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40 Random Bits of Trivia We Stepped in a Ways Back and Can’t Get Off Our Shoe

July 20, 2024

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40

Papa John's was sued for $250 million for spam texting customers. PIZZA PAPA JOHNS SETA LARGE NOW PEPPERON BAKINGS PIZZA Some customers com- plained they were get- ting 15 or 16 texts in a row, even during the middle of the night, to- talling 500,000 unwant- ed messages in early 2010. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

39

The first director of the CIA warned Congress about UFOs. Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter stat- ed in a letter that high-rank- ing Air Force officers are so- berly concerned about UFOs. But through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe the un- known flying objects are nonsense. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

38

A sailor stranded on a deserted island used cats as protection. Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk survived for over 4 years stranded on a de- serted island, partly by us- ing feral cats to protect him from ravenous rats that attacked during the night. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

37

The chicken wing festival in Buffalo started because of the movie Osmosis Jones. The National Chicken Wing Festival in Buffalo, New York that Bill Murray's character mentions wasn't a thing at the time, but this idea caused organizers to actually create the festival - which has been active for 16 years. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

36

12 men stopped Nazi attempts at developing an atomic bomb during WWII. The small commando unit of Norwegian soldiers sabo- taged the German-held Ve- mork hydroelectric plant. They didn't know it at the time, but the mission played a big part in hindering Ger- many's atomic bomb pro- gram. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

35

An eccentric millionaire tricked people into thinking he towed an iceberg into Sydney Harbor. RD In 1978, Dick Smith offered to cut the iceberg into ice cubes, or Dicksickles, but the iceberg was really made of shaving cream- an elaborate April Fools' Day prank. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

34

Snoop Dogg once tried to rent the entire country of Liechtenstein for a music video shoot. A property manager, Karl Schwaerzler, said that Snoop indeed wanted to rent all 61 square miles of Liechtenstein for a video shoot, despite the govern- ment saying there is no for rent sign on the country. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

33

A female Giant Pacific Octopus can lay 50,000 eggs. She quits eating and spends 6 months slow- ly dying as she tends to and protects them. On average, only 2 out of the 50,000 baby octopuses survive. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

32

The cesium test is used to test if an old bottle of wine is genuine. 3 The wine in question is tested for cesium 137 - if there is none present, we know the bottle predates 1945 because, since the nuclear age, everything is contaminated. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

31

When Charlie Chaplin received his honorary Oscar, he received a 12-minute standing ovation. Chaplin was initially hesitant but decided to return to the US for the first time in 20 years, and accepted his award for the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

30

A species of songbirds can predict hurricane season intensity better than computer models. A two decade study of the breeding behavior of Veeries showed that they could sense what the hur- ricane season had in store months before most trop- ical storms form. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

29

One of America's first serial killers was captured and decapitated by a mountain man. In 1863, Tom Tobin hunted down Felipe Espinosa, who killed 32 innocent civilians, and single-handedly de- capitated him and his ac- complices. Tobin was paid with a Henry rifle for the killings. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

28

The Taliban accidentally exposed a cave network filled with 5th-9th century artwork. In 2011, the Taliban blew up two 4th-century stat- ues of Buddha with dyna- mite, but excavators later discovered a previously unknown giant statue of Buddha within. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

27

A teacher jumped down a 75-foot mine shaft to save one of her students. In 2012, German kin- dergarten teacher Ina Koenig jumped down and kept the child's head above the cold water until help could arrive. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

26

The Ket people are one of the last true hunter and gatherer societies on Earth. The Ket people are an isolated population of 1200 in Siberia, and their language is strikingly similar in structure to the Native North American languages. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

25

Resorts

A South African resort lets the rich vacation in a shanty town to get a taste of the hard life. Shanty Town in Bloemfon- tein looks exactly as it sounds on the outside, but the corrugated metal shacks are actually equipped with the ameni- ties elites are used to: heated floors and WiFi. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

24

Marion Franklin Tinsley beat a computer program at checkers by looking 64 moves ahead. Considered to be the greatest checkers player who ever lived, Tinsley beat the program Chi- nook by picking the only available winning strategy after Chinook made a fatal error during gameplay. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

23

The smallest celestial body. with its own ring system is 155 miles in diameter. Before the discovery of the rings of minor plan- et 10199 Chariklo, it had been thought that rings could only be stable around much more mas- sive bodies. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

22

A psychologist took a dying child to a prostitute so he could have sex before he died. Cove t Spea The 15-year-old boy with terminal cancer told hospi- tal staff of his desire to lose his virginity, and he was eventually brought to Sydney's red-light district without his parents' knowl- edge. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

21

Johnson & Johnson knew there was Asbestos in Baby Powder for decades. Hundreds of internal mem- os show that Johnson & Johnson was aware their baby powder could poten- tially be contaminated by asbestos, and executives worried about public back- lash. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

20

WWII Spitfires had 20 seconds worth of ammunition on board. ZX M MT928 CRACKED COM Each gun had 300 rounds, which didn't last long. Far less than 10 per- cent of all rounds fired connected with a target, which is why so few pilots became aces. — Source

