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30 Random Bits of Trivia We Smoked Out of Their Burrow Under the Shed

Salvador Dali has the most powerful mustache in history

30 Random Bits of Trivia We Smoked Out of Their Burrow Under the Shed

August 30, 2024

Neil Armstrong, what are you hiding?

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Rubber from the Amazon rainforest built the United States Navy in WWII. The U.S. lost its rubber supply due to a Japanese invasion, so they turned to Brazil - which mobilized a practical army of men to harvest rubber from the Amazon. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: Al Jazeera

29

Humans hunted the giant, venomous monitor lizard to extinction.

There was a giant, venomous, 23-foot-long monitor lizard living alongside humans in Australia. The Megalania was hunt- ed to extinction by early human inhabitants of Ice Age Australia, proving there is nothing we as a people cannot and will not kill. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — NCBI

28

Meat sealed in a vacuum pack is naturally purple, they just color it red to make it look better. That's done because purple meat looks pretty weird to consumers, of course - so carbon monoxide, rosemary extract and/or nitrite are added. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — MeatPoultry

27

Ghent, Belgium commemorates the greatest student prank in its history every year. The Battle of Gravensteen Castle happened in 1949 when students stormed Gravensteen castle, low- ered the portcullis and threw fruit from the walls at the police to protest a new tax on beer. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

26

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

25

When Dali's remains were exhumed, his mustache was still perfectly intact X His body was removed for DNA samples for a paternity case, 28 years after his death. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

24

A new form of crypto cyberattack can melt a smartphone's battery. Experts tested malware that takes control of a phone and forces it to per- form various malicious tasks on a trial device and found that it caused the battery to buckle in just 48 hours. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

23

A dam in China holds back so much water it affects the rotation of the Earth.

The Three Gorges Dam in China holds back so much water that it slows the rotation of the earth slightly. When the water level is maximum at 574 ft over sea level, the reservoir created by the dam is about 410 miles long. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Business Insider

22

Belgium and the Netherlands swapped their national borders.

In January 2018, Belgium and the Netherlands swapped land to change their national borders. Grote Polder via Zoeterwoude-Rijndijk ANWO Belgium's foreign minister noted that the agreement shows that borders can also be ex- changed peacefully. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Independent / Wikipedia

21

Basquiat was in Blondie's music video for Rapture. Debbie Harry bought Basquiat's first painting for $200. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

20

Thomas Jefferson gave his library to Congress after the British burned the Capitol in 1814. That doubled the size of the Library of Congress- there were 3,000 volumes before the fire (all of which burned down), and Jefferson sent about 6,500 volumes. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: Library of Congress

19

If you want to be a successful ice cream tester, gold-plated spoons help. the The reason it's a good idea is that you get an aftertaste if you use wood or plastic spoons and, on the other hand, silver tarnishes. So gold works best. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: Cleveland.com

18

Harvard has a book bound in human skin. The doctor who had Des destinees de l'ame bound said A book about the human soul deserved to have a human covering. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: 19 Spooky-As-Hell Now-You-Know Facts

17

McDonald's replaced its coffee stirrers purely because of cocaine. People were actually using them to snort cocaine off of, and McD didn't want their product to be associated with that, so they redesigned them. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

16

A stolen Degas painting was found in a suitcase on a bus. Worth almost a million dollars, no one on the bus claimed the painting, stolen nine years prior. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED COM — Source: BBC

15

A collegiate band has two platinum records.

The University of Southern California's Spirit of Troy is the only collegiate band to have two platinum records. They have performed at the Oscars, the Grammys, on Fleet- wood Mac's Tusk, for five U.S. Presidents, and at the fall of the Berlin Wall. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — LA Times

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30 Random Bits of Trivia We Smoked Out of Their Burrow Under the Shed

13

Most Americans don’t know New Mexico is a part of the USA,

New Mexico is the only state to have the letters 'USA' written on their license plates. STOP Many Americans don't know New Mexico is part of the United States of America, so the plates have to spell it out by saying New Mexico USA. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — ABQ Journal

12

We don't know what Neil Armstrong took to the moon. His record for his personal property kit has never been made public. During his moon trip, he took an unscheduled visit to Little West crater, off-camera. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

11

Chaplin received a 12 minute standing ovation when he accepted his honorary Oscar.

When Charlie Chaplin received his honorary Oscar, he received a 12-minute standing ovation. Chaplin was initially hesitant but decided to return to the US for the first time in 20 years, and accepted his award for the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — History

10

The spiciest part of peppers aren't the seeds. The hottest part of chili peppers are in the membrane (aka the pith). NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: NMSU

9

There was a canine romance between the USSR and the US.

John F. Kennedy's dog had puppies with the offspring of a Soviet space dog. Strelka, who had spent a day aboard Sputnik 2, had a puppy that was present- ed to JFK in 1961. The dog, Pushinka, and Charlie, the White House dog, had four puppies that JFK referred to as pupniks. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — ThoughtCo

8

For 13 years, there was a Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands. Gay activists formed it in 2004 to protest Australia refusing to recognize same-sex marriages. They dissolved it in 2017, when SSM became legal. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: De Facto Borders

7

Gulag is actually an acronym. It means Glavnoye Upra- vleniye LAGerej, which translates to Main Ad- ministration of Corrective Labor Camps and Settle- ments. Gulag sounds a lot more menacing. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

6

Female trout fake orgasms. During trout sex, the male and female both quiver, and release the egg and sperm at the same time. But sometimes, the female doesn't release her eggs, so she can keep them for another mate (plus, having more fake orgasms apparently attracts more male trout). NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

5

Catherine Zeta-Jones insisted on playing Velma Kelly, not Roxie Hart, in Chicago. Velma is the smaller role of the two, but Zeta-Jones wanted it So she'd get to sing All That Jazz. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: Yahoo!

4

Vikings didn't wear horns. It was have been extremely impractical to battle in a horned helmet. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — National Museum of Denmark

3

McDonald's changed its French fry recipe because of a customer with a grudge. Businessman Phil Sokolof spent $3 million on ads scolding fast food restaurants for their unhealthy food. When he targeted McD specifically, they folded. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

2

Both Martin Luther King Jr. and Mohandas Gandhi attempted suicide as children. The famed leaders both suffered through severe bouts of depression later in life as well. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED COM — Source: NPR

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