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These facts could ward off evil spirits. You never know

31 Random Bits of Trivia to Rattle Off to Your Sleep Paralysis Demon to Break That Awkward Silence

May 20, 2024

We used to be just like you. We woke up at 3 a.m. each morning with a sleep-paralysis demon sitting on our chest, looking down at our frightened faces. Like we do in pretty much every other situation, we started reciting some incredibly interesting facts. We got a little discouraged when it liked them enough to stay longer, but we stuck to our guns and it finally left to go find some facts of its own.

This, like these facts, is one of many helpful nuggets we’ll gift you today.

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31

WHAT'S UP WITH SCIENCE? CRACKED.COM Stars outside our galaxy are bigger than we thought A new study shows we underestimated how large stars outside the Milky Way are. Stars in distant galaxies tend to be more massive than closer ones, and, the farther away, the larger the average stars may be. — Source

30

WHAT'S UP WITH SCIENCE? CRACKED.COM The first Australians ate giant birds' huge eggs Using protein from a prehistoric eggshell, scientists confirmed that people 50,000 years ago ate the 3-pound eggs of the 500-pound flightless Thunderbird, perhaps leading to their extinction. — Source

29

Big Ben's bell was cracked barely two months after its inauguration. After the crack in 1859, the bell has rung with a unique resonance. The bell has since been ori- ented in such a way that the hammer doesn't strike the 'crack.' CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

28

A German architect wanted to dam the Mediterranean to make a supercontinent. Herman Sörgel devoted his whole life to promoting the idea of draining the sea and connecting Europe with Af- rica, a landmass called At- lantropa. Не thought it could provide shelter, em- ployment and food. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

27

The largest population of tigers in the world is in the USA. With an estimated 5,000 tigers, the U.S. captive tiger popula- tion exceeds the ар- proximately 3,200 ti- gers in the wild. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

26

King Cambyses II of Persia used cats to invade Egypt. Knowing that cats held a high place in Egyptian soci- ety, the king brought hun- dreds of cats into his front lines. As a result, Egyptian archers refused to fire on his felines, fearing that they would injure the animals. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

25

Ethiopia adopted Christianity as its state religion before Rome did. The Ethiopian empire was one of the first in the world to officially adopt Christianity as the state religion in 324. It took Rome a few decades to catch up, in 380. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

24

Pinball was illegal for 30 years in many major US cities because políticians thought it must have been a mob-run scam. - PLAYERS - AIR AL YY BALL PLPS AP W adidas WORLD - СОКИСТ SF-14 GRACKED.COM Politicians thought that pinball was a game based on chance. The ban ended when a master pinball player was called in front of a committee to demonstrate his skill. — Source

23

Former U.S. President Calvin Coolidge enjoyed playing tricks on hís bodyguards. CRACKED.COM Coolidge would buzz his bodyguards and then hide under his desk as they frantically searched for him. — Source

22

The venom of the Brazilian wandering spider can cause an erection that lasts for more than 4 hours. CRACKED.COM Erections resulting from the bite are uncomfortable, can last for many hours and can lead to impotence. Priapism is generally treated by jabbing a large needle in the penis and draining the blood. — Source

21

The word Testify comes from the same root as Testicles. CRACKED COM Before the practice of swearing on a holy book became commonplace, witnesses would literally swear on their testicles that they weren't perjuring themselves. — Source

20

The surname Stuart was created by Mary Stewart, Queen of Scots. CRACKED COM Since the French tend to pronounce W like v, she adopted the spelling to ensure that the French said her name correctly. — Source

19

A Googolplex is such a large number that it has more zeros than all the hydrogen particles in the known universe. GRACKED COM If you were to write the number out on books with 400 pages, 50 lines per page and 50 zeros per line, the mass of the books would be greater than the total mass of all the stars in the observable universe. — Source

18

In 1977, William Kampiles stole a spy satellite manual from the CIA which he sold to the Russians for.$3000. CRACKED.COM Не then told the CIA who he worked for and what he had done in the hopes that they would hire him as a double agent. They didn't and he was sentenced to 40 years in prison. — Source

17

The term robot means servant. FUTURIUM CRACKED.COM Originally coming from an Old Church Slavonic word, robota, the word's meaning was forced labor or servitude. If AI ever becomes sentient, let's all agree to not tell them about this. — Source

16

Leonardo Da Vinci took 12 years to paint just the lips of the Mona Lisa. CRACKED COM Da Vinci first began the Mona Lisa painting in 1503. Не carried it wherever he went and worked on it constantly, and it took him over 12 years just to paint the smirk of Mona Lisa's mouth. — Source

