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40 Random Bits of Trivia We Need You to Drop Into the Fires of Mount Doom

Shouldn’t take you too long, just a quick trip

40 Random Bits of Trivia We Need You to Drop Into the Fires of Mount Doom

May 27, 2024

The last guy we sent on an errand like this took a bunch of his friends, and almost lost his tidbits along the way. Can we trust you to get a done a little more efficiently?

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40

The role of Django in 'Django Unchained' was originally written for Will Smith. CRACKED COM Smith turned it down due to him feeling he wouldn't be the lead actor. Не starred in a supporting role opposite his son in 'After Earth' the following year, a film most consider to be stinky doodoo. — Source

39

The first known juvenile to be sentenced to death and executed in US was guilty of serial bestiality. OUUSS/ CRACKED.COM 16-year-old Thomas Grang- er was tried in 1642 for sodomizing a mare, a cow, two goats, divers sheepe, two calves, and a turkey. The animals were slaughtered in front of him before his hanging. — Source

38

An archaeological site with enormous stone tools was found, predating the genus Homo by 500k years. CRACKED.COM The site, Lomekwi 3, was dated to be 3.3 million years old, which is 700,000 years older than previous stone tools discovered. The hominins likely responsible were Australopithecus, an early human species. — Source

37

26 people died filming the 1931 movie, The Viking. CRACKED COM An explosion on the sealing ship SS Viking killed 25 crew members, including the pro- ducer, and one stowaway. The incident remains the largest loss of life in film his- tory. The movie was re- leased, and panned. — Source

36

J.K. Rowling stopped Robin Williams from playing Hagrid in the Harry Potter films. CRACKED.COM Williams wanted to play a role in the series, with Warner Bros. even pushing producers to cast as На- grid. It's hard to imagine the role being played by anyone but the incompara- ble Robbie Coltrane. — Source

35

Knocker-ups were hired to knock on windows and bang on doors to wake people up. CRACKED COM This profession predated the alarm clock and lasted into the 1930s. A knock- er-up would use long sticks and pea shooters to reach windows above the ground floor. — Source

34

Rage Against the Machine's Killing in the Name was the #1 Christmas single in 2009. cage against the machine GRAGKED.COM The song sold 500,000 copies, beating the 4 year run of X-factor winners, thanks to a couple from the UK starting a Facebook campaign. All proceeds went to homeless charities. — Source

33

Astronaut Wally Schirra would take pictures of his frozen pee as it floated through space. CRACKED.COM The pee-flakes looked like a beautiful starfield, he said, glinting with sunlight. One astronomer saw a photo and asked what con- stellation it was, and Schir- ra said it was the constel- lation Urion. — Source

32

Emilia Clarke got stuck to the toilet during a break in filming for Game of Thrones. CRACKED.COM Clarke, as Daenerys Tar- garyen, was covered in so much fake blood during the scene where she eats a horse heart (described as a gum- my bear that tasted like bleach) that it made her ad- here to the porcelain throne. — Source

31

A blind hoarder had been living with her son's corpse for 20 years. PREAFICO GRACKED.COM In 2016, the fully clothed skeleton of legally blind hoarder Rita Wolfensohn's son was found in a room filled with cobwebs and gar- bage. She said she thought he had simply moved out. — Source

30

A homophobic boxer died from injuries sustained during a match with a gay opponent. CRACKED.COM In 1962, a Cuban boxer named Benny Paret made fun of his opponent named Emile Griffith, for being ho- mosexual. Paret died 10 days after the fight from a 29-punch combo by Griffith. — Source

29

Adolf Hitler's nephew eventually settled in the US. GRACKED.COM After attempting to bene- fit from his uncle's rise to power in Germany, Wil- liam Patrick Hitler served in the US Navy in World War II and was awarded a Purple Heart. — Source

28

Ice Cube produced and created a 2006 game show named 'Black. White.' CRACKED.COM In it, a white family was applied black face and a black family was applied white face and they would 'trade experienc- es.' It ran for just one season. — Source

27

The Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai uses a gold plated iPad as a virtual concierge. CRACKED COM The hotel has an iMac in each of its 202 rooms, in addition to other luxury amenities such as walk-in showers and jacuzzis, large plasma TVs, and private butler service, and was built on slave labor. — Source

26

Half of Tokyo's schools require students whose hair is not naturally black to provide baby pictures as proof. CRACKED.COM Japanese high schools of- ten have strict standards of conformity regarding hair color. In 2017, a stu- dent sued her school after being forced to darken her hair with dye. — Source

25

The 1969 book Naked Came the Stranger was a literary hoax. Naked Came TL CRACKED.COM The book was written to be disjointed and terrible, but full of sex scenes, to prove that any book could succeed if enough sex was thrown in. The novel spent 13 weeks on the New York Times Best-Seller List. — Source

24

Celery was a very popular food in the 1800s through the early 1900s. CRACKED.COM It was the third most popu- lar menu ingredient in New York City restaurants, be- hind coffee and tea. The celery cost more than cavi- ar because it was so hard to cultivate in those days. — Source

23

In 1936, a rare million-dollar Stradivarius violin got stolen from virtuoso Hall Huberman. CRACKED.COM The thief, a café musician named Julian Altman, be- came famous and performed for presidents. 49 years after the theft, he confessed to the theft on his deathbed and his wife received $263,000 find- er's fee. — Source

22

In 2019, a Russian cat was used by prisoners to sneak drugs into their penal colony. CRACKED COM The cat had 6 grams of hash- ish and 1.5 grams of amphet- amine under its collar. De- fense and prosecution law- yers each wanted the cat to support their case but it es- caped before trial. — Source

