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Something for every brain out there

35 Delicious Bits of Trivia That Are Gluten-Free, Guaranteed

November 22, 2024

It’s pretty safe to say that we’ve come to be known for our inclusive fact menu. We stand by our guarantee that every list will have at least a few facts for every reader. We wouldn’t want a vegan reader to be scrolling through butcher-shop facts, or a gluten-free reader to take in fact after fact about the Saskatchewan wheat fields.

Whatever your preferences and/or restrictions, your entire table is leaving here satisfied.

35

Hannibal Lecter

Hannibal Lecter was partly inspired by Anthony Hopkins' drama school teacher. His movement teacher Christopher Fettes had a cutting voice, and he would slice you to pieces. His analysis of what you were doing was so precise. So he made Lecter act the same way in Silence of the Lambs. — Source: SyFy

34

The Olympics

Bekoji is a small town in Ethiopia. It has around 17 000 citizens. Runners from this town won over 30 world championships and 16 Olympic medals. For reference that is more than India won in the history of the Olympics, with its 1.2 billion citizens! CRACKED.COM — Source

33

The Loch Ness Monster

ONE GUY HAS BEEN SEARCHING FOR NESSIE FOR THREE DECADES. Steve Feltham has devoted his life to trying to figure out what's going on with the Loch Ness Monster. Не quit his job and sold his house in Dorset to move to the loch back in 1991. Today, he says he thought the whole thing would be easier. CRACKED — Jose Ivan/Shutterstock
BBC

32

USB

The inventor of the USB says his team blew it. by not making the plug work both ways. Ajay Bhatt said that would need more wires and circuits, so it would have been more expensive - they thought about it, but it would have cost too much. Still, 20 years after inventing it, he says that was a mistake and the USB plug was good, but not good enough. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

31

The Translation of Gulag

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 — H Net

30

MIT’s Pirate Certificate

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers a pirate certificate. MASSACHVSETTS INSTITVTE OF TECHNOLOGY CRACKED COM This honor is achieved by students who complete the archery, sailing, fencing, and pistol or rifle shooting courses. The department frequently holds pirate in- duction days. — Source

29

The Cannabis Ambulance

WEIRD WORLD Maine has a cannabis ambulance that makes house calls. CAL MARSUARSA RAOTITIONERS TIFICATION UNIT CIHIID E 210-0MMP ESNSLION People living in the Greater Portland area can receive a visit from the ambulance, which allows people who can't leave their house to meet with a licensed clinician as part — Source: WCYY

28

Seth Meyers

Children's books written by celebrities Seth Meyers TEL I'm Not Scared, YOU'RE Scared! pictures by Rob SayeghJr. I'm Not Scared, YOU'RE Scared! by Seth Meyers The talk show host wrote a story about an anxiety-ridden bear who has to overcome his fears so they don't rule over his life. (No word of a sequel book with the Charmin Bears to discuss toilet training dread.) CRACKED.COM — Kathy Hutchins/Shutterstock,
Flamingo Books
Storyline Online/YouTube

27

Lenny Bruce

Lenny Bruce spent most of the 1960s fighting obscenity charges. Не was busted in San Francisco, Philly, Los Angeles, and Chicago, where a conviction was overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court. Woody Allen testified at Lenny's New York obscenity trial -- he was convicted and sentenced to four months. Не was appealing when he died of a drug overdose. CRACKED.COM — Source: 11 Comedians Whose Risky Humor Got Them in Big-Time Trouble

26

Jackie Coogan

CRACKED A CHILD ACTOR'S PARENTS SPENT ALL HIS MONEY In 1938, actor Jackie Coogan tried to get back the money he had earned as a kid actor from his own parents, but it didn't work out and he only ended up with $35,000. — Collider

25

Cicadas

Ninjas used cicadas to help them sneak up on enemies without being detected. They had a box with a cicada, and they'd use the cicada's sound to drown out their footsteps and any other loud noises they'd end up making. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Japan Daily

24

Britain’s First Satellite

Ariel-1, Britain's very first satellite, was put into orbit on April 26, 1962. It was accidentally destroyed weeks later after the US military detonated a 1.4 megaton nuclear weapon called Starfish-Prime in the upper atmosphere. CRACKED.COM — Source

23

Criminal Minds

Thomas Gibson is an alleged shin kicker. CRIMINAL MINDS CRACKED.COM His bad behavior finally caught up with him after kicking a writer/producer in the shins during a dialogue disagreement that went off the rails. — Source

22

Hidden Details

CRACKED Ghirlandaio's 15th-century The Madonna with Saint Giovannino contains a baffling detail that looks a lot like a flying saucer, with a dogwalker pointing at it. It's probably not incontrovertible proof of aliens, but, you know, maybe it is. — Source

21

Harry Potter

The Harry Potter series' popularity led to an increase in owl trafficking. According to one owl sanctuary, the demand for pet owls basically doubled or tripled overnight. This has prompted concerns that a so-called Harry Potter effect could deplete wild owl populations in Indonesia. CRACKED.COM — Source: Harry Potter' Has Been a Nightmare For Real-Life Owls

20

American Bread

BREAD To visitors from other countries, American bread tastes like cake. That's because manufacturers add a ton of high-fructose corn syrup-the stuff is so cheap there, thanks to corn subsidies. Some people think American bread tastes better. Others think the sweetness makes it incompatible with any kind of topping. CRACKED.COM — Source

19

Walmart’s Fox and Donkey Meat

Product Recalls Five Spice Donkey Meat In January 2014, Walmart had to take back donkey meat in China because it contained entirely too much fox (which is to say, more than zero percent of it). They apologized to customers and gave them their money back. Walmart B CRACKED — testing/Shutterstock,
Eric Isselee/Shutterstock
CNN