15

16th-century Belgians built porn snowmen. The Miracle of 1511 was a huge winter festival held in Brussels, when lots of elaborate snow figures were made - more than half of them of a sexual or scatological nature. People were mad (at the government and the harsh winter), and the snow things gave them an outlet to vent. CRACKED.COM — Source

14

CRACKED.COM There's a collector's market for royal underwear. Queen undies are a hotter commodity than the underwear of living celebrities. Pairs of Queen Victoria's bloomers have sold for over $15,000, and Queen Elizabeth I's (dirty) panties fetched $18,000 on eBay in 2012. — Source

13

CRACKED.COM Six men survived 9/11 thanks to a squeegee. All six were stuck in an elevator after the plane struck - among them veteran window washer Jan Demczur. Demczur used his squeegee to jimmy the door open and then cut through the brittle plasterboard wall. They managed to get out of the building minutes before it collapsed. — Source

12

Oneida flatware was created by a sex cult. The Oneida Community started as an agrarian utopia in the 1800s, before switching to metallurgic industrialism and creating the fancy silverware still sold today. Their success was their downfall, as the government started to look closely into their free-loving, commie ways. CRACKED.COM — Source

11

CRACKED.COM The first flying saucers weren't flying saucers. Pilot Kenneth Arnold, the first person who reported seeing UFOs, said they were flying like a saucer if you skip it across the water. Не was very annoyed when he was misreported as saying they were saucer-shaped - an image that was then cemented by hoaxes. — Source

10

Mindfulness can help with your depression- or make it worse. While meditation can be helpful, it's far from the safe, easy cure-all that it's often claimed to be. Researchers at Coventry University found that in one out of 12 people, meditation and mindfulness can worsen (or even outright cause) depression and anxiety. CRACKED.COM — Source

9

CRACKED.COM The movie Mission to Mars was based on a Disneyland ride. Before Pirates of the Caribbean, Brian De Palma's Mission to Mars was loosely based on the Tomorrowland ride of the same name. The connection was downplayed in the marketing, though, and it's unclear whether De Palma himself was aware of it. — Source

8

Someone calculated just how fast the Doom guy is. Redditor u/Phytor has done the math on this long-debated issue. Не concluded that Mr. Doom Man weighs 1,204 lbs, and still manages to walk at a speed of 49.5 miles per hour. That's faster than Usain Bolt (on a motorbike). CRACKED.COM — Source

7

CRACKED.COM A treatment for alcoholism involves poisoning the patient. Disulfiram was the first drug approved by the FDA to treat alcohol dependence. It's never the first option, though, as its effect is as simple as it is devious: it makes alcohol poisonous. (Or rather, it interferes with the body's ability to make it not poisonous). — Source

6

CRACKED.COM British clowns use eggs as a makeup registry. Over 250 ceramic eggs are housed in the London's Clown Gallery-Museum, each painted with the signature look of a particular clown as a form of copyright protection. The gallery- museum is housed inside a church, because clowns are apparently trying to be creepy. — Source

5

CRACKED.COM NEW cc Conservatism played a big part in the failure of New Coke. desmark The backlash against the new recipe was particularly strong amongst Southern conservatives, who saw it as a new aggression from those damn Yankees. A University of Mississippi professor called it an intrusion on tradition that Southerners won't like, regardless of how it tastes. — Source

4

CRACKED.COM George Washington was actually the 15th U.S. president. Before Washington, 14 people held the office of President of the Continental Congress between 1774 and 1788, when the Constitution created a new executive branch. Those guys aren't officially counted, mostly because it was a largely ceremonial position with no real power. — Source

3

CRACKED.COM Rick & Morty's Council of Ricks is based on The Fantastic Four. A body composed of versions from different realities of a genius scientist? Reed Richards did it first. The Interdimensional Council of Reeds was founded by three Fantastic Men who finagled themselves an Infinity Gauntlet. — Source

2

A Springfield, IL officially honored Cobra Commander. As Springfield was hosting a big G.I. Joe convention in 2015, the event was celebrated by handing the keys to the city to the show's villain. It kinda checks out, Considering Illinois' long history of government corruption. CRACKED.COM — Source

1

CRACKED.COM 12:01 PM was Groundhog Day before Groundhog Day. The 1990 short film starring Kurtwood Smith doesn't just have the same premise as the Bill Murray movie, but a lot of the elements and plot beats are the same. The writer and the director reportedly tried to sue the makers of Groundhog Day, but ultimately gave up. — Source

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