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36 Random Trivia Tidbits to Launch Through Your Forehead Like a Molotov Cocktail

You’ve never truly felt the explosive power of a fact — until now

36 Random Trivia Tidbits to Launch Through Your Forehead Like a Molotov Cocktail

October 09, 2024

Has your brain wronged a spicy group of facts by any chance? Because they seem pissed.

In fact, word on the street is that these ones in particular are plotting a fiery attack that will no doubt leave your brain in ruins. They’re facts, so either way your brain is sure to get something out of the whole ordeal. But after this full-blown bombardment, it will need at least a couple of days to recover.

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36

The first PG-13 rating. 1984 CRACKED.COM Even though it clocked in at 134 acts of violence per hour (Guinness counted), Red Dawn was the first film to officially find itself between PG and R. — Source: 16 Game-Changing Movie Firsts

35

36 Random Trivia Tidbits to Launch Through Your Forehead Like a Molotov Cocktail — Source: PBS

34

Felicity Huffman

Fallen Celebrities Then vs. Now FELICITY HUFFMAN can boast an Emmy and a Golden Globe. SHE CAN ALSO BOAST 14 DAYS IN PRISON for a college admission bribery scandal. Lori Loughlin was also involved, but Huffman is, you know, a much better actress- so her downfall actually darkens the movie industry, and not just Full House reboots. CRACKED.COM — Source

33

Andrew Jackson is probably in your wallet right now. He was a national hero, and was elected by popular vote. As President, he sought to act as the direct 92059 representative of the common man. STATES TED RESERVE SYS1 AZ LEGALTENDER PUBLIC THE Roses CRAZY: He He had a violent temper and was constantly challenging people to duels. The number of duels Jackson participated in ranges from 13 to hundreds, depending on the source. He had SO many bullets in his body that he rattled like a bag of marbles when he walked. CRACKED.COM Wallace 2004 Character Profiles In Presidential — Source: 24 Famous (And Insane) Historical Figures

32

Comedies ruined by bad behavior The Ellen DeGeneres Show After BuzzFeed detailed allegations of racial insensitivity, sexual harassment and bullying, DeGeneres did one last season before calling it quits. A Twitter thread asked people to share stories of DeGeneres being mean, and it quickly received over 2,600 replies. CRACKED — Source

31

Australia had a Rum Rebellion.

One of the currencies in early colonial Australia was Rum. GETV BLENDED VX MELANCE ALAMAN DOMAINE APPLETON ESTATE SINCE-DEPUIS 1749 - 47kcal RHUM JAMA PRODUCT CRACKED.COM New South Wales Corps of- ficers bought up all the im- ported rum and estab- lished a monopoly on its trade. It resulted in Austra- lia's first and only military coup. It would later be called the Rum Rebellion. — AU News

30

Libertarians and Cults

American Libertarians funded a violent cult. In one of the countless harebrained Libertarian attempts at a micronation, a group called the Phoenix Foundation provided guns and funds to a cult leader named Jimmy Stevens, who wanted to secede from Vanuatu. The foundation faded away after Stevens' attempt failed in 1980. CRACKED.COM — More: 6 Grand Mastermind Coups (That Fell Apart Immediately)

29

The Enterprise in The Next Generation had dolphin and whale crewmembers. CETACEAN NAVIGATION LAB CETACEAN LIFEBOAT (1 OF 4) WET/DRY ACCESS LOCK CETACEAN OPS According to a 1991 technical manual, there's a Cetacean Navigation Lab with 12 bottlenose dolphins and two whales who act as supervisors. This is never shown on-screen, but it's occasionally alluded to in dialogue and set design. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

28

Yoko Ono put a stop to a Weird Al parody of a Beatles song.

Weird Al intended to parody the Beatles Free as a Bird on his album Bad Hair Day. CRACKED.COM Paul McCartney gave permission for the parody, but since John Lennon wrote the song, he passed the decision on to Yoko Ono, who said no. — Weird Al

27

Aladdin was modeled after Tom Cruise. Animator Glen Keane originally envisioned the Disney hero looking like Michael J. Fox, but went with Cruise when

26

The new millennium has been kind to the King.

