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35 Random Bits of Trivia We Mined From the Dark Side of the Moon

The moon seems far, but we’d go to the edge of the known universe for these facts!

35 Random Bits of Trivia We Mined From the Dark Side of the Moon

July 29, 2024 Add Cracked to Google

We just got back from the dark side of the moon, and you wouldn’t believe what’s back there! Yes, there was a treasure trove of facts. So many facts that we’ll definitely have to go back for more. But more importantly, all of those conspiracy theories are true! We’re talking alien structures, another CIA headquarters…

Uh oh. Some men in suits just got off the elevator and are looking this way. Gotta go!

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35

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe would have been the first mainstream star to go topless in a Hollywood picture if her last movie was finished. GRAGKED.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

34

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

33

Robin Williams

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

32

Women and Credit Cards

Unwed women couldn't get a credit card up until 1974. po BNL CLASSIC GRUPPO BNP PARIBAS 1922 ١٩٩٩ 5000 icoPo 60 VALID THRU MasterCard ٥٤/١ ДЕДА 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

31

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

30

Token suckers would steal subway tokens in an amazingly filthy way. We don't know how desperate you need to be to press your lips against New York subway turnstiles and suck the tokens out - but we're guessing very. The practice was so common, the Transit Authority would spray mace (or sprinkle chili powder) on token slots. CRACKED.COM — Source

29

CRACKED.COM A few mussels keep a Polish city unpoisoned. The water treatment plant in Poznañ, Poland employs eight experts to test the water for dangerous contaminants - these experts being mussels. When the mollusks taste something funny in the water, they slam their shells shut, triggering sensors that shut off the water supply. — Source

28

CRACKED.COM Home Depot was at first full of empty boxes. When Home Depot opened in 1979, vendors weren't willing to give goods on consignment to this unproven company. Vendors did, however, accept to give them lots of empty boxes - which Home Depot stacked on their shelves to lure in customers with all that stuff they had. — Source

27

Cyclops were probably prehistoric elephants The huge hole at the center of Deinotherium giganteum's skull accommodated a trunk - but ancient Greeks who found the bone heads didn't know that. It's speculated that imaginative Greeks thought that the big nose hole was an eye socket, and ran with that. CRACKED.COM — Source

26

CRACKED.COM Alcohol was used to prevent premature births. In the 1960s, obstetrician Fritz Fuchs thought of using research made (on rabbits) by his wife Anna-Riitta Olsson, and started administering alcohol to halt premature labor. The treatment was used for many years - sometimes in the not-too-scientific way of a vodka-and-orange juice cocktail. — Source

25

Scientists are trying to give sperm cells motors. Researchers have concocted a method to (theoretically, for now) boost lame swimmers that struggle to make it to the egg - turbocharging them. A tiny metal helix is wrapped around the sperm's tail, and then a magnetic field propels the spermbot forward. CRACKED.COM — Source

24

Casper

CRACKED.COM Casper's success was the result of censorship. Horror comics were really hardcore in the 1950s - until moral panic struck, and all those ghouls and guts were declared a no-no. It's most likely not a coincidence that harmless, baby-looking ghosts became big around that time, with Casper (and a bunch of knock-offs) rushing in to fill the paranormal void. — Source

23

CRACKED.COM Marvel published a Dazzler/ Galactus romance. For a while in the '80s, Marvel tried to jam disco-themed Dazzler into a bunch of comics - including a What If? story where she becomes Galactus' herald, and they fall in love. The Big G (as she calls him) spares a planet of sentient plants at one point, because Dazzler has touched his heart. — Source

22

CRACKED.COM Lara Croft's creator fought against Lara's oversexualization. Even after giving Lara huge boobs (by accident, allegedly), designer Toby Gard was unwilling to turn her into a sex object. Не has gone on record saying that he and the other devs refused a request by higher-ups to get Lara nude. — Source

21

Betamax

Betamax failed because Sony said no to porn. While not the only reason, Sony's refusal to allow their Betamax tapes to be used for adult movies was a big reason why they lost out to VHS. By the time the 1980s - - - rolled around, erotic films accounted for - - more than half of video tape sales. 009.70 THIS SIDE FACES FORMARD 30SN ЭНӀ HONOL 10N 00 200 de opini CRACKED.COM VIDEOCASSETTE L-500 — Source

