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40 Random Bits of Trivia to Shampoo Into Your Brain Folds

Lather. Rinse. Repeat

40 Random Bits of Trivia to Shampoo Into Your Brain Folds

July 19, 2024

Make sure to get in there good, your mind is absolutely filthy.

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40

A Jordache Jeans blimp crashed in the same place as the Hindenburg disaster. CRACKED.COM The 170-foot long blimp, on its way to a gala chris- tening party in Manhattan, hit some trees and was grounded shortly after takeoff in Lakehurst, NJ. This time, there were no casualties. — Source

39

A quarter of the US population attended the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. GRACKED.COM The first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, held in Philadelphia in 1876, was attended by 10 million people and 37 countries participated. — Source

38

Mayonnaise does not need to be refrigerated. CRACKED.COM Enjoyers of room tempera- ture, table mayo rejoice! Commercially produced May- onnaise has a high enough acidity that bacteria growth associated with food-borne illnesses is slowed. — Source

37

Whoopi Goldberg will not travel by plane. GRAGKED.COM Goldberg only travels by tour bus because she witnessed a mid-air plane collision take place in San Diego back in 1978, known as the PSA-182 tragedy. — Source

36

There is only one unsolved air piracy case in commercial aviation history. GRACKED.COM In 1971, D.B. Cooper hijacked a Boeing 727 with a briefcase bomb, demanding $200,000 and four parachutes The air- craft landed to let off the pas- sengers, took flight again, and Cooper presumably lept out never to be heard from again. — Source

35

One of the reasons the Osmonds formed was to raise money to buy their brothers hearing aids. CRACKED.COM Tom and Virl Osmond were both born with severe hearing loss. They both eventually learned how to play several instruments and in later years made ос- casional appearances with their brothers and sister. — Source

34

The ISS is weightless because it's in orbit, not because of its distance from Earth. CRACKED.COM An airplane at the same altitude, under its own power, would have 89% as much gravity as the Earth's surface. — Source

33

32

Tiger beetles run so fast they temporarily blind themselves. GRACKED.COM When moving at up to 120 body lengths per second, their environ- ment becomes a blur as their eyes can't gather enough light to form an image. — Source

31

The first crime solved by a microscope was in 1846. CRACKED.COM Joseph Leidy examined blood on the shirt of an ac- cused murderer and deter- mined that the blood was from a human and not the blood of a chicken, as the suspect had claimed. — Source

30

Serial killer Eric Edgar Cookie was caught with the ol'gun on a fishing line trick. HILSON CRACKED.COM Cooke was arrested after throwing his firearm into a bush, which the police found, substituted for an inoperable one attached to a fishing line and waited in a hide for him to come back and pick up. — Source

29

The Catholic Church had to stop indexing books they deemed contrary to their beliefs because there were too many. PROHIBITORVM, CVM REGVLIS CONFECTIS per Patresa TridentinaSynodo delectos, aucoritateSandifs.D.N. Pij IIII, Pont. Max. comprobatus. GRAGKED.COM The Catholic Church pub- lished the Index Librorum Prohibitorum starting in 1571, listing books and au- thors deemed contrary to Catholic faith, but had to stop in 1966 due to the sheer amount of texts. — Source

28

Schools in the Imperial Valley in California use color coded flags based on the air quality. GRACKED.COM The air quality around the Salton Sea is so bad that schools use green, yellow, and red flags for children who have asthma. Green means they join their friends on the playground, whereas red means they stay inside all day. — Source

27

Many of the participants in the first Olympic discus throw had never actually thrown one before. GRAGKED.COM American competitor Robert Garrett had been training with a discus several times the weight of the one in the event, and ended up winning gold. The Greek champions were too busy trying to replicate the poses of ancient Greek statues. — Source

26

Belgium's beer culture is a part of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. GRACKED.COM Brussels' regional leader, Rudi Vervoort, said that beer has been a part of our so- ciety since time imme- morial. We'll drink to that. — Source

25

The last king of Egypt is still alive. CRACKED.COM Fuad II of Egypt was just 192 days old when he as- cended the throne. Не was deposed a year later after his father was exiled and Egypt declared a re- public. — Source

24

The interior of the Flip Ship is designed to be useful when it transitions from horizontal to vertical. CRACKED COM The RP Flip can com- pletely upend itself in the water, so there are two doors to every room on the ship to facilitate entrance when the ship is horizontal and when the ship is vertical. — Source

23

An episode of Invader Zim had to be changed because it included a sign that read Welcome to Mexico. CRACKED.COM The ending of the episode Walk of Doom involved Zim and GIR being dropped off in a slum with Spanish music playing and the sign serving as a visual gag, but Nickelodeon was concerned it was racist. — Source

22

It's traditional in Tibet for a woman to be married to multiple men in the same family. GRACKED.COM The woman would be mar- ried to multiple brothers in order to keep the land within the same family. The practice was technical- ly outlawed in 1981, but has no penalties and isn't pros- ecuted. — Source

