5 Actors Who Auditioned For (And Didn’t Get) Famous Sitcom Roles

5 Real ‘Transformers’ Robots With Worryingly Specific Jobs

40 Random Bits of Pop-Culture Trivia We Had to Scoop Out of This Tauntaun Before We Could Turn In for the Night

‘Severance’s Second Season Has Too Many Ideas and Not Enough Follow-Through

Lucy Liu Is Proud That She Called Out Bill Murray On Set Years Before Anyone Else Dared

29 Random Bits of Trivia to Feed Your Brain Worm

A brain worm is a big responsibility

29 Random Bits of Trivia to Feed Your Brain Worm

May 13, 2024

A brain worm needs more than recreational drugs and conspiracy theories to survive. Make sure to feed yours plenty of facts!

Click right here to get the best of Cracked sent to your inbox.

29

Bare Bosoms

During the 17th century, women's fashions with exposed breasts were common in society. CRACKED.COM Queens to common prostitutes particiapt- ed, and it emulated by all classes. An exposed ankle however was considered to be more risqué. — Source

28

The world's oldest university still in operation was created 1,160 years ago. GRACKED.COM The University of Al Quar- aouiyine in Morocco, founded by Muslim woman Fatima al-Fihri in 859 A.D., and became one of the leading spiritual and edu- cational centers of the Is- lamic Golden Age. — Source

27

Escape Rooms

In January 2019, 5 teenagers died after a fire in an escape room in Poland. CRACKED.COM Poland's interior minister then ordered fire safety in- spections at more than 1,000 escape room loca- tions across the country, which previously did not officially require them. — Source

26

70% of elite distance running races have been won by Kenyans. MOROCCO ©TDK Selmoun I - 1 15 и ФТРК it KONY FOR Kipsin FOR Scinsk Chepko ETNORIA 16 STOK Bekele 4 F GRACKED.COM Specifically, Ken- yans from the Kalenjin communi- ty, who make up just 0.06% of the world's population. — Source

25

Dairy farmers in San Francisco sued to get almond milk relabelled as Nut Juice. CRACKED.COM The Federal District Court dismissed the suit, in 2013, as No reasonable consumer would mistake a product like soy milk or almond milk with dairy milk from a cow. — Source

24

The Icelandic city of Reykjavik had a ban on keeping dogs as pets for decades. CRACKED.COM In the 1880s, 20% percent of autopsies performed in Iceland revealed echino- coccosis, a type of tape- worm that can be passed from dogs to humans, causing blindness and se- vere complications. — Source

23

22

Pet allergies are not caused by the animal's fur. CRACKED.COM Pet allergies are caused by an allergic reaction to the animal's saliva. The allergens come from sali- va, urine, and dander, which then attach to the fur. — Source

21

The term log book comes from determining the speed of a ship. GRAGKED.COM A log was put into water tied to a rope and they measured knots to see how far they traveled. A person who timed this procedure would then write down the ship's speed in a book. — Source

20

An earthquake profoundly shook the belief in a merciful God and the power of the church across Europe. CRACKED.COM In 1755, a massive earth- quake hit Lisbon, Portugal on a major Catholic holi- day, destroying the city's churches while sparing its brothels. Tens of thou- sands of worshipers were killed. — Source

19

The longest Cricket Test match was played over 12 days. CRACKED.COM The game was between England and South Africa in Durban in 1939. It was eventually abandoned, otherwise, the England team would have missed the boat back home. — Source

18

A law was passed that required psychiatrists and psychologists to dress up as wizards in court proceedings. CRACKED.COM The 'Expert Wizard Amendment' in New Mexi- со (1995) was revealed to be satire before the vote, yet passed the New Mexico Senate unanimously. It was not signed into law. — Source

17

Pennsylvania is spelled 'Pensylvania' on the Liberty Bell. PHOTADA BY ORDER OF AND Pass AND Stom للدر CAD to CCIPIT GRACKED.COM This spelling was one of several acceptable spell- ings of the name at that time. The spelling also ар- pears on the US Constitu- tion, as well as the double N version we are used to. — Source

16

Having standard showtimes for films was not common until 1960. CRACKED.COM Previously most films would just play on a loop, and people could enter at any time. Hitchcock's Psy- cho required that people watch from the beginning to the end and made show- times more standard. — Source

15

The creators of Spam sued Jim Henson Productions for using the name Spa'am. CRACKED.COM The judge dismissed the suit for failure to prove damages from the pig character in Muppet Treasure Island, noting, one might think Hormel would welcome the association with a genuine source of pork. — Source

14

The Olympic games used to include gold medals in categories such as sculpturing and statistics. GRAGKED.COM The founder of mod- ern Olympics himself, Pierre de Coubertin, won the gold medal in literature at the 1912 summer Olympics. — Source

