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These facts hold up, but who knows for how long

34 Random Bits of Trivia We Were Infatuated With in High School But Are Looking Pretty Haggard These Days

August 31, 2024

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Facts are a lot like people. Some age like fine wine, and others age like fine milk.

We honestly don’t know if “fine milk” is even a thing. Maybe some bougie French cows get pampered and fed a strict diet of fine milk-producing grasses, but we’ve never had the luxury of indulging.

What we’re trying to say is that since new information pops up all the time, some facts get a little weathered or even die and get reborn as a myth. The good news is, these facts look 20 years younger than they really are.

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33

THERE WAS A MYSTERIOUS FLOATING TURD ON APOLLO 10 CONFIDENTIAL I didn't do it. It ain't one of mine. I don't think it's one of mine. Mine was a little more sticky than that. that away. NASA released transcripts of the spaceflight that include a conversation of the astronauts denying that a floating poo was theirs. CRACKED.COM — Source

32

BUZZ ALDRIN'S DAD LIVED THROUGH THE WRIGHT BROTHERS' FIRST FLIGHT AND HIS SON'S MOON LANDING Edwin Aldrin was an aviator who was friends with Orville Wright. Не earned a degree in aeronautical engineering from MIT. Не was 7 years old during the first flight in 1903 and 73 during the first moon landing in 1969. CRACKED.COM — Source

31

BUZZ ALDRIN'S MOM'S MAIDEN NAME WAS MARION MOON The second person to walk on the moon had a lunar connection from birth. CRACKED.COM — Source

30

THE ICONIC WRIGHT FLIGHT PHOTO WAS THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S FIRST The photographer was John T. Daniels who had never even seen a camera before. His first photo was of the first powered flight...not bad for a noob. CRACKED.COM — Source

29

HUMANS CAN SMELL GEOSMIN BETTER THAN SHARKS CAN SMELL BLOOD IN WATER Geosmin is what makes beets taste earthy and adds to the smell of the earth after it rains. Humans are 200,000 times more sensitive to it than sharks are to blood. CRACKED.COM — Source

28

KILLER WHALES KILL GREAT WHITE SHARKS VIOLENTLY One method is to bite the sharks near their pectoral fins and then squeeze their livers out like toothpaste. CRACKED.COM — Source

27

NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALES' РОО IS NORMALLY BRIGHT ORANGE This is due to a diet of tiny crustaceans called copepods. One researcher said it floats but has the worst stink of any fecal matter. CRACKED.COM — Source

26

ALMOST 90% OF PEOPLE LIVE IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE That's where most of the land and temperate climate zone (for now) are at. Also, China and India. CRACKED.COM — Source

25

Cow Butts

RESEARCHERS HAVE PAINTED EYES ON COW BUTTS In a four year study in Botswana, researchers discovered that fake eyes on cattle's bums prevented attacks from predators. CRACKED.COM — Source

24

Emma Morano

EMMA MORANO WAS BORN IN 1899 AND DIED IN 2017 Morano was the last documented person born in the 1800s to die. She died at age 117, citing her old age to genes, eating three eggs a day, and being single. CRACKED.COM — Source

23

Tofu

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN INTRODUCED TOFU TO THE UNITED STATES Franklin wrote the first known letter that references tofu (what he called Chinese cheese) to reach American soil. CRACKED.COM — Source

22

German Chocolate Cake

GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE DOESN'T COME FROM GERMANY German's chocolate is named after Sam German, who is believed to be American or English. The cake recipe came from a Texas homemaker. CRACKED.COM — Source

21

THE ANGLO-ZANZIBAR WAR LASTED ABOUT 40 MINUTES It's considered the shortest war in history. About 500 Zanzibari soldiers and civilians died. One British seaman died. CRACKED.COM — Source

20

Mummies were shipped to America in the 1800s to use their wrappings as paper. CRACKED.COM Several shiploads of Egyp- tian mummies were import- ed so that the linen rags could be used to make ра- per to accommodate news- paper printing - which was as much as England and France combined. — Source

