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35 Random Bits of Trivia We Have to Offload From Our Brains to Make Space for More Important Information

We’ve got a couple more pallets of facts to dump out before we can wheel these in

35 Random Bits of Trivia We Have to Offload From Our Brains to Make Space for More Important Information

May 26, 2024

Look here, you overzealous little facts. We want to take you in. Honestly. We just need some time to purge this rusty pile of old facts first. You’ll get your chance to shine any moment now. We know you’ll wow us. Maybe just take a seat in the waiting room, peruse a People magazine and we’ll be right with you.

You know what? Since it’s a list, why don’t you take a number?!

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35

In 1994, an abandoned village became accessible for the first time in 50 years. The village of Fabbriche di Careggine in Italy was flooded in 1946 so a dam could be built. The water was drained in 1994 so that maintenance on the dam could be performed, and one million tourists flocked to the ruins. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

34

Bill Withers got into music when he found out how much Lou Rawls was making. Не heard a nightclub manager complaining that Rawls was late even though he was getting paid $2,000 a week - and when Rawls eventually showed up to the club, he got a ton of attention from women. Soon, Withers bought a cheap guitar and started writing songs. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

33

We've only been cultivating blueberries for about 100 years. In 1911, botanist Frank Coville figured out that blueberries need highly acidic soil, which made it possible to start cultivating them. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

32

In the '70s, as part of the Apollo program, NASA was going to build a moon base for six people. The project was only cancelled because Nixon saw the Apollo program as a leftover from JFK's and LBJ's administrations, and stopped supporting it. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

31

Black Panther's London sequence is full of blue (for a reason). The image is tinted blue, and nearly everyone is wearing it - because, according to the filmmakers, it represents colonization. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

30

Laura looking at the casino mannequins is a surprisingly important shot in Logan. It's the first time she looks at someone's hands holding another's, which is one of the movie's main motifs - and it represents the parent-child bond she's desperately looking for. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

29

Billy Zabka got into martial arts because of The Karate Kid. Не didn't know any martial arts going into the movie, and he kept training karate for five years with Pat Johnson, its martial arts choreographer, after filming wrapped up. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

28

You might have seen some of Independence Day's sets in other movies. Independence Day Crimson Tide They used the submarine interior from Crimson Tide and the stealth bomber interior from Broken Arrow. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

27

Joe Keery originally wasn't supposed to play Steve in Stranger Things. Не auditioned for Jonathan, along with everybody across the country, but they ended up giving him Steve. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

26

When Lenin spoke English, he had an Irish accent. Specifically, he had a Rathmines accent (Rathmines is a Dublin suburb). Apparently, when Lenin was in London and was trying to learn English, he must have had an Irish tutor. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

25

College student Katy Ayers made a mushroom canoe, and she paddles it in rural Nebraska. The canoe is made out of mycelium - the root-like, underground part of the mushroom. Ayers did this to raise awareness about the many uses of mushrooms. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

24

Beethoven used exactly 60 beans in his cup of coffee. This was so important to him, he would often count every bean when he made coffee. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

23

The oldest known joke is about farts. It's a 3,900-year-old Sumerian joke that goes Something which has never occurred since time immemorial - a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

22

If one kidney is x removed, the other one will start growing. It does that to pick up the slack from the removed kidney, which enables the affected person to lead a normal life. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

21

There is one recorded case of men on horseback capturing a naval fleet. In the Battle of Texel in January 1795, a fleet of 14 Dutch ships was trapped in ice near Texel Island. The French heard of that and sent infantry, cavalry, and horse artillery forces to capture them. Apparently, there was no fighting - after a five-day standoff, the ships surrendered. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

20

The first-ever EDM record to go platinum was the Mortal Kombat soundtrack. 27% The filmmakers absolutely insisted on EDM, and got booted from two record companies for it -- but it paid off. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

19

Muppets started the trend of post-credits scenes. 1979's The Muppets Movie kickstarted the trend in the '80s, which Ferris Bueller's Day Off was a part of -- and Ferris inspired the post-credits scenes in the MCU. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