21

Pringles are technically not, and cannot legally be defined as, potato chips. CRACKED.COM In 1975, the Supreme Court ruled Pringles could only use the word chip in their product name within the phrase: potato chips made from dried pota- toes. Pringles opted to just call them crisps. — Source

20

All poop generated aboard US Navy's newest aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford will be vaporized by plasma. CRACKED.COM The Plasma Arc Waste Destruction System (PAWDS) being used will treat all combusti- ble solid waste gener- ated on board the ship. — Source

19

Increased government transparency in the Soviet Union revealed that their textbooks were filled with lies. GRACKED.COM The Soviet Govern- ment canceled all fi- nal history examina- tions for elementary and high school stu- dents in 1988 — Source

18

A man in the '80s programmed his Atari computer to make thousands of calls to Jerry Falwell. CRACKED.COM The calls to Falwell's toll-free number would hang up and call again, every 30 seconds, amounting to over $500,000 in phone bills to Falwell's organization. — Source

17

Late 16th-century Puritan communities in Southern Britain saw common names as too worldly. GRACKED COM They opted to name chil- dren with bizarre strings of religious slogans, such as Jesus-Christ-came-in- to-the-world- to-save, and Job-raked-out- of-the-ashes. — Source

16

You need to have a net worth of $1.5 million to open a Taco Bell franchise. BELL Express TACO 4g TACO BELL Express CRACKED.COM In order to eat at Taco Bell, you need to have at least $25,000 in student loan debt and a grease spot on your pants that, no matter how much you try to wash, will not come out. — Source

15

Roman slaves wore iron collars with messages like a modern dog collar. CRACKED.COM One reads: I have run away; hold me. When you shall have re- turned me to my mas- ter, Zoninus, you will receive a solidus. — Source

14

Stress can cause a child to temporarily stop growing. XXXXXXXX S CRACKED.COM Psychosocial dwarfism is a condition where a child can stop growing due to an extremely stressful envi- ronment. It can cause the body to completely stop growing but it is generally temporary. — Source

13

Evidence of human-canine relationships from 26,000 years ago have been found. CRACKED COM A cave in France contains the footprints of a young child alongside the paw prints of a dog, during the Upper Paleolithic which is the last subdivision of the Old Stone Age. — Source

12

There is a Japanese rock band made up of anonymous dentists. GREEEEX CRACKED.COM The band members of Greeeen have never shown their faces in public and their identi- ties are still unknown to protect their den- tistry careers. — Source

11

American funk band Vulfpeck released a completely silent album on Spotify. ZZEL ZZZEF ZZZZPP ZZZZZIE CRACKED CON C 7 7777 Sleepify was a collection of ten, roughly 30 second long tracks of silence that the band asked fans to play on repeat as they slept. They earned $20,000 in royalties before Spotify closed the loophole. — Source

10

The term plastic surgery predates plastic. CRACKED COM Plastic surgery was coined in 1839, 70 years before plastic was even invented. It comes from the Greek word plastik which means sculpting and has nothing to do with plastic. — Source

9

Brain Aneurysms have little to no warning (headache) and are only diagnosable by CT Scan. CRACKED.COM Roughly 1 in 50 Ameri- cans have an unruptured brain aneurysm right now that could rupture at any time. So anyway, have fun trying to fall asleep to- night. — Source

8

The creator of Coca-Cola sold his stake in the company to satisfy his morphine addiction. GRAGKED.COM John Pemberton pre- dicted Coca-Cola would be a national drink, but he died penniless and the recipe remains a closely guarded trade secret even today. — Source

7

Ancient Egyptians invented several forms of early deodorant. the : CRACKED.COM This included cones made out of scented grease that was worn on top of the head. As the grease melt- ed, it ran in cooling, fra- grant trails down the per- son's face and body. — Source

6

The Air Force flies their С-17s in a large V formation similar to geese. GRAGKED.COM If an airplane is positioned in the right spot, the up- draft from the vortex will help keep the airplane aloft. By doing so, the Air Force saves more than 10% of fuel, or millions of dol- lars. — Source

5

Steven Spielberg has the sole film rights to all of MLK's speeches, which he bought in 2009. CRACKED.COM In the movie Selma, Ava DuVernay wrote speeches that were plausible, but differ- ent enough to avoid a copyright battle. — Source

4

The Model T debuted in 1909 for $825. Ford TAXI BM-18 AP CRACKED.COM Thanks to increasing production efficiency, its price lowered nu- merous times, bottom- ing out at $260 - the equivalent of around $3600 today. — Source

3

The FDA is not authorized to review dietary supplements for safety and effectiveness before they are marketed. CELLUCOR ALPHA CELLUCOR AME AMINO C4 I C4 PERFORMANCE BCAAs DRATION RECOVERY 10g CASA Os FRUIT PUNCH SPORT ECAPOR SUPFLE MENT - 30 SUGAR G4 SERVINGS REEWORKOUT METERMELONE - ANA 30 THE ORIGINAL CRACKED.COM DIET. ABY SUPPLEMENT PRE-WORKOUT The vast majority of the people that you see in ads selling workout sup- plements don't actually take them and are high dosing on anabolic ste- roids. — Source

2

The planet Mercury has a tail, like a comet. CRACKED.COM Mercury's thin atmo- sphere contains small amounts of so- dium that glow when excited by light from the Sun. — Source

1

The term Slapstick Comedy comes from the two pieces of wood that made a slapping sound. CRACKED.COM Commedia Dell'arte in 16th-century Italy used a slapstick consisting of two thin slats of wood, which made a slap when striking another actor, with little force needed to make a loud and comical sound. — Source

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