19

Steve Irwin's daughter is named after a crocodile and a dog he really liked. GRACKED.COM Bindi Sue is jointly named after two of Steve's favorite ani- mals: Bindi, a saltwater crocodile, and Sui, a Staffordshire Bull Ter- rier. — Source

18

Joe Pesci is a musician with his first album released in 1968. CRACKED COM In 1998, he released his second album and his first in 30 years, 'Vincent LaGuardia Gambini Sings Just for You,' which was named after his character from 'My Cousin Vinny.' — Source

17

World War II

A German Luftwaffe ace that flew 324 missions is still alive, at 100 years old. GRACKED.COM Hugo Broch is credited with 81 victories, all on the Eastern Front, as a pilot for the aeri- al-warfare branch of the German Wehr- macht during WWII. — Source

16

The deadliest accident in aviation history happened when two 747s collided. GRACKED.COM During the Tenerife Airport Disaster, over 580 people died when two passenger jets collided on the runway. Factors leading up to the di- saster include unpredictable weather, a hoax call, and ter- rorist activity. — Source

15

The use of 'fairy dust' was added to Peter Pan because kids kept getting hurt. CRACKED.COM The playwright added the use of fairy dust as a ne- cessity to fly because kids kept trying it themselves, jumping from their beds and eventually needing medical attention. — Source

14

Harbinger households predict market failures by always choosing the wrong products. CRACKED.COM The research paper 'The Surprising Breadth of Har- bingers of Failure' claimed that households in certain zip codes could predict the market by usually choos- ing products destined to fail. — Source

13

Otis Redding never heard the completed version of Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay. CRACKED.COM The whistled verse was thrown in as a placeholder, but Redding died in a plane crash before he could add lyrics. The song was re- leased several weeks later and was his biggest hit. — Source

12

A Byzantine Emperor blinded prisoners of war before returning them to Bulgaria. CRACKED COM Basil II clustered thousands of Bulgarian prisoners into groups of 100, blinding all but one in each group, who would then lead the other 99 back home. Tsar Samuel died of a heart attack upon seeing the returning soldiers. — Source

11

Apollo 16 astronaut Charles Duke left a family photo behind on the moon. CRACKED.COM The back of the photo says: This is the fami- ly of Astronaut Duke from Planet Earth, who landed on the Moon on the twentieth of April 1972. — Source

10

The Spotted Lanternfly causes $336 million in damages to Pennsylvania every year. CRACKED.COM Models of the spotted lan- ternfly's spread have pro- jected an annual loss of $554 million, with an addi- tional loss of 4,987 jobs, should it continue to spread to the entirety of Pennsylvania. — Source

9

A European monastery from 1141 AD stands in Miami, Florida. CRACKED.COM The Ancient Spanish Mon- astery was imported piece-by-piece into the U.S. in 1925 by media ty- coon William Randolph Hearst, making it the old- est European building in the Western Hemisphere. — Source

8

'Duke Nukem Forever' had the longest development period for any video game. GRACKED.COM Officially announced on April 28th, 1997 by devel- oper 3D Realms, it took 14 years and 43 days for the game to be released (on June 10th, 2011). It has a 5.5/10 rating on IGN. — Source

7

73 people died trying to get on a game show in the Philippines. wowowee CRACKED.c COM The popular Filipino game show Wowowee an- nounced that only the first 300 people out of the 30,000 that showed up would get tickets, resulting in a stampede that killed 73 and injured 400. — Source

6

Equipment from the 1911 expedition to the South Pole is still there. CRACKED COM The tent and some equip- ment used at the South Pole by the Norwegian expedition led by Roald Amundsen on 14 December 1911 is there, al- though buried beneath 55 feet of snow. — Source

5

Parts of the town that was flooded during the building of the Hoover Dam can be explored. CRACKED.COM St. Thomas was bought by the Federal govern- ment and abandoned when the dam was be- ing built, eventually be- coming Lake Mead. — Source

4

Mongolian beef in Chinese restaurants doesn't originate from Mongolia. CRACKED.COM It actually comes from Mongolian BBQ shops in Taiwan. Mongolian BBQ style restaurants were created by a Tai- wanese entrepreneur in the 1950s. — Source

3

The first ichthyosaur fossil was discovered by a 12 year old. CRACKED.COM Mary Anning would go on to discover many more fossils and revolutionize the science of paleontolo- gy. However, due to being a woman in the early 1800s, she rarely received full credit for her discover- — Source

2

The British and US 'Dennis the Menace' were created at the same time, independent of each other. CRACKED CON The British 'Dennis' lived up the 'Menace' name much more than his Ameri- can counterpart, whose misadventures were brought on by childhood naivete rather than malev- olent mischievousness. — Source

1

The CIA sent rebels in Nicaragua a guerilla warfare manual by balloon. GRACKED.COM The manuals, titled Psy- chological Operations in Guerrilla War, were dropped during the Nica- raguan Revolution in 1984 to scare Nicaragua's San- dinista Government. — Source

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