18

As a young man, Samuel L. Jackson had to run from Atlanta for his life. In 1969, he was buying guns because he was sure there'd be a revolution, and somebody from the FBI came to his mom and told her to get him out of Atlanta so he doesn't get killed. So he flew to Los Angeles where his aunt lived. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

17

The Mandalorian literally couldn't have been made without fans. The crew ran out of Stormtrooper costumes for a Season 1 scene, so they got in touch with the local members of the 501st legion, a group of fans who wear and make super-accurate Stormtrooper costumes. The legionnaires showed up, in their own suits, and played the remaining Stormtroopers. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

16

Matthew Perry got Julia Roberts to guest-star in Friends by writing a paper on quantum physics. Perry asked her to come on the show, and she said she'd do it only if he wrote her a paper on quantum physics. Apparently, a day later, he wrote one and faxed it to her. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

15

Germany lost WWII partly because Hitler slept in late. His underlings were told not to wake him up no matter what, and he slept until 11 or noon on D-Day. And even after he got up, he was sure the D-Day assault was just a diversion, so he didn't send any reinforcements - it took a while to change his mind on that. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

14

Madame Tussaud made death masks for people executed in the French Revolution. The death masks were made using heads cut by the guillotine - and, to make things much worse, they were often her friends (she used to be the king's sister's art tutor). NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

13

Beer

Ancient Egyptians revered beer. They drank it daily and at religious rituals, and gave it divine status. The goddess Hathor was called, among other things, The Lady of Drunkenness. Even laborers, including those who built the pyramids, got a ration of over 10 pints of beer a day. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

12

The Great Wall of China is partly made of rice. The builders added sticky rice to the mortar, which made the Wall more stable and helped protect it against earthquakes and exposure to the elements. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

11

The UK dumped about 1.17 million tons of weapons in a deep sea trench. The sea above Beaufort Dyke They kept dumping both conventional and chemical weapons from the '20s to the '70s into Beaufort Dyke, which has caused underwater explosions over the years. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

10

The City of Calgary uses goats to fight weeds. They began using goats in 2016 and just kept going -- in 2020, there were three different goat herds operating in the city, according to Calgary Parks. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

9

There is a rare mental disease called the Rapunzel Syndrome. The disorder causes a patient to develop an irresistible urge to pull out their own hair, and sometimes eat it. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

8

British politician John Stonehouse faked his death in November 1974, leaving a pile of clothes on a beach in Miami. It was presumed he had gone swimming and drowned. But Stonehouse was actually en route to Australia to set up a new life with his mistress and secretary, Sheila Buckley. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

7

Keira Knightley's name is an accidental misspelling. Keira was meant to be named Kira, after the Russian ice skater, Kira Ivanova, but her mother misspelled the name when she went to register her. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

6

NASA planned to have a manned mission to Mars in 1981 or 1983. NASA If funding had remained at 1969 Apollo mission levels, NASA planned to develop such elements as a lunar orbit station in 1978, and a lunar surface base in 1980. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

5

Stingrays

Only one to two fatal stingray attacks are reported each year worldwide. When Steve Irwin was killed in a stingray at- tack in 2006, he was only the second re- ported fatality in Aus- tralia since 1945. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

4

The FDA

The Poison Squad helped spur the creation of the FDA. From 1902-1907, a group of 12 scientists regularly ate dangerous, common food additives that had previ- ously been untested, such as formaldehyde, and doc- umented how they reacted to them. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

3

Babies in Spain get their original sin removed by having people jump over them. The annual holiday El Cola- cho (Baby Jumping) in Spain features men dressed as dev- ils jumping over babies lying on mattresses. Pope Bene- dict XVI asked Spanish priests to distance them- selves from the holiday. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

2

In January 2018, Belgium and the Netherlands swapped land to change their national borders. Grote Polder via Zoeterwoude-Rijndijk KMWS Belgium's foreign minister noted that the agreement shows that borders can also be ex- changed peacefully. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

1

People with Misophonia are triggered by common sounds such as chewing and loud breathing Reactions range from dis- comfort to sharp anger to physical violence. There's no cure, but if one is diag- nosed there are coping mechanisms that can im- prove one's quality of life. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

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