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30 Random Bits of Trivia That’ll Give Your Brain a Wedgie

Aw, are these facts too tough to handle, nerds?

30 Random Bits of Trivia That’ll Give Your Brain a Wedgie

May 27, 2024

It’s a factual jungle out there, kiddo. So you better take a deep breath before you open your front door and head out into this world. Leave any myths and misconceptions on that little shelf in the foyer, because there ain’t no room for that kind of nonsense out here. Out here, things get a little too real.

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30

6-foot, 220-pound giant penguins once lived in New Zealand 2 1.8 metres 1.72 metres 1.2 metres 1 Metres Anthropornis Human Emperor ملصحة Depouis They are believed to have existed around 55 to 59 million years ago. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

29

Viking funerals used to include board games Playing pieces were found in over 36 burial boats across 12 counntries. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

28

Queen Elizabeth II worked as a mechanic during World War II 6086 Then-Princess Elizabeth served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service in 1945. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

27

The first fast-food chain in the U.S. was White Castle The Castle the 51 White Castle 5 Jeweler HAMBURGERS ml It opened in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

26

Schitt's Creek's Annie Murphy had $3 in her bank account when she landed the role After two years of not getting any roles and her apartment burning down, Murphy had decided to quit acting only two days before receiving the call that she had gotten the role. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

25

Zach Galifianakis had a two-week trial run as a writer on Saturday Night Live Tina Fey comforted him after one of his sketches bombed during a table read. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

24

Halle Berry was named after a department store. Halle Brothers Co. was based in her hometown of Cleveland, он. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

23

Jellyfish aren't fish, they're invertebrates. They don't have brains, hearts, blood, or lungs. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

22

Dinosaurs had shorter days than we do. The Earth turnned faster than it does now, making a day 23.5 hours 70 million years ago. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

21

Octopuses are cuddly when given ecstasy Octopuses are normally antisocial to each other, but on the drug, they hugged each other. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

20

Saddam Hussein wrote a romance novel Zabiba and the King is an allegory for the US invasion of Iraq. The CIA studied it to see if it could offer insight on the dictator. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

19

Students use to give teachers apples because their salaries were so low In early United States, frontier families were responsible for feeding and housing their children's teacher. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

18

Max Greenfield had a Saturday Night Live-themed bar mitzvah The New Girl star even had a Blues Brothers cake. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

17

For Parks and Rec, NBC contracted the game designers behind Settlers of Catan to create Cones of Dunshire Although originally a throwaway joke, Mayfair Games eventually created a fully playable version. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

16

Duolingo users help the service make money by translating real documents. Duolingo has contracts with websites like CNN's to translate stories and is earning hundreds of thousands of dollars a year with this business model. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

15

A US baseball team in the 1910s was made up of death row prisoners. The Wyoming State Peni- tentiary's All Stars had an agreement with their pris- on's baseball-obsessed warden that if they kept winning, their executions would be delayed. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

14

Henry Winkler's parents escaped Nazi Germany on the last day Jews were allowed to leave. Since they were given only a six-week visa, Henry's fa- ther hid his mother's jewel- ry inside pieces of choco- late to covertly take as much wealth with them as they could without being detected by the Nazis. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

13

Tetrachromatic Super Vision may help some women see 100 million colors. Some women can have a genetic mutation that causes them to gain a 4th color-vision cone in their eyes, allowing them to see millions of more colors. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

12

In 1906, a man named Joe Munch in Seattle was sentenced to one minute in jail for drunkenness and disorder. The original sentence was 30 days, but after an appeal and 6 months of litigation, it was shortened to one minute. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

11

Actor Clark Gable fought in World War 2 and was almost killed. When word of this reached MGM, studio executives began to badger the Army Air Forces to reassign him to non combat duty. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

10

Gene Roddenberry was once in a plane crash in the desert in Syria. With two broken ribs, he repeatedly went back into the burning plane to evacuate passengers, then organized search teams to look for civili- zation. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

9

Victor Hugo wrote the Hunchback of Notre-Dame to inform people of the value of Gothic architecture. Much of it was being ne- glected and destroyed at the time. This explains the large descriptive sec- tions of the book, which far exceed the require- ments of the story. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

8

Kevin Feige was hired on to the first X-Men film as an assistant. Feige was eventually given an associate producer credit when another producer dis- covered he was a walking encyclopedia of Marvel. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

7

Submarine Escape Immersion Equipment acts as a one-man life raft. If a submarine is downed and there is no submarine rescue vehi- cle nearby, the crew put on special pressur- ized suits which float them to the top. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

6

A man who worked for Queen Elizabeth in the 1600s went into self-imposed exile after he farted in front of her. Cuz DaughRo ofRouces ler in GomeShi and died 2/H & of Junest CRACKED.COM Edward de Vere left England for 7 years. When he return,ed, the Queen greeted him by saying My Lord, I had forgotten the Fart. — Source

5

Russian cosmonauts urinate on the right rear wheel of the transfer bus before liftoff. CRACKED COM The ritual began in 1961 because the spacesuits didn't have a fly. Female cosmonauts are ex- cused, but some dash a cup of their own urine in solidarity. — Source

4

U.S. Congress brings up Hitler 7.7 times per month. CRACKED.COM Republicans bring up the dictator more than their colleagues, by a ratio of about 57-42 percent. Hitler mentions reached a peak in October 2003, with 93 mentions of both parties combined. — Source

3

One of the first advocates for human rights was a 16th-century Spanish priest. GRAGKED.COM Bartolomé de las Casas, af- ter witnessing the atroci- ties of the Spanish against the indigenous peoples, came to oppose their abuses. Не would go on to spend 50 years actively fighting slavery. — Source

2

An American socialist ran for president while in prison in 1920. CRACKED.COM In 1918, Eugene Debs was sentenced to 10 years in prison for criticizing the government's p,articipation in World War 1. Не managed to get 3.4% of the popular vote while behind bars. — Source

1

A French man impersonated an American family's lost son for 3 and a half months. GRACKED.COM Frédéric Bourdin imper- sonated American Nicho- las Barclay from San An- tonio, Texas, who disap- peared in 1994 at age 13. Bourdin was caught and deported back to France. — Source

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