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You might have to wipe up this list and read the paper towel

30 Random Bits of Trivia That Aren’t Housebroken Yet, Apologies for the Mess

September 05, 2024

What, you’re suddenly too good to read a list that spilled onto the floor?

Pfft. You’ve changed. We remember a time when you’d look under the stove for a good list. And no one looks under the stove for anything! Maybe it’s our fault. Maybe we spoiled you with so many long lists of interesting facts. We’d threaten you with less lists of facts, but we both know that’ll never happen.

You’ll just have to be grateful for what you get, kiddo.

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30

Richard Donner was never told what the budget for Superman was. It's a miracle Donner managed to make such a beloved movie, as the producers for some reason wouldn't let him know how much money he had to work with. They'd just tell him, You can't do that, without further guidance. Не didn't even get to see the final cut until the premiere. CRACKED.COM — Source

29

The Oversteegen sisters were teenage Nazi hunters. Freddie and Truus Oversteegen were only 14 and 17, but did their part in helping the Dutch resistance take care of Nazi occupiers. They would seduce Nazis in bars and then lead into the woods- where a resistance fighter would shoot the Nazi creeping on underage girls. CRACKED.COM — Source

28

CRACKED.COM Pineapples used to be a status symbol. For centuries, pineapples in Europe were rare, exotic, and above all expensive, as they were imported from across the ocean. The rich would often get one-not to eat it, but to show off their wealth by parading the fruit in front of other people. — Source

27

A death row prisoner tried to get too fat for the electric chair. In 1952, Donald Snyder was sentenced to death for killing a 9-year- old girl. Resolved to grow too big to be executed, he put on 150 pounds in less than one year. It didn't work- when the time came, he fit the chair just fine. CRACKED.COM — Source

26

There's a market for royal underwear. People exist willing to pay top dollar for underwear worn by famous people - not just celebrities, but also queens. Pairs of Queen Victoria's bloomers have sold for over $15,000, and a pair of Elizabeth Il's (dirty) undies fetched $18,000 on eBay. CRACKED.COM — Source

25

16th-century Belgians built porn snowmen. The Miracle of 1511 was a huge winter festival held in Brussels, when lots of elaborate snow figures were made - more than half of them of a sexual or scatological nature. People were mad (at the government and the harsh winter), and the snow things gave them an outlet to vent. CRACKED.COM — Source

24

CRACKED.COM Six men survived 9/11 thanks to a squeegee. All six were stuck in an elevator after the plane struck-among them veteran window washer Jan Demczur. Demczur used his squeegee to jimmy the door open and then cut through the brittle plasterboard wall. They managed to get out of the building minutes before it collapsed. — Source

23

Oneida flatware was created by a sex cult. The Oneida Community started as an agrarian utopia in the 1800s, before switching to metallurgic industrialism and creating the fancy silverware still sold today. Their success was their downfall, as the government started to look closely into their free-loving, commie ways. CRACKED.COM — Source

22

Ghostbusters 2's fur coat gag was recycled. They were going to use the gag with the dead skins coming back to life in the first movie, but they just didn't get around to filming it. So they put it in the sequel. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

21

The South Pole is so high, you can get altitude sickness on it. That's what happened to Buzz Aldrin in 2016 - - he got so sick on the South Pole (which is 9,300 feet high), he had to be evacuated to New Zealand. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

20

The Guinness World Record for the longest drift is 232.5 miles. It was set by a 2018 BMW M5, which had to be refueled mid-drift five times by an M5 tanker - and, every time, a stuntman had to connect the car and tanker as they drifted together. The drift took eight hours. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

19

Suzanne Somers was fired from Three's Company for asking for equal pay. Her co-star John Ritter, was getting $150,000 an episode, so she asked to get that (and not the $30,000 she'd been getting). Instead, they fired her, saying that Ritter is the star. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

18

In Moon, the base is on the far side of the moon so it doesn't interfere with the Earth. All that activity kicks up a lot of soil, which might make the moon's surface less reflective and therefore less bright - and that could mess with a lot of biological systems on Earth. To prevent that from happening, it was put on the far side. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

