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28 Random Bits of Trivia We Found While Stealing Coins and Wishes From the Bottom of a Public Fountain

Looks like our wish for facts came true!

28 Random Bits of Trivia We Found While Stealing Coins and Wishes From the Bottom of a Public Fountain

September 27, 2024

A few of our fact-finding cohorts weren’t so sure, but we knew that our snorkel rental investment would totally pay off. What can we say? It looked like a particularly fact-rich fountain to us. And as expected, we not only emerged with a headful of facts, but our pockets are chock-full of coins like a medieval tax collector. This might honestly be the best day in fact-finding and wish-thieving history.

We’ll share these facts with you, but the coins are all ours!

Click right here to get the best of Cracked sent to your inbox.

28

Operation London Bridge is a detailed procedure that outlines what happens when the Queen dies. CRACKED.COM Immediately after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, her secretary will inform the Prime Minister via a se- cure phone line by saying London Bridge is down, thus initiating Operation London Bridge. — Source

27

In 1881, an Egyptian obelisk named Cleopatra's Needle was erected in NYC's Central Park. CRACKED COM A capsule buried beneath holds the 1870 census, a Bi- ble, a Webster's Dictionary, the complete works of Shakespeare, a guide to Egypt, and a copy of the Declaration of Independence. — Source

26

The visual effects for the 1988 film Willow were later used in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. CRACKED.COM Industrial Light & Magic creat- ed visuals for Willow which led to a breakthrough in digi- tal morphing technology. The techniques developed for se- quences where characters morph into different animals were later used in T2. — Source

25

The oldest existing photograph of a US President was bought at an antique shop for 50 cents. CRACKED COM The image is from August 1843, of a then 76-year-old John Quincy Adams who did not ар- prove any of the photos taken that day-but a daguerreo- type from that sitting surfaced at an antiques shop in 1970, priced at 50 cents. — Source

24

McDonald's has a deal with Coca-Cola to get the best deal. M CRACKED.COM As a matter of company policy, Coke sales teams are prohibited from selling syrup to other restaurants for less than what McDon- ald's pays, even if that means losing business to Pepsi-Cola. — Source

23

The largest black hole ever found shines with the brightness of a hundred trillion stars. CRACKED.COM TON 618 is a hyperlumi- nous quasar that possesses an ultramassive black hole that consumes galaxies' worth of matter. It is great- er than the mass of all the stars in the Milky Way gal- аху combined. — Source

22

Cold Stone's No Drip ice cream doesn't melt because it contains Instant Pudding Mix. CRACKED.COM Someone at Cold Stone came up with an idea for an ice cream that would have the texture of Jell-O pudding. The modified food starch that sets instant pudding caused the resulting blend to gel rather than liquefy. — Source

21

In 1877, a 35-year-old attorney from Montana named George Cowan had the worst luck ever. CRACKED COM Не was shot 3 times in the head, crawled through Yel- lowstone, got burned in a forest fire, had surgery to remove the bullets, got thrown from a carriage, and his bed broke while re- ceiving care afterwards. — Source

20

CRACKED.COM A neutron star's surface gravity is a trillion times greater than the surface gravity on Earth. Everything you drop on a neutron star generates massive kinetic energy To put this into perspective, if you launch a marshmallow into a neutron star it would generate as much impact as a 3-megaton nuclear warhead. — Source

19

Many small creatures experience time faster than we do That that means larger animals (humans) be in slow motion them. to moving to appear CRACKED COM — Source

18

it's called a non-Newtonian liquid, and scientists aren't sure why it Ketchup becomes thinner when shaken behaves that way HEINZ 57 VARIETIES 19 GRAGKED.COM HEINZ TOMATO FREE KETCHUP COFFE 300 mi una — Source

17

The density of Saturn is low enough that it would float in water CRACKED.COM — Source

16

Every time you smell a violet, you're smelling it for the first time. A violet's scent comes from compounds called ionones that work by temporarily shutting off your scent receptors forcing you to immediately forget the smell.. The scent receptors then reset, and you smell the violet again for the very first time. CRACKED.COM — Source

15

As far as biologists can tell, lobsters are immortal, in the sense that they don't die of old age. Instead, they grow in size until an outside force kills them. CRACKED.COM Can there be only one? — Source

14

A ball of glass will bounce higher than a ball of rubber. GRAGKED.COM — Source

13

GRACKED.COM YOU CAN GET AMNESIA FROM AN ORGASM. Transient global amnesia is a sudden, short-term loss of memory that can follow strenuous activities. Just like, you know, plain ol' doin' it. Medical literature is full of cases of people with short spells of amnesia after having sex that turned out to be a bit too mind-blowing. — Source

12

CRACKED.COM YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN USED THE LABORATORY FROM THE ORIGINAL FRANKENSTEIN. Mel Brooks' opus nailed the look and feel of the lab from 1931's Frankenstein-because it was the same lab. For authenticity, Brooks sought out Kenneth Strickfaden, who had designed the set of the original movie. As it turned out, Strickfaden had kept most of the props in his garage. — Source

11

CRACKED.COM BLACKBERRY HIRED MachBony ACTRESSES TO FLIRT WITH GUYS IN BARS. 2 Remember BlackBerry smartphones? You probably do if an attractive woman ever asked you to enter your phone number into hers. One of the company's uncommon marketing strategies was to employ actresses to flirt with dudes so as to draw attention to the BlackBerries they carried. — Source

10

Butt plugs were sold as a cure for insanity. CRACKED.COM Dr. Young, of Dr. Young's Ide- al Rectal Dilators, wrote claiming that at least three-fourths of all the howling maniacs of the world were curable in a few weeks' time by the applica- tion of orificial methods. — Source

9

America's First Bank Robbery was nearly the perfect crime. DAY GRACKED COM $162,821 ($3.8 million to- day) had been taken from vaults of the Bank of Penn- sylvania in 1798. The cul- prit Isaac Davis was caught because he deposited the money back into the same bank. — Source

8

Russia bombed their Sukhona River in winter to break up the ice. CRACKED COM The ice dams that form in the harsh winters can cause the river to overflow, endangering 4,500 people living nearby. Two Su-34 Fullback tactical bomb- ers were ordered to bomb the dam every hour. — Source

7

Fireworks are totally illegal in Florida but are sold to ordinary people in huge quantities. CRACKED.COM Hundreds of stores across the state sell to anyone who signs a waiver saying they are for agricultural use to scare birds away from crops. — Source

6

Birds living in cities perform a type of avian rap that their rural counterparts don't. CRACKED.COM City birds also sing at a higher pitch and will try out different song types. Experts say city birds have adapted to counter back- ground noise and increase their chances of finding a mate. — Source

5

Roly Polies help decompose metal in the soil. GRACKED COM They are capable of taking in heavy metals such as copper, zinc, lead, and cadmium and crystallize these into spherical deposits in the midgut. — Source

4

3

Peter Pan is the only UK copyright that has been extended in perpetuity. CRACKED COM This means Great Or- mond Street Hospital can receive royalties forever. This has earned it the name The Copyright which never grows up. — Source

2

A drunk person shot a hole in the Alaskan oil pipeline. 562 CRACKED.COM Clean up involved digging ditches and holes to cap- ture the oil, which was be- ing vacuumed into trucks. Daniel Carson Lewis had to pay for the $17 million cleanups and received 16 years in jail. — Source

1

Eminem sued iTunes for deductions on digital download royalties. CRACKED.COM In the early days of iTunes, Universal Music Group deducted artist's iTunes royalties for costs such as packaging and breakages on digital downloads. — Source

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