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34 Random Bits of Trivia You Can Take to Show-and-Tell

There’s no way that you’ll be able to keep these facts to yourself

34 Random Bits of Trivia You Can Take to Show-and-Tell

July 15, 2024

This list of facts is like a game of Hot Potato. Once you take it in, you’ll want to pass it on as quickly as possible. You can do so via text, social media or a crumpled-up printout you hurl out of the room. Whatever the case may be, just make sure it leaves your person immediately.

34

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

33

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

32

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

31

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

30

New York City has a total of 41 buildings that have their own ZIP code. One of them is the Empire State Building, with the ZIP code 10118. Most of the buildings are in midtown, but there are some in the Financial District. CRACKED.COM — Source

29

The deadliest recorded blizzard, from 1972, wiped about 200 villages off the map. It ripped through Iran and Azerbaijan, and it killed about 4,000 people in Iran alone. Amazingly, it left up to 26 feet of snow in its wake. CRACKED.COM — Source

28

Some places have very specific rules about taking your spouse's surname. For example, in Quebec, women aren't allowed to take their husband's surnames. And in Greece, any married person has to petition for a name change. CRACKED.COM — Source

27

We've found out that some plants produce noise when they're stressed. They're ultrasonic clicks that humans can't hear, and plants begin making them if they're being harmed .. say, if they're suffering drought or being attacked. CRACKED.COM — Source

26

Beauty and the Beast

The original 'Beauty and the Beast' was meant to help girls accept arranged marriages. CRACKED.COM It was written in 1740 to encourage girls into forced marriages, for an alliance that required ef- facing their own desires and submitting to the will of a monster. — Source

25

Like the rings of a tree, a narwhal's tusk tells us about how it lived. CRACKED.COM Each year, layers of the tusk are added, and they offer insight into the whale's age, the level of pollution it lived in, tem- perature levels, and what its diet consisted of. — Source

24

Nearly 1 billion metric tons of food is wasted on the planet every year. CRACKED.COM The majority of wasted food (61%) comes from homes, while restaurants and other food services produce 26% of wasted food. Grocery stores make up just 13% of food waste. — Source

23

Kyle Chandler binge-watched 30 movies for Godzilla: King of the Monsters. To prepare for his role, he performed the near-superhuman feat of watching every single Godzilla movie ever made (covering a span of 65 years), over just two days. CRACKED.COM — Source

22

If you hide in a lake, a swarm of wasps will wait for you to re-emerge. If you're attacked by wasps, don't try to take shelter in a lake. They also are not fooled by playing dead. CRACKED.COM — Source

21

Bruce Forsyth was a Neopet TM The bow-tied British game host was one of the original Neopet options. His character eventually evolved into a penguin, still with a bow tie. CRACKED.COM — Source

20

Wood frogs can hold their pee for up to eight months Wood frogs have microbes in their guts that recycle urea, allowing them to avoid peeing all winter. CRACKED.COM — Source

19

A janitor pitched the idea of Flamin' Hot Cheetos to Frit-Lay. CRACKED.COM Richard Montañez had the idea to add chili powder to the cheesy treat, and has since risen up the ranks to serve as a PepsiCo executive. The movie Flamin' Hot about these events is cur- rently in post production. — Source

18

It was against Brigham Young University for students to grow a beard until 2015. CRACKED COM Exceptions at the Mor- mon flagship school were given to students with medical conditions, actors who need a beard for a role, or for reli- gious reasons. — Source

17

The Netherlands sends poets to a funeral if the deceased has no one else. - CRACKED.COM The country implemented the ritual of 'lonely funer- al poems,' where poets research the deceased and write a poem in their honor to recite at the fu- neral. — Source

16

The first roller coaster was created to distract the public from debauchery. GRACKED COM In 1884, disgusted with the uprising of hedonistic amusements like saloons and brothels, LaMarcus Adna Thompson invented the Switchback Gravity Railway at Coney Island. — Source

15

About half a century ago, a dog in England found the football World Cup. It got stolen before the tournament and, about a week later, got found wrapped in newspaper on the ground when a guy was walking his dog. CRACKED.COM — Source

14

The original ending for Pretty Woman was really, really dark and depressing. It was supposed to end with Julia Roberts' character being thrown out of a car in a dirty alley, with money thrown on top of her, before the car drove off. CRACKED.COM — Source

13

Donkeys in the wild sometimes dig wells that are known as ass holes. These ass holes are useful for other animals - they can provide water for dozens of other species, and can be the only source of water in some areas. CRACKED.COM — Source

12

The first customer complaint is from Babylon, and it's about 4,000 years old. Complaint about delivery al of the wrong grade of copper g About 1750 BC (Old Babylonian period). from Ur ME 131236 It's a cuneiform tablet from 1750 ВС, and it tells the complaint of a man who bought copper ingots that were supposed to be higher quality. CRACKED.COM — Source

11

Water you drink may be older than the Sun According to astrophysicists, half of all water on Earth may be millions of years older than the solar system. CRACKED.COM — Source

10

The Civil War changed the way people pluralized The United States. Prior to the American Civil War, most citizens of the United States referred to their country in the plural (The United States are wealthy, The United States have a large popula- tion). CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

9

Many people thought Mitch Hedberg's death announcement was an April Fools' joke. Comedian Mitch Hedberg was found dead in a hotel room in Livingston, New Jersey on March 30, 2005, by multiple drug toxicity. His death was announced two days later, on April 1st. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

8

NASA sent two spiders into space in the 1970's. It took the spiders a cou- ple days to figure it out, but they eventually end- ed up making webs that were finer and more com- plex than their earth counterparts. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

7

The element 'Cobalt' gets its name from the German 'kobold' which means 'goblin!' Miners found cobalt veins near their silver, and blamed this strange and dangerous metal on goblins, and thus named it after them. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

6

Rita Hayworth's face was painted on atomic bombs that were tested in the '40s, because she was a bombshell. When she found out she flew into a rage and want- ed to hold a press confer- ence announcing her con- demnation, but Harry Cohn, the president of Co- lumbia Pictures, told her it would be unpatriotic. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

5

In 2014, researchers said Facebook will lose 80% of their users by 2017. ebook Facebook reported nearly 1.2 billion monthly active users in 2014. Right now, 1.9 billion daily users ac- cess Facebook's plat- form, a 6.89% increase year-over-year. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

4

Steven Spielberg promised Tom Sizemore a role in Saving Private Ryan as long as he never failed a drug test while shooting. If he failed once, even on the last day, Spiel- berg promised to kick him out of the movie and reshoot all of his scenes with a new ас- tor. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

3

2

Mozart's sister was also a child prodigy. Maria Anna Mozart was considered one of the finest pianists in Europe until outshone by her younger brother. What were their parents feed- ing these kids? CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

1

A Little Brain Donation For You

Camels now live in Australia as an invasive species. There are records of ab- original people first seeing them; one man, Andy Tji- lari, recalled following the camels with his family, concluding that this horse is ignorant. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

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