20

Many Victorians were against saying Merry Christmas. To Victorians, the word merry entailed all manner of drunken debauchery. So the pious (and the stuffy) decided that wishing others a Happy Christmas was more Christ-like. The two greetings co-existed until the 1840s. CRACKED.COM — Source

19

Bill Watterson turned down Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Watterson is so dead-set against a movie or TV adaptation of Calvin and Hobbes, that he said no to Lucas and Spielberg in the '80s. Не has nothing against animation, and in fact he loves it - he just sees no benefit in giving that treatment to his strip. CRACKED.COM — Source

18

John Belushi

BELUSHI! NO! THAT SAMURAI'S FOR REAL! Spider-Man fought a samurai along with John Belushi. The entire SNL cast showed up in a Marvel Team-Up comic in the 1970s - not as a cameo, but to actually team up with Spider-Man. The story leads to Belushi and Spidey battling a samurai together. CRACKED.COM — Source

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17

CRACKED.COM The director of Blade: Trinity hired a biker gang to protect him from Wesley Snipes. Snipes was really difficult to work with - even attempting to strangle director David S. Goyer once (at least according to Patton Oswalt). That night, Goyer approached a biker gang in a strip club and offered to pay for their drinks if they showed up on set the next day. — Source

16

CRACKED.COM Katy Perry used to pretend she was Zooey Deschanel. Newly arrived in Los Angeles in 2002, a teen- aged Perry really enjoyed the club scene - and would often pass herself off as Deschanel to be admitted into clubs. I had no money, and I had no clout, I had nothing, and sometimes I would pose as to get into the club, Perry admitted in 2020. — Source

15

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greek prostitutes advertised their services with their shoes. In ancient Greece, prostitutes wore sandals with the words follow me imprinted in the dirt to advertise their services. CRACKED — Source

14

Thanks to international efforts, the ozone layer is projected to recover to 1980 levels by 2040. It's expected to make a full recovery by 2066. CRACKED — Source

13

Pumpkins, watermelons, avocados, and bananas are technically classified as berries. However strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries aren't. CRACKED — Source

12

Whales

Whale milk has the consistency of toothpaste. This is due to whale milk being 30-50 percent fat. CRACKED — Source

11

Wal-Mart stores fill their shelves with strawberry Pop Tarts before hurricanes. Data mining has revealed that stores sold seven times more strawberry Pop Tarts before storms. CRACKED — Source

10

A snail spent several years glued to a card in the British museum before it was discovered to be alive. The zoologist who discovered this felt so bad he gave the snail another snail so he wouldn't be alone anymore. CRACKED — Source

9

William Shanks spent 15 years of his life manually calculating pi to 707 places. 3.74150 9 However, he made an error after the 527th digit, rendering the last few years of his work useless. CRACKED — Source

8

In 1859, Thomas Austin, an English settler in Australia, introduced a mere 24 rabbits to his property, believing that it would cause little harm and add a sense of familiarity to the environment. By the 1920s, the rabbit population in Australia had soared to 10 billion. CRACKED — Source

7

Courage the Cowardly Dog

Courage the Cowardly Dog's pilot episode earned an Oscar nomination. It was titled The Chicken From Outer Space, and it lost to Wallace and Gromit: A Close Shave. CRACKED — Source

6

Contrary to popular belief, lighter coffee has higher caffeine content. When coffee is roasted, it loses caffeine, meaning that a dark and robust cup of coffee has less caffeine than a lighter roast. CRACKED — Source

5

Pizza Hut was one of the largest buyers of kale before its popularization in 2013. The company used it solely for ornamental purposes, to decorate their salad bars. CRACKED — Source

4

Infrasound, which is below the range of human hearing, is occasionally incorporated into horror movie soundtracks. Although inaudible, it can provoke a sense of anxiety, heart palpitations, and shivering. CRACKED — Source

3

The Hollywood Walk of Fame

Celebrities have to buy their stars on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood. MICHAEL It costs $50,000. CRACKED — Source

2

Live and Let Die

The well-known crocodile jump scene in Live and Let Die featured real crocodiles, and the only person brave enough to take on the stunt was the owner of the crocodile farm. The film's writers decided to name the villain Kanaga after the farm owner. CRACKED — Source

1

People who buy birdseed are more likely to pay their debts regularly. Meanwhile, those who purchase chrome accessories for their cars are less likely to pay off their debts in full. CRACKED — Source

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