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32 Monstrous Bits of Trivia We Stitched Together From Spare Factoids and Zapped to Life

August 20, 2024

In all our years of fact-finding, we’ve had to round them up in every way imaginable. We’ve found some in the farthest reaches of the universe, some right beside us and some even within us. But sometimes, when it seems like every fact has already been snatched up, we have to scrounge for whatever fact scraps are just lying around.

Hey, a deadline is a deadline. Don’t worry, it buys us enough time for our fact-finding cohorts to drum up some new leads.

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32

Rebecca the raccoon was President Coolidge's pet at the White House Gifted as a Thanksgiving dinner, she was treated as a pet and traveled with the First Family on vacation. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

31

Some lion cubs can take down antelopes. In the wild, one female lion has been observed teaching her three-month-old cub to catch a small antelope. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

30

A dye-maker added animal blood to a red dye to accidentally create Prussian Blue Prussian Blue is used in a pill to cure metal poisoning. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

29

Michelangelo's David has a clear sign of heart disease. It's a bulging vein on the right side of his neck - AKA jugular venous distension. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

28

A NASA ENGINEER INVENTED THE SUPER SOAKER IN HIS BATHROOM. Sooker Lonnie Johnson was testing an idea for a water-based refrigeration system. Не hooked his invention to his bathroom sink and got a very marketable high-pressure stream. CRACKED.COM — Source

27

NOBODY KNOWS HOW ROGAINE WORKS. FOR BEST DIRECTO TWICE DAILY USE RE TO ، The drug minoxidil was initially approved by the MEN'S FDA to treat high blood pressure. The hair growth Rogair is just a fortunate side effect, still not fully understood. 5% MINOXIDIL TOPICAL AEROSOL HAIR REGROWTH TREATMENT REVITALIZES HAIR FOLLICLES EASY-TO-USE FOA UNSCENTED GRACKED.COM — Source

26

Q-TIPS WERE ORIGINALLY JUST FOR BABIES. Leo Gerstenzang's invention was sold at first as Baby Gays. The name was eventually changed to Q-tips (the Q stands for quality), because adults had a right to ear damage as well. CRACKED.COM — Source

25

I PRODUCTIONS IN-THE USA Mode William and Hydrox America's Original Crème Filled Chocolate Sandwich Cookie THE - HEAL YOU - adidas de - Direl Sugars NET WT 8.8 oz (243g) ad Hydrox America's Original Crème Riled Chocolate Sandwich Cookie OREO COOKIES ARE KNOCKOFFS. Sunshine Biscuits launched their Hydrox cream-filled cookies in 1908. Four years later, Nabisco introduced Oreos, an identical product. CRACKED.COM — Source

24

VELCRO WAS INSPIRED BY SEEDS. Swiss engineer George de Mestral created Velcro by replicating the microscopic hooks of the seeds that got stuck to his clothes during a hike in the woods. CRACKED.COM — Source

23

CUSTOM WIGS HAVE EACH HAIR ATTACHED BY HAND. Hairs are inserted and knotted into the foundation a few at a time, sometimes individually. Repeat 40,000 times and you have a full wig. GRAGKED.COM — Source

22

GRAGKED.COM PEZ IS It takes about 3,000 pounds of pressure MADE to compress the UNDER sugary goodness that makes up a A LOT OF PEZ candy into the PRESSURE. familiar tiny brick. — Source

21

YOUR HOODIE MAY HAVE BEEN A BOTTLE ONCE. Plastic bottles are often recycled into polyester yarn, which is then used to make polar fleece clothing. CRACKED.COM — Source

20

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

19

IKEA has its naming system because its founder was dyslexic. IKEA Ingvar Kamprad was not only dyslexic, but had a hard time remembering strings of numbers that item codes usually consisted of, so he came up with a naming system. For example, bookcases are named after professions, outdoor furniture after Scandinavian islands, rugs after Danish and Swedish towns and cities, and so on. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

18

Viggo Mortensen got a black eye while learning to surf on the Lord of the Rings set. Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan tried to teach him how to surf on their day off, and Mortensen got hit right in the face. It took a month for the swelling to die down, which meant they had to avoid that side of his face in close-ups in the Mines of Moria scenes. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

17

You can't legally buy alcohol in 2,000 U.S. jurisdictions. KIRKLAND ORIGINAL SPICED RUM ST LAKKA TALISKER STORM St adix ISLAND I SU LE MALT . CADE FROM - OPE SCOTCH SKI - - SPON - - And many others limit alcohol sales - - for example, you can't buy any liquor in Texas on Sundays. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