21

Poker

The longest game of poker lasted 14 years. AD CRACKED.COM Dunglen Hotel in Thurmond, West Virginia is said to be the place of the legendary card game, in a town that was once envisioned to be a hard working, religious com- munity but became better known for its debauchery. — Source

20

The deep-ocean submersible Alvin has been in service so long that none of its components are original. Like the Ship of Theseus, every part of the DSV Alvin has been replaced over the last 58 years of service, in which it explored hydro- thermal vents, the Titanic, and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

19

The 'Squid Game' doll was a real ornament used by a museum. The doll is named Young-Hee after a char- acter in Korean text- books. It is also a real or- nament used by a car- riage museum and was only borrowed for filming the series. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

18

A South Korean boxer refused to leave the ring after he lost at the Olympics. Byun Jung-il lost his ban- tam weight match at the Seoul Olympics in 1988 and refused to leave the ring for over an hour. Offi- cials eventually turned out the lights in the auditorium until he left. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

17

Some crystals contain sealed pockets of water from millions of years ago. Microscopic pits develop in the crystal faces when they form, allowing water to per- meate through the hard sur- face. As the crystal grows larger, the next layers of crystal growth can cover these pits, trapping the liq- uid. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

16

Portuguese Man O'Wars can be left or right-handed. The float at the top of the man o' war can be oriented towards the left or the right, and the left-hand- ed ones sail to the right of the wind, while the right-handed ones sail to the left. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

15

The desert plants that can be made into frankincense and myrrh protect themselves with antibacterial chemicals. Frankincense and myrrh are derived from the hard- ened resin of desert dwell- ing plants. The resin gets its aroma from antibacteri- al chemicals meant to pro- tect the plant from infec- tion. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

14

Some suspension bridges will have a service to drive your car across for you if you have gephyrophobia. The Mackinac Bridge Au- thority, which oversees the Mackinac Bridge connect- ing Michigan's Upper and Lower peninsulas, will drive your car across the bridge for free if you have a fear of bridges and tunnels. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

13

12

The term EGOT was coined by a man who claimed he would achieve the feat in five years. Actor Philip Michael Thom- as claimed in late 1984 that he would accumulate the respective EGOT awards - an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. Thomas has yet to be nominated for any. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

11

An amateur archeologist would use dynamite to blow apart a site and sift through the debris. Heinrich Schliemann located the ancient city of Troy in the 1870s, among other feats. Modern archeol- ogists disapprove of his methods. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

10

The Daily Telegraph accidentally revealed secretive D-Day beaches and code-names through their crossword puzzle. I is 60 . g 3 4 23 5 9 A 18 20 On Saturday, May 27 it was Overlord, codename for the whole operation. On May 30 Mulberry, codename for the floating harbors used in the landings; and finally, on June 1, it was Neptune, codeword for the naval assault phase. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

9

America has the largest nuclear reactor fleet in the world. Nuclear energy gener- ates nearly 800 billion kilowatt hours of elec- tricity each year and makes up more than half of the nation's clean energy. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

8

F-15s

A citizen plane spotter alerted the base after seeing sparks coming from an F-15. The British plane spotter saw the sparks and called the base's switchboard to alert the base. The pilot publicly thanked him and gave him his insignia patch. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

7

A Hong Kong serial killer was caught when he went to develop photos of his victims in a Kodak shop. One of only two known se- rial killers in HK, Lam Kor-wan was a taxi driver that would pick up female passengers, strangle them, then take them to his fami- ly home to dismember. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

6

Volkswagen made a dashboard-mounted coffee maker in the late 1950s. The Hertella-Auto Kaf- feemaschine could be mounted straight onto the dash of a '59 Beetle, with porcelain cups which could stick to the ma- chine magnetically. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

5

Bangkok's real name is the world's longest for a place. The full name reads: Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahin- thara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

4

Some washrooms in German pubs have basins for vomiting. The Speibecken is often a large ceramic bowl in- stalled at waist height with handles for the user to hold onto and a shower head to flush the unit. Viet- nam has their own version, too. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

3

1 in 2,000 people in the UK carries the mad cow disease. Relatively few people who catch the infectious agent develop symptoms and it's unknown if they can trans- mit it to others. They should still refrain from biting other people, how- ever. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

2

The Lost City of Srivijaya

Fishermen uncovered a lost 14th century city when golden artifacts were caught in their nets. Srivijaya ruled Indonesia and much of Southeast Asia for over 600 years but disappeared without a trace, until its location was revealed on the River Musi. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

1

There is a copy of the Mona Lisa painted by one of Da Vinci's students. Prado Mona Lisa was a copy painted simultane- ously as Da Vinci's origi- nal. It has come to be un- derstood as the earliest known studio copy of Leonardo's masterpiece. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

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