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Facts typed by human hands

27 All-Natural, A.I.-Free, Algorithm-Proof Bits of Trivia for an Analog World

June 07, 2024

As advanced as technology gets, it’s comforting to know that facts will always be facts. Real things are happening all the time, and their truths need to be told. If anything, technological advancements are yet another thing to find facts about. We’ll just have to wait and see if they’ll be found and typed by humans in their fun, quirky, human way.

Golly, we hope so. Because finding these facts was a hoot!

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27

Peter the Great punished state officials with vodka. If an official showed up late to one of his assemblies (AKA royal parties), he had to drink a whole Great Eagle Cup, or 50 oz. of vodka, all at once. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

26

Mars Attacks is secretly Christmas-themed. PROP DAY The skeletons are bright green or bright red because the movie was scheduled to be released for Christmas. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

25

Spock

Spock was originally supposed to have red skin. But TV sets at the time were still black-and-white, so Spock would have looked black on screen. So, thankfully, Gene Roddenberry dropped the idea. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

24

School baths were intended as a way to educate parents. Authorities in the early 20th century hoped that, if they taught kids to regularly bathe and clean themselves, they'd pass on those habits to their parents. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

23

Air Conditioning

Air conditioning was invented as a way to keep printing plants going. In 1902, a printing company asked the Buffalo Forge Company to figure out a way to keep heat and humidity in the plant stable, so that the printing paper wouldn't keep getting warped. The result of that was the first air-conditioning system. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

22

In September 2020, science discovered a new human organ. It's a set of salivary glands in the upper region of the throat. It was accidentally discovered during a prostate cancer study that used a scanning technique that happens to be very, very good at detecting salivary glands. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

21

Maple Syrup

In 2017, a Canadian man got 8 years in prison and a fine of 9.4M CAD (over 7M USD) for a maple syrup heist. Richard Vallières stole 3,000 tons of maple syrup from a warehouse. The theft was discovered in a routine check in 2012, when a maple syrup barrel turned out to be empty. After an investigation, 26 people were arrested. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

20

The Social Network

Natalie Portman consulted on The Social Network. When she heard David Fincher was doing the movie, Portman (who went to Harvard from 1999 to 2003) called him over for dinner. She told him about how final clubs worked and how prestigious they were for underclassmen -- which made its way into the movie, as it starts with Zuck talking about how much he wants to join one. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

19

The USSR had an all-female airplane squadron in WWII -- the Night Witches. Their job was bombing enemy convoys, troops, and ammo dumps. They got their name because they'd set their engines on idle and glide towards their target - so, from the ground, they sounded like they were whooshing by on broomsticks. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

18

Llamas have something called berserk male x syndrome. Male llamas who have had many bad interactions with humans get so enraged when they see a human, they'll run across a field just to attack one. They scream, snarl, and attempt to knock the human off their feet. It's pretty hard for even two or three people to restrain a berserk llama. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

17

El Mariachi

When making El Mariachi, Robert Rodriguez was too cheap to buy a can of black paint. His budget was so tight, he didn't paint the guitar case that had the weapons black (the color it was supposed to be). For shots of its exterior, he just used the Mariachi's case, which was black. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

16

The Mayo Clinic started out as an emergency hospital. A tornado devastated Rochester, MN, in 1883, and the town established an emergency hospital for the wounded. It was staffed by local doctors, including William Worrall (W.W.) Mayo and his sons William and Charles. Six years later, a permanent hospital was built, and it was commonly called the Mayo Clinic. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

15

The average silverback gorilla is four to nine times stronger than a human. Silverbacks can deadlift 1800 pounds. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

14

There's a fungus that lives inside cicadas and feeds them vital nutrients. The fungus cordyceps synthesizes nutrients, including essential vitamins, that the cicada can't get from its diet - without it, the cicada would die. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

13

Thomas Selfridge was the first person to die in a plane crash Orville Wright was the pilot of the 1908 crash. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

12

Terrible weather hit the UK, New Zealand, and Romania when Umbrella topped their charts This became known as the Rihanna curse. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

11

Jock Jams was created because the songs were easy to license. JOCK JAMS VOLUME The songs were chosen based on qhat audiences for Knicks and Rangers NHL games were responding to. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

10

Apparently, all astronauts tried to move around the ISS propelled by their farts. Astronaut Chris Hadfield said that everyone tried to do it, but it didn't work - - too muffled, not the right type of propulsive nozzle :) NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

9

In-N-Out Burger

In-N-Out managers make $160,000 per year IN-N-OUT BURGER Of all large fast food chains, In-N-Out is believed to have the best wages and benefits. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

8

The Statue of Liberty is actually walking forward, breaking free of shackles. You can only see it from above, but her right foot is stepping off the ground, and there's a broken chain around her feet and beneath her robes. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

7

Whether chicken meat is white or dark depends on the amount of iron it has. Dark meat is the meat of muscle that's rich in iron - and the iron is held in myoglobin, which is the actual source of the muscle's dark color. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

6

Dinosaur fossils don't have to be bones - sometimes, you get the whole dino. In at least one case, a dinosaur - a nodosaur -was preserved with its bones, armor, and skin, looking like an animal that died pretty recently. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

5

Medieval Armor

Medieval plate armor was actually surprisingly comfortable on the inside. It wasn't just bare metal - it was lined with cloth, both for comfort and to reduce wear and tear, and that significantly contributed to its cost. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

4

The US government tried to introduce camels into the Wild West. The idea was that the hardy animals would help explore the frontier, but it didn't work, and fugitive camels ended up roaming the West for years. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

3

Apparently, noble women in Ancient Egypt weren't given to embalmers right away. Their families waited a few days, so that embalmers wouldn't get horny and try anything - all according to the ancient historian Herodotus. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

2

The Middle Ages

Contrary to popular wisdom, witch burning wasn't really a thing in the Middle Ages. It only got going after the Middle Ages ended, and really kicked off around 1500. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

1

Pink Floyd's name comes from two American blues musicians. Syd Barrett had records by Pink Anderson & Floyd Council in his collection. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

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