CRACKED ELVIS EARNED ALMOST $1 BILLION SINCE THE YEAR 2000. At the time of his death in 1977, Elvis Presley's net worth was around $5 million, but his estate has earned roughly $924 million in the 21st century so far. His albums continue to sell, and Graceland alone brings in over $10 million per year. — Parade

25

THE STORY THAT INSPIRED NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION IS ABOUT VIOLENT CRIME. In Vacation '58, the Griswolds go to Disneyland but find it closed, So Cla

24

Jurassic Park

Inconspicuous CGI Jurassic Park Ariana Richards' stunt double fell through the roof wonderfully, but glanced at the camera. So they digitally composited the actress' face on her- decades before digital doubles were common. CRACKED.COM — Sources: TGN Star Wars/YouTube, WatchMojo.com/YouTube
Image Credit: Universal Pictures

23

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding was watched by 30 million Americans.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding was watched by nearly 30 million viewers in the U.S. CRACKED.COM This is more than the Friends, Cheers, Seinfeld, and M*A*S*H finales combined. This is noth- ing compared to Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana's wedding, in which 750 million people worldwide tuned in. — CNBC

22

Jim Carrey needed CIA training to get through How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It took eight and a half hours to apply the Grinch makeup, and Carrey says it felt like being buried alive each day.' So they called in someone who trained CIA agents how to get through torture, — Source: RadioTimes

21

Audiences scored “Thumbelina” higher when it followed the Disney logo.

20

Volcanic ash stopped all four engines on a British Airways flight in 1982.

CRACKED A VOLCANO STOPPED ALL THE ENGINES OF AN AIRLINER. In 1982, British Airways Boeing 747 flight BA 009 lost thrust from all four engines at 37,000 ft due to volcanic ash. The crew was able to restart the engines after about 15 minutes and safely landed the plane. YGD BRITISHARVALS — Fasttailwind/Shutterstock
The Aviation Geek Club

19

One of America's first serial killers was captured and decapitated by a mountain man. In 1863, Tom Tobin hunted down Felipe Espinosa, who killed 32 innocent civilians, and single-handedly de- capitated him and his ac- complices. Tobin was paid with a Henry rifle for the killings. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

18

A luxury apartment sits at the top of the Eiffel Tower. Gustave Eiffel had it built for himself when the tower went up, and kept it secret for a long time. He'd get offered crazy sums for a night in it, but always said no. It didn't open to the public until 2015, 90 years after he died. CRACKED.COM — Source

17

A weasel shut down the Large Hadron Collider.

The Large Hadron Collider had to be temporarily shut down when a weasel fell in. GRACKED.COM A spokesman for Cern said that the weasel did not get into the tunnels, just the electrical facilities. The unfortunate creature did not survive the encounter with a high-voltage transformer. — BBC

16

When Viggo Mortensen screamed and fell to his knees in The Two Towers, he was in real pain. It wasn't his way of playing Aragorn's anguish at the (presumed) death of two hobbits - i it it's just because, when he hit the helmet on-screen, he broke both of his toes and probably couldn't keep standing anymore. CRACKED.COM — Source

15

Seinfeld's lawyers allowed the real J. Peterman to review the script for every episode that featured him. The show lawyers ар- proached the real John Ре- terman after the first epi- sode and allowed him to review each script before it aired. That same year, the J. Peterman Company posted a $400,000 loss. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

14

Eight years before Brown VS. Board of Education Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez challenged the segregation in their childrens' school system. Their succe

13

Octave Chanute gave the Wright brothers designs, support, and financial backing. He's also been proven to be the designer of the first functioning airplane, predating the Wrights by four years. Chanute and the Wright brothers had a falling out, because Chanute felt the technology they were working on should be shared freely. photo: Getty Editorial http://www.lib.niu.edu/2001/iht810114,html CRACKED.COM http://www.theguardian.com/business/2003/dec/01/theairlineindustry.g2 — Source

12

Light colors confuse and repel mosquitos.

