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40 Random Bits of Trivia to Launch Over Your Brain Battlements With a Trebuchet

You’re gonna learn these facts the easy way or the hard way

40 Random Bits of Trivia to Launch Over Your Brain Battlements With a Trebuchet

June 08, 2024

The trebuchet is an extremely efficient means of launching a payload over a vast distance. It’d be a shame if someone were to hurl 40 trivia tidbits into your brain with one.

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40

A torture chamber in 1984 was based on a BBC conference room. CRACKED.COM George Orwell named Room 101 in his novel after a conference room at the BBC head- quarters where he had to sit through numer- ous tedious meetings. — Source

39

Unwed women couldn't get a credit card up until 1974. po BNL CLASSIC GRUPPO BNP PARIBAS 3 5000 1399 1922 coPa 60 VALID MasterCard THRU ١٤/١ AEEA B VISA CRACKED.COM Banks could refuse to issue a credit card to a woman unless her husband co-signed for the card. A di- vorced woman was consid- ered too much of a risk be- cause she couldn't keep a marriage under control. — Source

38

Robin Williams made an audience member laugh so hard that they were taken away in an ambulance. CRACKED.COM When Robin Williams ар- peared on 'Inside the Actors Studio' in 2001, one mem- ber of the audience devel- oped a hernia from laughing so hard and was taken to a hospital after the show. — Source

37

Conservation efforts to save the California condor resulted in the extinction of the condor louse. CRACKED.COM The California condor louse exclusively parasitiz- es the California condor. During efforts to save the condor from extinction, it became extinct itself due to all condors being de- loused. — Source

36

Marilyn Monroe would have been the first mainstream star to go topless in a Hollywood picture if her last movie was finished. CRACKED.COM Something's Got to Give was shot in 1962. It was Monroe's last work, but from the beginning its production was disrupted by her personal troubles, and after her death the film was abandoned. — Source

35

Uranus and Neptune belong to a separate category of giant planets called Ice Giants. CRACKED.COM This is because less than 20% of their mass is made up of hydrogen and helium. True gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn are over 90% hydrogen and helium. — Source

34

John Tyler is the only US President to not be officially mourned in Washington DC. CRACKED.COM During the Civil War, for- mer President John Tyler became a Confederate and was elected to serve in the Confederate congress. Не was not mourned officially due to his being a Confed- erate supporter. — Source

33

The 'XXX' on alcohol bottles in cartoons denotes how many times it was distilled. CRACKED.COM Moonshine alcohol jugs are typically marked with 'XXX' in cartoons because it needs to be distilled 3 times to reach nearly 100% pure alcohol. Each 'X' sig- nifies a distillation. — Source

32

Helena Bonham Carter accidentally ruptured Neville Longbottom's eardrum. CRACKED.COM While filming Harry Pot- ter and the Order of the Phoenix, she accidental- ly perforated Matthew Lewis' eardrum when she stuck her wand into his ear canal. — Source

31

A kidnapped girl received the reward money for rescuing herself. CRACKED.COM 13-year-old Jayme Lynn Closs was abducted and held captive for 88 days un- til she escaped in 2019. Hor- mel, the parent company of the store where her parents worked, issued Hayme the $25,000 reward money. — Source

30

Ethiopia banned the export of teff in 2006, fearing food shortages. CRACKED.COM The staple crop of Ethiopia is a superfood, like quinoa. The export was banned when quinoa prices skyrock- eted in Bolivia, thanks to trends in western countries that increased demand. — Source

29

A German man was cured of HIV after a bone marrow transplant. CRACKED.COM Timothy Ray Brown received the transplant from a donor whose gene mutation made him immune to HIV, which is speculated to be the result of natural selection during diseases similar to smallpox or Black Death. — Source

28

Charles Vance Millar, a rich Canadian financier, made his will one giant practical joke. CRACKED.COM In it, he left three men who hated one another a joint lifetime tenancy in a villa, some protestant ministers $700,000 in Catholic beer stock, and anti-horse rac- ing advocates $25,000 in a Jockey club. — Source

27

Only 20% of the corn grown in the US is meant for human consumption. CRACKED.COM About 40% of the corn grown in the USA is used for ethanol to add to fuel, and an- other 40% is used for livestock feed. — Source

26

Anyone with a smartphone can change the colors on a 20 story light spire in Stockholm. CRACKED.COM Installed in 2006, the cre- ators of the rainbow-col- ored installation hope that the work can stand as a statement on the power of democracy and the power of the public. — Source

25

There is a society in the UK called the Royal Bastards, and Queen Elízabeth II has been invited to join. CRACKED.COM Membership is open to in- dividuals who prove de- scent from an illegitimate child or grandchild of a king of England, Scotland, Wales, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom. — Source

24

Nicolas Cage has already bought his grave-a 9-foot pyramid in New Orleans. CRACKED.COM There is no name on the pyramid yet, but it is em- blazoned with the Latin maxim, Omnia Ab Uno, which translates to Every- thing From One, and it's covered in lipstick prints from fans. — Source

23

The Battle of the Words happened during World War I. CRACKED.COM With their trenches only 150 feet apart, Belgian and Ger- man soldiers threw insults at each other all day and night. It became so annoying that the Belgian commander for- bade his men from talking to the Germans. — Source

