original inventors of an artificial heart, an automo- bile that runs on battery power, a method for breeding tilapia, and many other inventions. — Source

14

Dolly Parton's Jolene is about a red-headed clerk who had a crush on her husband. CRACKED.COM The song's title is named after one of her fans. Dolly told her, That is pretty. That sounds like a song. I'm going to write a song about that. — Source

13

During WWI, to get around British blockades, a German company built a merchant submarine to trade with then neutral America. LUSITANIA CRACKED.COM It made 2 trips before America entered the war after which it was converted to a war- ship and it went on to sink 42 ships on 3 ра- trols. — Source

12

A Hong Kong dairy farm makes 4,000 bottles of milk a day despite not having any cows. CRACKED.COM Hong Ning Dairy hasn't had a license to keep cattle since 2008, so instead the workers haul huge bags of formula to the processing plant to produce dairy beverages.

11

Brazil was a monarchy until Crown Princess Isabel signed a law emancipating all slaves in Brazil in 1888. CRACKED.COM This move was so un- popular among the rich plantation owners that the imperial fami- ly was deposed in a military coup. — Source

10

A deer was caught munching on human remains in the woods. CRACKED.COM Researchers from Texas State University left a hu- man corpse on a 26-acre woodland site to study how human bodies decom- pose in the wild, and end- ed up capturing the first image of this behavior. — Source

9

Gin and tonic started off as an anti-malaria cocktail. CRACKED.COM British colonials in India used gin to cover the bitter taste of tonic water, which was initially marketed as a means of delivering qui- nine to consumers in order to offer anti-malarial pro- tection. — Source

8

President William McKinley wore a red carnation in his lapel at all times as a good luck charm. CRACKED COM During a public meeting in his second term, he took out the flower from his la- pel and gave it to a 12-year-old girl. Minutes later, he was shot. Не died a week later. — Source

7

Until 1953, New York City had a pneumatic tube mail network. GRACKED COM It spanned 27 miles and connected 23 post offices. At its peak, the system moved 95,000 let- ters a day. — Source

6

A Civil War veteran killed himself with a homemade guillotine. GRAGKED.COM Farmer, self-proclaimed inventor and Civil War veteran James Moon got a hotel room in Lafayette, carrying an ах and iron plates. Не was found be- headed the next day. — Source

5

Female hangingflies demand a food gift before a male can mate with her. CRACKED.COM The bigger the gift, the longer it takes for her to eat it, and thus the longer she'll allow the male to mate with her. — Source

4

Buzz Aldrin snuck sacramental bread and wine onto the Moon. CRACKED.COM This was the first food consumed on the Moon. Aldrin kept it a secret due to lawsuits filed by Amer- ican Atheists over the Genesis reading on Christmas 1968. — Source

3

A stallion nicknamed Clever Hans impressed Germany with his math skills in 1891. CRACKED.COM It was later discovered that he was deducing an- swers, including basic square roots, by reading the subtle, unintentional body language cues of the asker. — Source

2

Angkor Wat in Cambodia is the largest religious structure in the world. CRACKED.COM It is at least 3.5 times bigger than the Vatican City. It was built for the Hindu god Vishnu by the Khmer King Suryavar- man II in the period 1113-50. — Source

1

Usain Bolt was awarded a piece of the Berlin Wall. CRACKED.COM When Bolt broke the 100 m world record at the 2009 Berlin World Championships, the mayor awarded him the 12 foot long, 6000-pound piece of the Wall. It is now housed at the Jamaica Mili- tary Museum. — Source

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