17

McDonald's burgers aren't resistant to rotting. They don't rot simply because they lose moisture very quickly - because they're small, and have a large surface area for their size - - so mold and bacteria don't get a chance to grow. A homemade burger that's small and has a relatively large surface area isn't going to rot, either. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

16

The Red Cross was invented by a guy who kind of wandered into a battle. In 1859, Henry Dunant was trying to meet with Napoleon III, and happened to see the Battle of Solferino - which ended with 40,000 dead and wounded left behind on the battlefield. When he came home to Geneva, he started to work on a society for helping the wounded in wars. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

15

Honeybees can recognize human faces. In an experiment, bees remembered faces even two days after memorizing them. Somehow, they pull this off with 10,000 fewer neurons than humans. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

14

There was a real James Bond. Не was an MI6 agent spying on Poland in the '60s. e zam. e pracy Seki arth. Vianb W. sko telstwo miejsce urodz James Albert Bond 2 zbr ر - 30. Polish counter-espionage noted that he was chatty, cautious, and a womanizer. Не pretty much did nothing of note on his ten-year mission, then left and never and came back. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

13

The engine room scenes in 2009's Star Trek were shot in a brewery. J.J. Abrams wanted a big, open space that was totally unlike the soundstage sets seen in every Trek before that, so they used the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Van Nuys, California - which has 1.7 million square feet of floor area. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

12

In 1978, a trove of lost movies was found under an ice rink in a Canadian town. 2 litre 18.5 kg 12 They were buried there when Dawson City's old theatres shut down, and lay forgotten until the ice rink got demolished to make way for a parking lot. Over 500 films were salvaged, including old newsreels, some from as far back as 1903. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

11

NASA astronauts wear orange suits, too. NASA Most of the time, they wear white suits, because white reflects solar radiation better than any other color. But when they're on their way into space, or returning to Earth, they wear orange because it's very easy to see against the sea or sky - that way, if they have to bail, rescue teams will find them more quickly. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

10

The first-ever EDM record to go platinum was the Mortal Kombat soundtrack. 27% The filmmakers absolutely insisted on EDM, and got booted from two record companies for it -- but it paid off. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

9

If one kidney is x removed, the other one will start growing. It does that to pick up the slack from the removed kidney, which enables the affected person to lead a normal life. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

8

The Battle of Texel

There is one recorded case of men on horseback capturing a naval fleet. In the Battle of Texel in January 1795, a fleet of 14 Dutch ships was trapped in ice near Texel Island. The French heard of that and sent infantry, cavalry, and horse artillery forces to capture them. Apparently, there was no fighting - after a five-day standoff, the ships surrendered. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

7

Matthew Perry got Julia Roberts to guest-star in Friends by writing a paper on quantum physics. Perry asked her to come on the show, and she said she'd do it only if he wrote her a paper on quantum physics. Apparently, a day later, he wrote one and faxed it to her. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

6

Germany lost WWII partly because Hitler slept in late. His underlings were told not to wake him up no matter what, and he slept until 11 or noon on D-Day. And even after he got up, he was sure the D-Day assault was just a diversion, so he didn't send any reinforcements - it took a while to change his mind on that. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

5

Madame Tussaud made death masks for people executed in the French Revolution. The death masks were made using heads cut by the guillotine - and, to make things much worse, they were often her friends (she used to be the king's sister's art tutor). NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

4

Ancient Egyptians revered beer. They drank it daily and at religious rituals, and gave it divine status. The goddess Hathor was called, among other things, The Lady of Drunkenness. Even laborers, including those who built the pyramids, got a ration of over 10 pints of beer a day. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

3

The Great Wall

The Great Wall of China is partly made of rice. The builders added sticky rice to the mortar, which made the Wall more stable and helped protect it against earthquakes and exposure to the elements. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

2

The UK dumped about 1.17 million tons of weapons in a deep sea trench. The sea above Beaufort Dyke They kept dumping both conventional and chemical weapons from the '20s to the '70s into Beaufort Dyke, which has caused underwater explosions over the years. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

1

The City of Calgary uses goats to fight weeds. They began using goats in 2016 and just kept going -- in 2020, there were three different goat herds operating in the city, according to Calgary Parks. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

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