16

Kobe Bryant's grandparents inspired one of his greatest achievements. LAKERS 8 The day he played his 81-point game was the birthday of his grandfather, who had died a few years earlier, and also the first and only time his grandma had come out to watch him play. Kobe was so happy, he scored 81 points. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

15

The Little Red-Haired Girl in Peanuts was inspired by Charles Schulz's ex. Her name is Donna Mae Johnson, and she worked in the accounting department at Art Instruction, Inc. in Minneapolis, where she met Schulz, who worked as a cartooning instructor. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

14

Harlan Thrombey's name in Knives Out was based on a Choose Your Own Adventure book. It came from Who Killed Harlow Thrombey, one of Rian Johnson's favorite childhood books. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

13

Walmart loses $3 billion to shoplifting every year. 2200 Walmart macy But that's only 1% of its annual revenue. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

12

CRACKED.COM marlon Brando wanted Jor-El to be a bagel. When Brando was cast for Richard Donner's Superman, he suggested that the Kryptonian patriarch should look a bagel. Donner had to convince him that the audience would much rather see a Marlon Brando-shaped Jor-El. — Source

11

CRACKED.COM Rotten Tomatoes was inspired by Jackie Chan. Senh Duong, a huge Chan fan, set up the website specifically to track reviews for Rush Hour. When the film's release was pushed back, Duong launched the site with different movies instead. — Source

10

CRACKED.COM Eddie murphy got sick of his most popular character and killed it. Murphy hit it out of the park with an adult version of Little Rascals' Buckwheat on SNL. But he eventually came to resent being known just for one character, and shot a sketch when Buckwheat was murdered. — Source

9

Autotune became a thing because Cher hated Believe. Cher stormed out of the studio, refusing to keep recording that song her producer insisted on. So the producer used his new pitch correction software to smooth out the only vocals he was going to get, and accidentally discovered the right (or wrong) settings created a cool effect. CRACKED.COM — Source

8

A Batman and Captain America had weirdly similar plots. In the mid-2000s, they both faced villains who turned out to be their dead sidekicks, and then both got lost in time while their revived sidekicks took their places. Both storylines happened at about the same time, so an intentional rip-off is out of the question. CRACKED.COM — Source

7

Zootopia is a sequel to Disney's Robin Hood. While Zootopia wasn't intended as Robin Hood 2, the directors loved the idea so much when they came across it that they declared it canon. So, does this mean that Nick Wilde comes from British royalty? CRACKED COM — Source

6

Spartans would despise the gun nuts who keep quoting them. Second amendment enthusiasts are fond of the Spartan challenge molon labe (come and take them), unaware that Spartans of that time disdained weapons that could kill at a distance. According to Plutarch, those fighting at the Thermopylae found arrows womanish and cowardly. CRACKED.COM — Source

5

CRACKED.COM Capcom keeps, uh, borrowing game assets. Artist Judy Juracek sued Capcom in 2021 for lifting dozens of textures from an art book she published in '96. The images were used in games such as Resident Evil 4 and Devil May Cry without licensing them. — Source

4

Dirt in baseball fields comes from Pennsylvania. As different kinds of ground can lead to different gameplay, playing fields use soil made by mixing just the right amount of clay, sand, silt, and other stuff. Most MLB stadiums buy their dirt from one location in the town of Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. CRACKED.COM — Source

3

Dogs can laugh (sort of). The specific panting dogs do while playing (with either humans or other dogs) is different from the I'm exhausted kind of panting. It certainly doesn't sound like human laugh, but it serves pretty much the same function of social bonding. CRACKED.COM — Source

2

CRACKED.COM Julia Child created a shark repellent for the military. Long before cooking meals on TV, a young Julia McWilliams cooked up a shark repellent during World War II, commissioned by the U.S. Navy. A member of the OSS (proto-CIA) with top security clearance, she was stationed in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and China as the war went on. — Source

1

CRACKED.COM A doll caused an uproar for (allegedly) trying to convert children to Islam. Mattel's Cuddle & Coo doll played nonsense baby sounds, but some parents thought they heard the toy praising Islam or Satan (which are probably the same thing in such people's heads). Mattel didn't recall the doll, but did reprogram unshipped units. — Source

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