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39 Random Facts to Rhythmically Sock Into Your Skull Like Mike Tyson Working a Speed Bag

May 18, 2024

This isn’t going to be fun. But if you want to be the best, you have to train with the best. Open up your skull and let us punch your brain… with facts!

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39

Most organisms on the planet were wiped out due to too much oxygen. CRACKED COM Around 2.5 billion years ago, the Oxygen catastro- phe occurred, where the first microbes producing oxygen using photosynthe- sis created more free оху- gen than most life was ac- customed to. — Source

38

Antarctica used to be called Australia until modern-day Australia stole its name in 1824. CRACKED.COM Before this, Australia was called New Hol- land. This left the con- tinent nameless for 65 years, until its current name was adopted in the 1890s. — Source

37

Albert Einstein wasn't interested in accepting his Nobel Prize. CRACKED.COM Не never received a Nobel Prize for relativity, and he did not attend his prize giving for services to theoretical physics. Не chose to contin- ue with a lecture tour of Ja- pan because he simply no longer valued it. — Source

36

Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five was inspired by his time serving in WWII. CRACKED.COM After being captured by Germans during the Battle of the Bulge, he was a POW in Dresden and sur- vived the bombing of the city by hiding in a meat locker in a slaughterhouse where he was imprisoned. — Source

35

The US military tried to segregate pubs in England during WWII, but it backfired. - O 340 white 1 loss THE ALEX LE GRAGKED.COM Bamber Bridge hosted American servicemen, and when the white officers de- manded one pub be desig- nated for black service- men, the locals made all the town's pub for Black soldiers only in protest. — Source

34

A Civil War General spied on the opposing side by cross dressing. CRACKED COM Brigadier General Na- thaniel Lyon successful- ly spied on a Confeder- ate camp dressed as a woman, complete with a bonnet and veil to hide his facial hair. — Source

33

There was a bomb designed to blast helicopter landing pads in thick forests. CRACKED.COM The Daisy Cutter was a bomb specifically designed to cre- ate landing pads in Vietnam. The blast would level a 300+ feet circle while leaving the ground itself relatively unaf- fected. — Source

32

Brian DePalma undid the edits he made on Scarface hoping no one would notice. CRACKED.COM After making edits and ар- pealing to the MPAA for an R rating, director Brian De- Palma felt that the cuts he made were so minor no one would notice if he put them back in, so he did. — Source

31

A judge named Keith Cutler was summoned to be a juror on a case he was presiding over. CRACKED.COM When he applied to be ex- cused from jury service he was initially declined and was told to write to the resident judge, to which he replied: I am the resident judge. — Source

30

South Korea maintains an analog TV broadcast near the North Korean border. CRACKED COM Despite having completed the transition to digital broadcast (ATSC) in 2012, South Korea still uses the analog broadcast for North Koreans watching South Korean TV in secret. — Source

29

Anonymous sent thousands of all-black faxes to the Church of Scientology to deplete their ink cartridges. Fax California Cupalamico - Millia - ........ - - - - SAMSUNG - - - Modo Rai Risoluzione Contriente - Ink let SF-100 Far evoluto Repperto ANC DE AUS 1 2 3 Ricenca/Volume Fax Inkjet من ANO CRACKED COM 4 5 6 ancella Anonymous has a long his- tory of messing with the Church, including creating a Google bomb so that a search for dangerous cult would yield the main Scientology site at the top of the results page. — Source

28

The Texas City Disaster

A discarded cigarette caused one of the largest non-nuclear explosions ever. GRAGKED.COM The Texas City disaster of 1947 is generally considered to be the worst industrial acci- dent in U.S. history and resulted in nearly 600 fatalities. — Source

27

A cannabis shroud was discovered in a 2,400-year-old tomb. CRACKED.COM Discovered in 2016, this was the first incidence of a cannabis burial shroud. The tomb also contained 13 complete cannabis plants, suggesting that it was locally grown along the Silk Road. — Source

26

On Valentine's day in Japan, women give their male coworkers chocolate. CRACKED.COM Unpopular coworkers receive cheap gi- ri-choko (ultra-oblig- atory chocolate) while others receive honmei-choko (true feeling chocolate). — Source

25

With 8% interest, the amount supposedly paid to the Native Americans for Manhattan could buy it back today. CRACKED COM If the Native Americans real- ly did sell Manhattan to the Europeans for $16 in the 1600s, today it would be worth enough for them to buy back all of Manhattan and still have $222 Trillion dollars left over. — Source

24

The name 'Cleopatra' was popular for female royalty in Egypt. CRACKED.COM There are seven princesses with the name that sat on the throne. The last among them, Cleopatra VII, is the most famous, thanks to her romantic dalliances with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. — Source

23

Bill Gates' first business was 'Traf-O-Data! CRACKED.COM This was a company that created ma- chines that recorded the number of cars passing a given point on a road. — Source

22

Toyota only made 2 convertible 2000GTs. 200GT CRACKED.COM They were specially made for use in a James Bond movie because Sean Con- nery was too tall to fit in the standard model. — Source

