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40 Random Bits of Trivia That Should Win Us the Pulitzer

That’s right. We’re skipping the Webbys and going straight for the big show

40 Random Bits of Trivia That Should Win Us the Pulitzer

April 26, 2024

I’ll admit, it sounds crazy on its face. But after you’ve read these 40 delectable bits of trivia, we think you’ll agree: This is one of the greatest works of journalism of all time.

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40

JFK's mother asked Nikita Khrushchev to send her his autograph while her son was president. GRAGKED.COM After the incident, John F. Kennedy asked his mother not to contact heads of state without asking him first. — Source

39

The Virgin Hotel in Chicago has no check-in desk and guests get their room keys from a vending machine. VIRGIN HOTELS Virgin 203 HOTELS GRACKED.COM The personal comfort assistant app named Lucy can order more pillows, control room temperature, and co- ordinate messages with hotel staff. — Source

38

South Korea's national drink has to be sold at $1 a bottle. CRACKED.COM Soju is a clear alcohol, typ- ically made from rice or barley, with an alcohol content of about 20% and a government-mandated price of about $1 per bot- tle, so all citizens can af- ford it. — Source

37

Confucius' family tree is the longest recorded extant pedigree in the world. GRAGKED.COM There are 2 million regis- tered modern descen- dants, with major branches in Korea (where his family was invited in 1351) and Taiwan (where family members fled during the Chinese civil war).

36

The trend of leaving the bottom button of a suit undone started due to a fat king. CRACKED.COM In the early 1900s, King Edward VII grew too fat to fasten the bottom button of his waistcoat and jacket. To not offend the king, those associated with him started doing the same. — Source

35

Pablo Picasso demanded his mistresses to be submissive and shorter than him. CRACKED.COM Не thought women were either goddess- es or doormats. Dora Maar, one of his lovers, called him an extraor- dinary artist but mor- ally worthless.

34

Working-class British men wore a flat cap in the 16th-century because it was the law. CRACKED.COM A 1571 Act of Parliament, designed to stimulate wool consumption, penalized non-nobles over the age of 6 a fine of three farthings a day if they weren't wearing a woolen cap. — Source

33

Saudi Arabia's royal family has a net worth of $1.4 trillion. CRACKED.COM This makes the family roughly 16 times as wealthy as the British royal family, which has a net worth of $88 billion. — Source

32

A samurai named Yanagizawa Yoshisato helped his samurai clan pay off their debts by selling goldfish. CRACKED.COM Не took his best goldfish breeders over to the town of Koriyama, so that they could use its plentiful wa- ters. His clan made gold- fish more available to the general public and not just the rich. — Source

31

Ashley Revell sold all his possessions, including his clothes, and put $136,000 on a single roulette spin. IS 32 O CRACKED.COM Не won, and doubled his money. Revell used his winnings to set up an on- line poker company called Poker UTD, which later went out of business in 2012 due to controversy over US frozen accounts. — Source

30

Henry Ford's wife Clara drove an electric car and refused to drive the Ford Model T. CRACKED.COM Eco Queen Clara drove a 1914 Detroit Electric. The Detroit models could run 80 miles on a single charge, with a top speed of about 20 mph. — Source

29

Oxpeckers are technically parasites themselves. CRACKED.COM The small birds were once thought to be helping ante- lopes and wildebeest by eat- ing ticks. It was later found that these birds open wounds wider and drink the blood of their hosts. — Source

28

Celine Dion wanted no part in singing the hit Titanic song My Heart Will Go On. CRACKED.COM She only did so after her manager/husband con- vinced her that it would benefit her career. Her song went on to win the Grammy Award for Re- cord of the Year. — Source

27

A starfish does not have the capacity to plan its actions. GRACKED.COM If one arm detects an attractive odor, it be- comes dominant and temporarily overrides the other arms to initi- ate movement towards the prey. — Source

26

Wal-Mart loses around $3 Billion a year to theft. WAL MART SUBRCCA GUARANTEES CRACKED.COM In 2015, $3 billion dollars lost due to theft constitut- ed only 1% of Wal-Mart's $300 billion revenue. They use image recognition technology to reduce theft in self-checkouts using AI technology. — Source

25

Many homes in Nigeria have This house is not for sale painted on their exterior. CRACKED.COM In Nigeria, there are scam artists who sell you houses by pre- tending to be the own- ers and get paid a con- siderable deposit by deceiving buyers. — Source

24

Raw horse meat is a staple bar food in Japan. LIL Jelly -pad CRACKED.COM Basashi is a Japanese dish, consisting of raw, thinly sliced horse meat that is dipped in soy sauce and gar- nished with ginger and onions. — Source

23

The DEA told FedEx to stop catering to a list of drug dealers, but refused to say who was on the list. FedEx SXY-704 COTA fedex.com Express 01 8000 110 339 953590 CRACKED.COM FedEx was charged with distribution of controlled substances and a conspira- су to distribute misbrand- ed drugs in 2014 and they pleaded not guilty, as they had no way to tell who was on the DEA's list. — Source