Wearing light colors will help repel mosquitos. CRACKED.COM Light colors don't produce shadows like darker shades. Mos- quitoes won't be able to sense your pres- ence as easily. — Mosquito Joe

11

IN 1987, APPLE RELEASED A PROMO VIDEO IMAGINING not FUTURE TECHNOLOGY. our iPlayer IT SHOWED A TABLET COMPUTER WITH VIDEO CHAT AND VOICE-BASED SEARCH. The scene was supposed to take place on september 16, 2011. The iPad ended up coming out in 2010. The first Apple tablet with a voice- based assistant (siri) came out september 2011, within two weeks of the date the video predicted. CRACKED.COM — Source

10

Project Sunshine was about stealing dead body tissue for radiation experiments. In the '50s, the US government had a worldwide network which collected samples, mostly bone, from cadavers to research possible health problems from nuclear explosions. They took 1,500 samples, from both children and adults, without the consent of the deceased's families. CRACKED.COM — Source

9

Dream On

BAD HABITS that are good for you DAYDREAMING improves problem-solving. Forget what your teachers said: Daydreaming actually helps you concentrate better in the long run, as well as rehearse scenarios and increase your creativity. They were just mad they weren't interesting. CRACKED — HBRH/Shutterstock
Inc.com

8

Cable company charges deceased customer for her own murder.

Spectrum cable charged a customer for services that ended with their murder. LUNAR D MARK INAL U VENIRS NATU IT DEAR are - TV HD INTERNET Spectrum VOICE spectrum.com 855-70-SPECTRUM CRACKED.COM Attorneys said Thomas' family later received a bill from Spectrum that includ- ed a $58 charge for the murderer's service call and continued to receive bills for service weeks after Thomas died. — WFAA

7

A father from Virginia claimed an uninhabited bit of Sudan for his seven-year-old.

A Virginian man planted a flag near Egypt so his daughter could be a princess. CRACKED.COM The flag was placed in Bir Tawil, a 2,060 square km swath of land between Egypt and Sudan that is the last habitable land on earth that is not taken or claimed by any government. — The Guardian

6

Red hair in lated central Asia The red hair gene mutation failed to provide sun protection, but when people starting migrating to Northern Europe, the pale-skinned mutants were able to produce Vitamin D BETTER. CRACKED.COM — Source: Washington Post

5

The Thames is one of the world's great rivers, and contains comes a shocking amount of islands. Some tiny, some large enough to be inhabitable, there are around 180 river islands, or eyots on the Thames. CRACKED.COM — Source

4

George Takei

Celebrities Who Ran For Office George Takei The Star Trek actor dabbled in the political arena throughout his life. Не was an alternate delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1972, and in 1973 he ran for LA city council. Не was appointed to the Southern California Rapid Transit District, serving from 1973 to 1984. CRACKED.COM Charm Chatranty Delegeta, Nester, Democracia Active smm Getty Eczees PESSAM Member, ARATION CEVER Scheet Sex - EDUCATION destain Moderater, Committee . affeire .. - DE 300m COUNCIL DESTRUCT FOR — Discover Nikkei

3

The Wizard of Oz

THE WIZARD OF OZ WASN'T PROFITABLE FOR YEARS. Fantasy movies are a big draw today - but in 1939, audiences weren't too keen on magical tornado rides to alternate universes. It didn't help that the movie cost a ton of money to make. MGM didn't turn a profit on it until the 1949 re-release. CRACKED COM — Source: 15 Movies And Shows (That Started Out As Flops)

2

Oklahoma has a panhandle because of Texas' racism. Liberal Loktahoma City Clinton Z Oklah Amarillo Lawton Wichita Falls When Texas joined the U.S. in 1845, a lil' bit part of it was in territory where slavery was illegal - so they just chopped it off, because being able to remain a slave state was more important. That land strip was a chaotic outlaw paradise for decades, until Oklahoma took it in in 1890. CRACKED.COM — Source

1

30 Rock / Jenna & Pete

Jenna and Pete were almost a couple. The storyline didn't make it past a table read. People didn't like how Pete would be cheating on his wife. BEHIND-THE-SCENES CRACKED.COM — Source: 14 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About '30 Rock'

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