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35 Random Bits of Trivia Stuffed Into a Pillowcase and Whacked Against the Side of Your Head

Ouch. But also, ah-ha

35 Random Bits of Trivia Stuffed Into a Pillowcase and Whacked Against the Side of Your Head

July 28, 2024

We believe in learning by osmosis. But why take all night to absorb a single book under your pillow, when you can just stuff all these facts in there in one brief, painful WHAP?

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35

Fossilized lightning happens when lightning discharges into the ground and creates glass. GRACKED.COM Glass tubes called ful- gurites form in sedi- ment, such as sand, af- ter the intense heat from a lightning strike fuses the grains to- gether. — Source

34

Melbourne, Australia used to be named Batmania. CRACKED.COM Australian entrepreneur and explorer John Batman signed a deed with the men of the local Dutigullar tribe in 1835 to found a new colony, that would be- come Melbourne. — Source

33

The first cell phone weighed 2.4 pounds. CRACKED.COM The first portable cell phone, the DynaTAC 8000X, was in- vented in 1973 by Motorola. The device offered a talk time of just 30 minutes and required 10 hours to re- charge. — Source

32

The first baby-boomer was born in Philadelphia in 1946. CRACKED COM Kathleen Casey-Kirschling was born seconds past midnight on January 1, 1946, in St. Agnes Hospital. About 3.4 million babies arrived in that first year of the baby boom generation. — Source

31

The USA Patriot in USA PATRIOT Act is an acronym. PROTECTIN CRACKED.COM It stands for Uniting & Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Re- quired to Intercept & Obstruct Terrorism. — Source

30

Tolstoy's wife hand wrote the first drafts of 'War and Peace.' CRACKED.COM At over half a million words, the novel is the 15th longest in the world. So- phia Tolstaya had to metic- ulously write it out by hand seven times before Tolstoy was happy. — Source

29

Martin Van Buren is the first president born in America. CRACKED.COM Не was the first to be born an American citi- zen, as opposed to be- ing born English. Не also is the first U.S. President not to be of English or Irish ancestry. His ances- tors were Dutch. — Source

28

The Like button in Facebook originally was going to say Awesome. GRAGKED.COM Zuckerberg eventually vetoed the Awesome button in favor of the shorter Like, accord- ing to Facebook Engi- neer Andrew Во- sworth. — Source

27

Pearls will dissolve in vinegar. CRACKED.COM They are mostly made up of calcium carbonate, easily dis- solved by acetic acid, which is most of what vinegar is. — Source

26

The Bible

Nowhere in the bible does it say there were three wise men. CRACKED.COM Still, most western Chris- tian denominations have traditionally assumed them to have been three in number, based on the statement that they brought three gifts. — Source

25

Barry Manilow didn't write one of his biggest hits, I Write the Songs. CRACKED.COM Manilow vowed to not use an- other song written by some- one else after his hit Mandy, but Arista Records' Clive Da- vis kept sending him demos - one of which, I Write The Songs, was written by Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys. — Source

24

A chemical in human saliva is more potent than morphine. CRACKED COM Gram for gram, opiorphin is six times more powerful a painkiller than morphine and may spawn a new generation of natural painkillers without the addictive and psycholog- ical side effects of the tradi- tional drug. — Source

23

Lyme Disease

Lyme disease is named after the town where it was first recognized. EMERSON CEMETERY GRACKED COM The disease takes its name from Lyme, Connecticut, where the full spectrum of illness was first de- scribed in 1975. — Source

22

Grapes explode when microwaved. CRACKED.COM Water-heavy grapes trap the wavelengths of energy microwave ovens emit because the waves are roughly the same size as the diameter of grapes. — Source

21

Human sperm cells travel about 7 to 8 inches per hour, on average. CRACKED.COM Sperm has about a 15cm to 18cm journey to the fallopian tubes, which is like an adult swimming an Olympic swimming pool 100 times. — Source

20

The US military created a portable mini nuclear warhead launcher in 1961. The 'Davey Crockett,' as it was called, never saw use in combat. It remains one of the smallest nucle- ar weapon systems ever built, with a yield of 20 tonnes of TNT. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

19

Holy communion wafers are sold in stores as snacks in Quebec. Françoise Laporte, a 71-year-old enjoyer of the melt-in-your-mouth 'Host Pieces,' says they remind her of Mass. Sacrelicious! CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