18

Bernie Madoff

CRACKED COM 9 LEY CF T EY C FO John Malkovich and Larry King lost $1.7M and $700,000, respectively, to Bernie Madoff's investing scheme. King was fortunate enough to get all of his money back, while Malkovich only got $508,000 back, which he claimed ruined him financially. — Source

17

Cowboy Hats

Cowboys of the Wild West typically wore Bowler style hats. Stetson style cowboy hats were only popularized at the end of the 19th century. CRACKED.COM — Source: 18 Historical Moments That Get Pictured Wrong

16

Iranian Viper

There's an Iranian viper that's equipped with a fake spider at the end of its tail. The structure resembles a spider but it's actually a lure to attract birds - when scientists first saw it, they thought it was an abnormal growth. CRACKED.COM — Source

15

Matt Stone and Trey Parker

To get funding for CANNIBAL! THE MUSICAL Matt Stone and Trey Parker shot a three-minute preview, complete with costumes and songs, and, as Parker says, went around to people and said 'Hey, we need finishing money for our movie. They'd leave out that they also needed starting money, as they would be starting over from scratch. CRACKED.COM — Source

14

Impulse Purchasing

CRACKED.COM When possible, WALK to the store. Research shows impulse purchasing increases by 44%, just by taking your car with you. — Source

13

The Metric System

CRACKED COM There are currently three countries that do not use the metric system-Burma, Liberia, and the United States. 2 a 81 LI 10FEET 3m s 3 Many U.S. industries have been slow to adopt the metric system, but it is becoming standard in certain areas of science, medicine, and government. — Source

12

Katy Perry

CRACKED 2017 S Katy Perry was denied entry to China. At a 2015 concert, she'd worn a dress printed with sunflowers, the symbol of the Taiwanese resistance. It was likely an innocent coincidence, though she also wore the Taiwanese flag, but she probably didn't know what that was, either. — Tinseltown/Shutterstock
The Guardian

11

Akon’s Cologne

Celebrity Colognes and Perfumes KONVICT by Akon The rapper created fragrances for men and women in bottles with handcuff-oriented designs. Because if you want to go HARD, you gotta smell like bergamot and lemon like a prisoner does. in AKÓN KONVICT EAU DE PARFUM-FEMME-SOMI 3.7FL OZ K2 KONVICT CRACKED.COM — Source: Now Smell This

10

Nine-Year-Old Yale Prodigy

CRACKED NINE-YEAR-OLD BOBBI WILSON HAS ALREADY ACHIEVED MORE THAN MOST OF US WILL IN OUR LIFETIMES. Bobbi Wilson, who made headlines when cops were called on her while she was trying to get rid of spotted lanternflies in her neighborhood, was honored at Yale for her work. She donated her lanternfly collection to Yale's Peabody Museum, and it'll be named after her. Yale Yale SCHOOL SCHOOL OF PUBLIC OF PUBLIC HEALTH HEALTH Ya Vale Yale OOL SCHOOL SCH OF PUBLIC OF BLIC HEALTH H Yale Yale SCHOOL SCHOOL OF PUBLIC OF PUBLIC HEALTH — Yale

9

‘The Million Dollar Man’ Ted DiBiase

Rich Jerks G GE WWF The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase Не was raised by $ DO professional wrestlers. DE S to Before he grew up to become The Million Dollar S Man, little Ted was the son of pro wrestler Helen Hild and stepson of Iron Mike DiBiase. CRACKED.COM — Source: TheSporster

8

Hot Fuzz

For Hot Fuzz, Edgar Wright was inspired by Tony Scott's editing style in Domino (2005). Не used that (pretty dramatic) style for the scenes where Nick does paperwork, because the cops he'd interviewed while making the film said they'd never seen a movie dramatize the paperwork involved in policing. CRACKED.COM — Film School Rejects

7

Super Mario

Mario wouldn't have that name if Nintendo wasn't late on rent. When Nintendo created the Mario sprite, he looked like a plumber, but was called Mr. Vi

6

Flavor Flav

Flavor Flav CRACKED.cO COM Home decor fashion icon Flavor Flav was considered a musical prodigy as a child. He taught himself how to play multiple ins — Source: Cracked

5

Alien

CRACKED.COM John Hurt was a late addition to the crew Of the NoStroMO. British thespian Jon Finch played Kane for a short time while shooting Alien. T

4

Marc Maron

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM MARC MARON SAYS YOU SHOULDN'T BOTHER WITH ANY KIND OF EDUCATION. Well, for comedy, anyway - - he says that you just have to do it. There's no schooling; the's no anything. Find a place where you can get on stage and do it. — Source

3

Spines in Space

SPINAL DISKS CUSHION YOU AGAINST GRAVITY. IN SPACE, THESE BECOME USELESS. So your vertebrae drift and extend your spine. The good news: you get taller. The bad news: chronic back pain as a very nerve-dense part of your body suddenly stretches like an accordion. Oh, and the nerves themselves are also in danger of getting damaged. CRACKED.COM — Source

2

Prince

Prince CRACKED.COM The Artist preferred everything in his dressing room be wrapped in cling wrap, SO he could unwrap it himself. Bubble wrap sounds like it'd be more satisfying, but what do I know? — 16 Oddly Specific Celeb Demands

1

The Irishman

The de-aging process in The Irishman involved shooting with a three-camera rig. Two of the cameras were infrared - the whole thing was a replacement for a typical motion capture system that would require actors' faces to be covered in dots. CRACKED.COM — Source: Vulture

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