22

A tailor jumped to his death in 1912 trying out a homemade coat parachute. CRACKED.COM Franz Reichelt jumped off the first deck of the Eiffel Tower while test- ing his invention, after telling the authorities he would first test it with a dummy. — Source

21

The Empire Strikes Back was nearly pulled from theaters because of the placement of screen credits. GRAGKED.COM George Lucas put the credits at the end of the movie, which was rare at that time, to preserve the dramatic opening sequences. Lucas was fined $250,000. — Source

20

There is a Catholic Saint of Beer. Saint Arnold of Soissons saved the lives of many by urging them to drink beer rather than water that was spreading the plague. Boil- ing during the brewing process killed the patho- gens. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

19

Sphagnum moss was used in bandages during WWI. Since cotton was in such high demand for the manu- facture of uniforms and ex- plosives, doctors turned to moss. The moss is twice as absorbent as cotton and also antiseptic. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

18

Tommy James and the Shondells didn't play Woodstock because it was referred to as just a pig farm. James' secretary put it to him as Yeah, listen, there's this pig farmer in upstate New York that wants you to play in his field. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

17

Traditional Chinese roofs. are curved to ward off evil spirits. Buddhists believed that curves could ward off evil spirits, which only move in straight lines. The curved roof corners ensured that when an evil spirit fell from the sky, it would shoot back up into the air. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

16

North Korea was caught cheating at the International Mathematical Olympiad. North Korea was disquali- fied for cheating at the 32nd IMO in 1991 and again at the 51st IMO in 2010. It is the only coun- try to have been accused of cheating. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

15

Acclaimed musician Clive Wearing developed serious amnesia after contracting herpes. Не can't form memories longer than 30 seconds and always thinks he's just awoken from a coma. De- spite this, he can recognize his wife and can still con- duct an orchestra. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

14

Michelangelo used to burn his drawings so that people wouldn't know he had to work to achieve perfection. Michelangelo was con- stantly producing draw- ings throughout his 77-year career as an art- ist, but only about 600 of them have survived since the 16th century. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

13

A morbidly obese man ate only yeast and multivitamins for a year to lose weight. INGREDIENT DI Powd OTHER Vegetative The 456 pound man survived off his body fat, yeast, multivita- mins and potassium supplements. After this ordeal, he weighed just 180 pounds. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

12

The 1904 Baltimore fire was made worse because the fire hoses didn't fight the fire hydrants. At the time, there was no industry standard for fire fighting equipment, so the hoses that the firefighters were trying to use were not compatible with the closest hydrants. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

11

Robert Downey Jr. buried the clothes that he wore in 1987's Less Than Zero in the backyard of his house. This was a symbolic attempt to bury his decadent 1980s Brat Pack image and begin a new phase of his life and career after film- ing 'Chaplin.' CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

10

A game show in Pakistan gave away newborn babies as prizes. Amaan Ramazan, dubbed Pakistan's answer to The Price is Right, had to do something dramatic to win the rating war, so one two occasions they offered or- phaned infants as top priz- es. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

9

Big Ben in London is leaning enough to see with the naked eye. It is believed the tilt is caused by the structure slow- ly sinking into the land on which it was built. In a mere 4,000 years it will be leaning as much as the Tower of Pisa, if humanity hasn't annihilat- ed itself by then. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

8

A silent horror film from 1927 went missing because it was titled Unknown. In the archives of Cine- matheque Francaise, there were hundreds of film cans marked un- known, so for years no one knew that one of them contained the actu- al movie. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

7

The US Treasury Department provides blind US citizens a free machine to read currency. The iBill is compact enough to slip into a side pocket. It can identify all US currency. They have also developed free apps to read currency with a smartphone. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

6

A 16-year-old girl rode twice the distance of Paul Revere to warn about the British. Sybil Ludington rode 40 miles in 1777, starting at 9 pm and ending at dawn the next day, to warn American forces that the British were ар- proaching. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

5

'Firefly' has been permanently added to the International Space Station. Astronaut Steven Ray Swanson was a big fan of the show, and the 2005 movie 'Serenity,' so he brought both DVDs with him aboard the ISS in 2007. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

4

A potential victim of a serial killer survived a gunshot to the head. Serial killer Thor Chris- tiansen was only caught because his fifth would-be victim survived and recognized him months later in a bar and reported him to police. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

3

Lego used to bury its used molds in the concrete foundations of buildings to prevent them from being reused. DEL Because the accuracy of the product weight was so important, when new factories were built, the old molds were thrown on the floor and concrete was poured on top. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

2

Although they forbid hot coffee, Mormons will allow medical marijuana use with a doctor's note. The rule set called Word of Wisdom prohibits alco- hol, tobacco, illegal drugs and coffee and tea, based on what church members believe was a revelation from God to Joseph Smith in 1833. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

1

Meerkats kill more of their own kind than any other animal. The team kill average among all mammals is just 0.3%, but meerkats blow that out of the wa- ter with a staggering 20%. We wonder if this includes humans. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

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