21

In 1949, French director Willy Rozier challenged a critic to a duel over comments he had made. CRACKED.COM Rozier won the duel (fought with rapiers, to first blood) in front of jour- nalists and photographers. The film was a hit - and footage of the duel is in- cluded on the film's DVD. — Source

20

A con man convinced people that he was the last POW from World War 1, Oskar Daubmann. CRACKED.COM The parents of the real Oskar Daubmann ac- cepted the impostor as their son, despite his different eye color and lack of known fa- cial scar. — Source

19

Dogs

Domestic dogs are one of only a few species that can understand pointing. Other animals, includ- ing wolves and other primates, don't under- stand how it works and will only be inter- ested in your out- stretched finger. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

18

On April Fools Day 1965, the BBC aired an interview with the inventor of SmelloVision. The man claimed he was a London University profes- sor and cut onions and brewed coffee to prove he could transmit scents through the screen. View- ers called and confirmed that they had received the CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

17

There are giant, living tubes in the oceans that can grow to the length of a sperm whale. The worm-like structures, called pyrosomes, are col- onies of individual crea- tures that have banded to- gether for a common pur- pose. They are also biolu- minescent and will glow when touched. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

16

A Hungarian soldier never slept again after being shot in the head during WWI. Paul Kern survived the shot that took out his frontal lobe, but when he awoke in the hospital, he never slept again. Kern lived for another 30 years afterwards. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

15

Jackie Chan doesn't really like the Rush Hour films he made. Chan said he found the ac- tion to be too American- ized and he did not under- stand the humor. Не re- turned for a sequel after being offered an irresist- ible amount of money. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

14

There are only three sitcoms where each of the main cast has won an Emmy. The Golden Girls, All in the Family, and Will and Grace are the only sitcoms where every performer in the main cast won at least one Emmy. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

13

From 1978 to 1982, Space Invaders grossed $13 billion, adjusted for inflation. t This made it the best-selling video game and highest-grossing entertainment product at the time, and the highest-grossing video game of all time. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

12

Melatonin levels secreted in breast milk vary depending on the time of day. This helps the baby know when to sleep/wake up and thus regulate its sleep cycle. Babies who are fed formula have a harder time regulating their sleep cycle and are more prone to col- ic. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

11

Eratosthenes of Cyrene used a step-counter to calculate the circumference of the Earth in 240 ВСЕ. Ancient people measured long distances by hiring bematists. They were trained to count steps while walking between lo- cations and could measure hundreds of miles with more than 95% accuracy. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

10

Bees

Two tablespoons of honey would be enough to fuel a bee's entire flight around the world. On average, a honeybee pro- duces 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey over the course of its life. Bees have been making honey since they split from wasps after the first flower- ing plants appeared 130 mil- lion years ago. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

9

The town of Shitterton, England, had to change their town sign thanks to thieves. SHITTERTON The town chipped in to have the sign changed to a 1.5 ton boulder to stop peo- ple from repeatedly stealing it every two or three years. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

8

Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't tough enough for the German dub ofTerminator. Schwarzenegger wasn't al- lowed to voice himself be- cause the producers thought that his Austrian accent wasn't tough enough for the Terminator. He's never dubbed himself in all of his movies since. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

7

After 'Assassin's Creed' flopped at the box office, the 'Mega Man' and 'Sims' movies were scrapped. Disney canceled the vast majority of films under de- velopment after their ac- quisition of 21st Century Fox, including a previously announced 'Magic: The Gathering' film. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

6

10-20% of Americans are infected with a parasite that can cause sexual attraction to cat urine. The brain parasite, from our beloved/tolerated pet cats, makes us 2.5 times more likely to get in a car accident, change personal- ity traits, and it contrib- utes to schizophrenia. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

5

The Spontaneous Human Combustion cases of the 18th to 20th centuries were just drunk people near candles. A two-year forensic investi- gation in 1984 looked into the alleged incidents and found the burned bodies were near fire sources like fireplaces, and a correlation was found between them and the victim's intoxication. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

4

New Mexico is the only state to have the letters 'USA' written on their license plates. STOP Many Americans don't know New Mexico is part of the United States of America, so the plates have to spell it out by saying New Mexico USA. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

3

Richard Halliburton paid just 36 cents to cross the Panama Canal in 1928, because he swam it. Не disappeared at sea while attempting to sail a Chinese sailing ship across the Pacific Ocean from Hong Kong to the Golden Gate International Exposi- tion in San Francisco, Cali- fornia. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

2

An Ohio judge created a unique punishment known as the Holbrook Holiday. Instead of a standard jail term, he takes a holiday away from the criminal for the next several years by making them report to jail for the day. Otherwise known as working retail. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

1

The Rock's first acting role was on 'That 70's Show' playing his father, Rocky Johnson. Dwayne Johnson even ref- erenced himself, as Rocky, by mentioning a son that he predicted would be the most electrifying man in sports entertainment. Af- ter his fanny pack phase, of course. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

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