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Sweet, sweet facts

33 Random Bits of Trivia to Dump Into the Candy Salad

July 16, 2024

A list of facts is so much like a candy salad that we should just start calling them candy salads. Each of these facts is a sweet little ingredient that does its part in one big, tasty mix.

Actually, we might have to tweak that name to “Brain Candy Salad,” or you might start chomping at your screen.

33

NASA astronaut Alan Shepard golfed on the moon half a century ago. Не did that on live TV, during the Apollo 14 landing in 1971. Не took two shots - one travelled 2 yards, and the other about 40 yards. CRACKED.COM — Source

32

By tradition, if you're baptised on a navy ship, that's done in the ship's bell. AUSTRIA ROR 1836 The tradition started in the British Navy (though it's not clear when), and it kept going in the American and Australian navies. CRACKED.COM — Source

31

South Florida's building code requires that exterior doors swing outward. That type of door allows people inside to leave a building more quickly, and the new code was adopted after Hurricane Andrew in 1992. CRACKED.COM — Source

30

Around 1,000 people were saved thanks to a wounded man aboard a ship in WWII. After Major Francis Harvey on the HMS Lion got wounded in battle, he kept a fire from detonating nearby explosives, which saved the whole ship from blowing up. CRACKED.COM — Source

29

They got a double for Willem Dafoe's penis in Antichrist, because it was too big. Director Lars von Trier said Dafoe's junk was so big that people got confused when they saw it, so they got another guy to stand in for Dafoe. CRACKED.COM — Source

28

There's a US state highway that doesn't allow any motor vehicles at all. Mackinac Island It's an 8-mile stretch on Mackinac Island - when they shot the Christopher Reeve film Somewhere in Time there, they had to get permission for vehicles. CRACKED.COM — Source

27

In the mid-90s, Quentin Tarantino rewrote what turned out to be one of SNL's worst movies. Hers His It's Pat was a comedy based on an SNL sketch about a character whose gender was uncertain - and they got Tarantino, of all people, to rewrite the script. CRACKED.COM — Source

26

Online pizza delivery was inspired by the 1995 Sandra Bullock movie The Net. The inspiration for the very first online delivery service, CyberSlice, came from the scene were Bullock's character orders a pizza online. CRACKED.COM — Source

25

The okapi is an animal that likes its privacy, preferring to live a solitary life within a large secluded area. They mark their territory with a sticky tar-like substance coming from their hooves. And urine, of course. CRACKED.COM — Source

24

Stool pigeon comes from a method of hunting passenger pigeons where a decoy pigeon was tied to a stool. Want to know if it was effective? You can ask a passenger pigeon yourself. Or you could, if they weren't extinct. CRACKED.COM — Source

23

Rabies is easily prevented with a vaccine that can be administered before or shortly after exposure. However, once symptoms appear, it's basically a death sentence. Less than 20 people have survived rabies. Ever. CRACKED.COM — Source

22

The late singer Selena was a huge fan of famously fancy jeweled eggs known as Faberge Eggs. She collected over 500 of the stunning spheroid shapes, which are on display at the Selena museum. CRACKED.COM — Source

21

Smallpox is considered the only human disease to have ever been entirely eradicated. This was thanks to the invention of the smallpox vaccine, the first ever vaccine. Pretty good for a first try. CRACKED.COM — Source

20

When you're as large and as tasty to predators as wildebeest are, you better be born ready to haul ass. Which is why it's good that they're one of the few animals able to walk immediately after being born. CRACKED.COM — Source

19

Between 20 and 40 men are believed to have died during the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. Many died from what we now know as the bends after leaving pressurized areas allowing underwater work. CRACKED.COM — Source

18

When they shot Bela Lugosi's Dracula, they shot a Spanish version too. The Spanish one was shot at night, when the sets were free, with the same script but a different cast. Today, that version is considered better. CRACKED.COM — Source

17

Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell had a cameo in Ron Howard's movie Apollo 13. ITECANA HAISE P D يداد POLEO not APOLEO Не was the captain of the ship that recovers the astronauts, and he wore his own captain's uniform (the rank he had when he retired) in the movie. CRACKED.COM — Source

16

One of Hook's most iconic scenes was a total surprise to some of the actors involved. When Peter Pan (Robin Williams) passes his sword to Thud Butt, nobody except Williams and Steven Spielberg knew Thud would get it. CRACKED.COM — Source

15

There's a deleted Hoth scene with wampas in The Empire Strikes Back. In the scene, wampas attack the Rebels' Echo Base before the Empire even shows up, and one wampa breaks through and gets inside the base. CRACKED.COM — Source

14

The bottom of the Mariana Trench is the deepest location on earth, at 36,201 feet underwater. You could stack 24 empire state buildings on top of each other, and the uppermost spire still wouldn't reach air. CRACKED.COM — Source

13

If you were a drummer in the 1920s who needed a job, you might end up at the movie theater. Drummers were hired to provide sound effects for silent movies... at least until their jazz quartet made it. CRACKED.COM — Source

12

Hoover Blankets

In the Great Depression, newspapers used by the homeless for warmth were called Hoover Blankets. It wasn't the only jab at the President, including calling empty, turned-out pockets Hoover flags. CRACKED.COM — Source

11

Lettuce

You may know lettuce as short bundles of salad-to-be, but it can actually grow to over 3 feet tall. Called bolting, lettuce cán sprout tall stalks with yellow flowers. However, this makes the leaves inedible. CRACKED.COM — Source

10

Kidneys

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

9

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

8

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

7

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

6

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

5

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

4

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

3

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

2

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

1

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

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