18

The first piece of legislation passed by the 1 st U.S. Congress was a 50¢ tariff. The Tariff of 1789 levied a 50¢ ($16 today) per ton duty on goods imported by foreign ships. President Washington signed the act and the money was used to pay off the Revolutionary War debt. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

17

If your train is late in Japan, you'll get a ticket explaining your tardiness to your teacher or employer. Japanese railways have long instituted a procedure to prove that a passenger's tardiness was through no fault of his or her own. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

16

A Lifetime of Mucus

The average human excretes 6,500 gallons of mucus in a lifetime. The thousand of gallons, roughly the amount contained in a large tanker truck, will drip, drain and dribble down our throats, unseen and unnoticed. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

15

Disease and unsanitary conditions caused the majority of fatalities during the American Civil War. Twice as many soldiers died from disease as from battle wounds, the result of poor sanitation in an era that created mass armies that did not yet under- stand the transmission of infectious diseases. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

14

Street vendors selling meatballs are presumed to be undercover cops In Indonesia. The traveling meatball vendor is often associated with intelligence undercov- er activity. On social media there are memes depicting meatball vendors commu- nicating through walk- ie-talkies. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

13

A boxer legally changed his name to Marvelous so announcers had to say it. Frustrated that an- nouncers were not us- ing his nickname, Mar- velous, Marvin Hagler had his name legally changed to Marvelous Marvin Hagler. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

12

The tallest building in Yukon, Canada is only 20 meters tall. Whitehorse, the larg- est city in Yukon, origi- nally had a law that buildings could not ex- ceed 20 meters, and no building has yet surpassed it. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

11

Seinfeld

Seinfeld's lawyers allowed the real J. Peterman to review the script for every episode that featured him. The show lawyers ар- proached the real John Ре- terman after the first epi- sode and allowed him to review each script before it aired. That same year, the J. Peterman Company posted a $400,000 loss. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

10

A traveling circus left a dead elephant tied to a tree in 1972. The circus set up in the vil- lage of Uquakwa, IL. Over- night, lightning struck and killed their elephant, which was tethered to a tree in the park. The panicked Circus owners packed up all of their gear, and fled the town. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

9

All ships of the Royal Australian Navy are marked with a large red kangaroo. When warships are at sea it is customary to fly only an ensign to identify a ship's nationality. This tra- dition came about after Australian warships were frequently confused with British vessels. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

8

A form of rallycross racing in Finland has a car budget cap of €1,500. I 8122 - In Folkracing, there is a cost cap on the cars to make sure nobody gets an unfair advantage by spending more on their car. Participants can be as young as 14 years of age. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

7

A woman was spared from being a serial killing victim when her assailants learned who her father was. In 1977 the Hillside Stran- gler serial killers dropped their plan to abduct and murder her after learning that she was the daughter of Peter Lorre, who was known for playing dis- turbed characters. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

6

Most of the world's electricity is generated by steam. Oil, coal, and even nuclear plants all produce power by heating water to pro- duce steam. The steam is then driven through a tur- bine, which in turn spins a generator and generates electricity. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

5

A 'Star Wars' actor survived being stabbed in the heart and suffering a stroke. In 1999, Rebecca Jackson Mendoza survived a stroke caused by a severed aorta after being stabbed by her husband. By 2005 she made a full recovery and was able to play Breha Or- gana in 'Revenge of the CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

4

Some of the fungal strains that grow in sloth hair are being used to treat cancer. Sloths have algae, fungi, moths and insects growing in their hair. Some of the fungal strains are showing uses in treatment for ma- laria, chagas disease and even breast cancer. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

3

'Friday the 13th' was nominated for a Razzie when it came out. 1980 marked the first Razzie awards, and its first 'Worst Picture' nomination with 'Friday the 13th.' The winner, though, was The Village People's disco movie, 'Can't Stop the Mu- sic.' CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

2

Nearly all cases of rickets disappeared when common foods began being fortified with vitamin D. VITAMIN D This took the statistics of approximately 80-90% of children showing varying degrees of bone defor- mations due to vitamin D deficiency, to being a very rare condition. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

1

A competitive angling winner stole his prized bass from an aquarium in 2013. After the winning 13 lb bass was sold to a fish- monger, another compet- itor recognized it, and tipped off police. The winner was arrested and admitted theft and fraud. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

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