19

Baseball

Every ball used in an MLB game is covered in mud that comes from a secret location in New Jersey. * OFFICIA ISHOR LEAGUE R - CRACKED COM A man skims through riv- erbanks to find the mud, then refines it before it's applied to balls. It is called the Lena Black- burne Original Baseball Rubbing Mud. — Source

18

17

There is an indigenous Brazilian man believed to be the last member of his tribe. CRACKED.COM Officials call him The Man of the Hole, from the 6 feet deep holes that he digs in each home that he has abandoned. Не has sig- naled to government offi- cials before to warn them about his pitfalls. — Source

16

French law forbids official surveys accounting for racial or ethnic origin. CRACKED CON Nobody knows the exact number of people of African de- scent living in France because it officially declares itself 'color blind.' — Source

15

There are 45 genes which the human species has likely 'stolen' from worms and bacteria. ATTACCGACGA TACGAGTTCTT TGTTGCEGCTGATACO AAAGA GCGCTCCG GTATGTTGGACCGAGT CRACKED.COM They have not simply been passed on from our primitive ancestors. In- stead, they have jumped directly into the human genome in the last couple of million years. — Source

14

Sarah Thomas is the NFL's only female official. CRACKED.COM Thomas earned a basket- ball scholarship to the University of Mobile, ranking fifth in the school's history, and graduated with a degree in communications. — Source

13

The Dudley Dursley actor had to wear a fat suit after the third Harry Potter movie. CRACKED.COM Harry Melling had lost so much weight that his role was almost recast. Eventu- ally it was decided that Melling would continue to play Dudley and would wear a fat suit to make him look heavier. — Source

12

The cruise ship MS Oasis of the Seas gets the gas mileage of 12 feet per gallon. MSC CRACKED COM Completed in 2010, it has a total length of 361.8 me- ters, a height of 72 meters above the sea line, and room for 6,296 passen- gers. It burns 11361 gallons of fuel each hour. — Source

11

Stevie Ray Vaughan had a dream about his own funeral a day before he died. CRACKED.COM On August 26, 1990, Stevie Ray Vaughan described a disturbing dream to his bandmates in which he witnessed his own funeral. The next day, he tragically died in a helicopter crash. — Source

10

No one knows how seals originally came to Lake Baikal in Siberia. CRACKED.COM The Baikal Seal is the only true freshwater seal on Earth, and may have trav- eled hundreds of miles to Lake Baikal from another large body of water during the last ice age before be- ing stranded. — Source

9

The Church of England co-owns Beyoncé's Single Ladies The church has invested in Hipgnosis, a company that owns the rights to thousands of songs. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

8

The song Cotton-Eyed Joe originated among enslaved people It spread quickly through the South and became a square-dance classic. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

7

About half of all astronauts on the ISS get space sickness in the first few days. It can even be fatal - if you got so sick that you vomited in your helmet, for example, the vomit could clog up the oxygen system and you'd suffocate. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

6

Dave Thomas appeared in more than 800 commercials Wendy's founder became a household name through the longest-running campaign. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

5

Suffragists

Suffragists protested at the unveiling of the Statue of Liberty (on a boat). Program WOMAN SUFFRAGE VOTES for Procession WOME They objected to a woman symbolizing liberty when women couldn't vote, so they chartered a steamer boat and held up protest banners on it. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

4

Ostrich meat is actually a lot more like beef than, say, chicken or turkey. Sure, it's poultry, but it's red and it tastes a lot like beef. In fact, all ratites (the bird family that ostriches are in) have this kind of meat. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

3

Dinosaurs lived during a time when the day was only about 23 hours long. That's because the gravity of the Moon affects the Earth's spin, and the day is very, very slowly lengthening - it took millions of years to get 1 hour longer. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

2

Brits drive on the left because of a tradition from back in the Middle Ages. Drive on left Tenez la gauche Links fahren If you rode so that approaching strangers would be to your right, you could easily draw your sword against them (assuming you're right-handed). NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

1

Sitting Bull played himself in Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show for a while. The job was easy (he just had to ride around the arena once a week) and the pay was good, but he got tired of it pretty soon anyway. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

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