13

In 1905, 19 people died playing football, ten of which were aged 17 or younger. 16 10 CRACKED COM People, including President Teddy Roosevelt, called for changes in rules. They sought to remove slapping, nose pulling and biting, but critics thought it would make the players soft. — Source

12

Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln gave a speech so enthralling that reporters stopped taking notes and now we don't know what he said. CRACKED.COM His Lost Speech was giv- en at the Bloomington Convention on May 29, 1856, in Bloomington, Illi- nois. It is believed to have been an impassioned con- demnation of slavery. — Source

11

Nascar

The first African American to win a Nascar race was snubbed in 1963. - MOTORG CRACKED COM Though being two laps ahead of the other cars, Wendell Scott was ignored because the winner was to kiss a white beauty queen. Не was awarded the tro- phy in 2010, 20 years after his death. — Source

10

Punchcards were invented to solve the problem of the 1890 US Census. PRO.039 (21) - Y . u(1) FORTRAN STATEMENT ICATION STATEMEN GRAGKED.COM It took 8 years to process the data of the 1880 census, so Herman Hollerith invent- ed punch cards for tabula- tion, ushering in the era of data storage, databases, and supercomputers. — Source

9

The Ravenmaster

There is a full-time position at the Tower of London called the Ravenmaster. MICHAEL PAI,IN HOVE La BELLA FIGURA EREBUS BY - - MOSS I A PARKS CRACKED.COM This person is the care- taker for the flocks of Ra- vens that inhabit the grounds there. They let the birds out at first light, clean their cages, feed them, and put them to bed at night. — Source

8

Killer bees were an experiment gone wrong. CRACKED.COM Biologist Warwick Е. Kerr accidentally created the deadly variant by cross- breeding European and Af- rican honeybees to make a hybrid that would produce more honey in tropical conditions. — Source

7

There is a violent Nitrous oxide (laughing gas) Mafia that travels to music festivals. GRACKED.COM The Mafia carries nitrous tanks through concert sites, selling balloons for $5 to $10, which are then huffed. They can bank more than $300,000 per festival, minus expenses. — Source

6

Strongman Jon Pall Sigmarsson died of a heart attack in 1993 while deadlifting. CRACKED.COM Sigmarsson once shouted there is no reason to be alive if you can't deadlift when he won a deadlift contest with a world re- cord lift of 523 kg (1153 lbs). — Source

5

Alexander Graham Bell offered to sell his telephone patent to Western Union for $100,000 in 1876. CRACKED.COM The committee ар- pointed to investigate the offer concluded the telephone was hardly more than a toy and inherently of no use to us. — Source

4

Richard Harris was so drunk through the 1970s that he forgot he owned a Rolls-Royce. CRACKED.COM It sat in a New York garage for 25 years before he found an old photo of him- self with it and his accoun- tant confirmed it was still there running up $90k in garage storage costs. — Source

3

A few drops of dimethylmercury killed a professor of chemistry at Dartmouth College in 1997. GRACKED.COM Karen Wetterhahn died 10 months after a few drops landed on her protective gloves. Although she had been following the required procedures, the material permeated the gloves and her skin within seconds. — Source

2

Thor: The Dark World

Chris Hemsworth's wife stood in for Natalie Portman in Thor: The Dark World. CRACKED.COM When asked to choose from a lineup of women to take Portman's place after she couldn't make the final kiss reshoot, Hemsworth instead brought in his wife, who wore Natalie's clothes and wig. — Source

1

Sharks track their prey with their ability to smell in stereo. CRACKED.COM They can detect the tiny delays in the time it takes for a scent to reach one nostril compared to the other and use it to deter- mine the direction from where the scent is coming. — Source

Tags:

Visual

Scroll down for the next article

Must Read

Trivia & Jokes

40 Random Bits of Trivia We Rescued From the Trivia Shelter

Movies & TV

Original ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’ Comedian Passes Away

Science & History

38 God-Awful Design Flaws in Everyday Products That Prove Their Creators Skipped That Pesky Focus-Group Stage

Trivia & Jokes

30 Bad Jokes That Actually Made People Laugh

Trivia & Jokes

40 Random Bits of Trivia to Nourish Your Insatiable Hunger for Factoids

Movies & TV

Seth Meyers Took World's Longest Elevator Ride With Robert De Niro

VIRAL ON CRACKED

1

25 Random Bits of Trivia to Pack Into Your Bindle Before You Run Away From Home

2

'Elite' Squads In Movies That Suck At Their Job

3

Saturday Night Live: Bob Odenkirk On That 'Insane' Time Steven Segal Hosted

4

30 Double Standards That Nobody Wants To Admit To

5

An Oral History of the ‘Beetlejuice’ Cartoon: How Tim Burton’s Ghost with the Most Made It to the Small Screen