22

A female tennis player has been recorded grunting about as loud as a lion's roar. CRACKED.COM Maria Sharapova's on-court grunt has been recorded at a volume of 101 decibels. That's louder than a motorcy- cle, a lawnmower, and a small aircraft. — Source

21

There is a bird that looks like Pikachu. CRACKED.COM The male Cream Colored Woodpecker has the same coloration as the cartoon character Pikachu, from the Pokémon series, including the red cheeks. These birds are found in South America. — Source

20

Russians used a biplane during WWII that was purposefully slow. 28 The Polikarpov Po - 2, used on the Eastern Front, was so slow that its maximum speed was the stall speed of Ger- man planes, making it hard to target. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

19

Platypuses and Echidna do not have stomachs. Its gullet connects di- rectly to its intestines. There's no sac in the middle that secrete powerful acids and di- gestive enzymes. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

18

Hickam's dictum is a counterargument to Occam's razor in the medical profession. LORD While Occam's razor sug- gests a doctor should as- sume the simplest solution - а single cause for multi- ple symptoms, Hickam's dictum states: A patient can have as many diseases as he damn well pleases. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

17

The last surviving witness to the Crimean war was a turtle. Timothy the tortoise served as a mascot on HMS Queen during the bombardment of Sevas- topol in 1854. She (yes, Timothy was a girl) died in 2004, at age 160. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

16

70% of millionaires do not consider themselves wealthy. $5 million is the level at which most rich people feel they have no con- straints on activities, ac- cording to a survey of 4,500 affluent investors by UBS. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

15

Losing one's sense of smell strongly predicts death within five years. The loss of sense of smell predicts death more accu- rately than a diagnosis of cancer, heart failure or lung disease, the only oth- er common cause of pre- dicting it more accurately being severe liver damage. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

14

Recycling aluminum cans uses 95% less energy than to produce the same amount from raw material. This is because recycled materials have already been refined and pro- cessed once and manufac- turing the second time is much cleaner and less en- ergy-intensive than the first. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

13

The term Easter Eggs for a hidden reference in film and TV originated from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The cast of the film had some fun on set by having their own Easter Egg hunt, and then ended up miss- ing a few of the eggs. Some of these eggs made it into the movie, creating the term. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

12

Elizabeth Taylor had a mutation that gave her double eyelashes. The rare disorder is known medically as distichiasis, and eye specialists refer to it as an accessory row of eyelashes. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

11

There is an mp3 player made specifically for prison inmates. All components are housed in clear casing and built with no moving parts. It even has an app (JPay's music store) that shows songs purchased most by inmates in their prison. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

10

A Danish biopharmaceutical company placed an embargo on the sale of its own product. Lundbeck Inc. stopped sell- ing pentobarbital to US pris- ons because of its moral stance on lethal injection. It announced a tightly con- trolled distribution system ensuring deliveries to hospi- tals and treatment centers. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

9

A lodge built for King Francois I was so large that the Loire river was diverted to make room for it. Chateau de Chambord was built as a hunting lodge, and so the King could be closer to his mistress. Itcontains 440 rooms, 84 staircases, and 365 fireplaces. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

8

Liv Tyler didn't know her father was Steven Tyler until she was 8-years-old. Liv Tyler believed her biolog- ical father was rock musician Todd Rundgren. It wasn't un- til she met Steven and no- ticed the resemblance be- tween her and his other daughter Mia, that Liv's mother revealed the truth. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

7

The Heaven's Gate cult had rules against even thinking about sex. It got so bad that its found- er, Marshall Applewhite, along with seven other members opted to get cas- trated. They were only able to find a surgeon in Mexico who was okay with per- forming the surgery. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

6

Australia is the fastest moving continental landmass in the world. The Australian plate is colliding into the fastest moving tectonic plate, the Pacific plate to Aus- tralia's north and east, that causes earth- quakes. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

5

Las Vegas used to host atomic bomb parties. The chamber of commerce advertised atomic bomb det- onation times and the best spots for watching them. Са- sinos offered special atomic cocktails and women com- peted for the Miss Atomic Energy crown at the Sands. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

4

Ford once created a vehicle made out of plant materials. Ford's 1941 biological car was made of soybean, wheat, hemp, flax and ra- mie fibers in a soy-based phenolic resin that weighed 1,000 pounds less than a steel car. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

3

Nintendo sold more Switch consoles in its first year than Wii U consoles in its entire lifetime. N SINTENDO SWITCH NINTENDO SWITCH In late 2017, the Nintendo Switch was the fastest sell- ing console in US history, and in November 2018 it was the fastest selling of all the 8th generation con- soles in the US. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

2

A 7'7 Irishman wanted to be buried at sea to stop grave robbers in the 1700s. Charles Byrne had his fears realized when his corpse was stolen and dissected. His skeleton is still on dis- play in the Hunterian Mu- seum in the Royal College of Surgeons. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

1

Flatworms engage in penis fencing. While mating, hermaphro- ditic species of flatworms battle violently to decide which of the two will be the father. The winner stabs his penis into the los- er to inseminate it. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

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