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42 Random Bits of Trivia That Withered and Fell Off of the Tree of Knowledge

It’s basically raining knowledge out here today

42 Random Bits of Trivia That Withered and Fell Off of the Tree of Knowledge

November 20, 2024

Sadly, there’s only a handful of Tree of Knowledge seeds in the entire world, and anyone who’s obtained them guards them with their lives.

Luckily for us, we moved into a building with a particularly fruitful knowledge tree in the backyard. Once we were buried in facts, we knew we had to pivot to tidbit sharing. So by routinely coming to this site for random facts, you basically have your very own Tree of Knowledge in your yard, too. So there’s no need to fight some Tibetan sherpa for his seeds.

42

Lindt Chocolate

15 Feel Good Stories Of 2020 To End This Wretched Year - It snowed chocolate in Switzerland. A malfunction at a Lindt chocolate factory sent a cloud — Source: It's Snowing Chocolate In Switzerland

41

General Patton

General Patton was a genius when it came to war but dumb in his belief that shell shock wasn't a legitimate condition. He was even reprimanded for sla

40

Spelling

Unprosperousness is the longest word in which no letter occurs only once. A J D P Z K CRACKED.COM Unprosperousness means the lack of prosperity. It's also a word that includes 16 letters that are all used at least twice. — GWR

39

Ancient Rome

The first Roman fire brigade was created to be a very lucrative, paid service. CRACKED.COM The firefighters did nothing while a price was negotiat- ed. Failing to reach a deal, the structure was allowed to burn to the ground after which an offer was made to purchase it for a fraction of its value. — Trivia Library

38

Alien: Covenant

The transmission in Alien: Covenant was originally a prayer. But Ridley Scott it was too corny and used a John Denver song instead. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Movie Scenes That Were Supposed To Play Out Differently

37

Icelandic Parents

Parents in Iceland often leave their infants outside in the stroller when they go to restaurants. CRACKED.COM Iceland's crime rate is so low, there is basically no need to worry about the babies. This became a common occurrence when tuberculosis took over in the 20th century, to give the children fresh air. — Source

36

Van Damme

MONACO FOREVER Jean-Claude Van Damme CAST Michael CHARLES PITT Trollop One NANCY BROCK Troilop Two DANIELLE ROMÉ Gay Karata Man JEAN CLAUDE VANDAM Italian Daughter ANGELINI BANDINI Italian Mother MRS. NARDINI Hobo BILL WHITE Medi (Fräulein) NANCY ZINZELL Linda MARTHA FERRIS American Tourist SYDNEY LASSICK Fisherwemen GISELLE TSOBANIAN CRACKED.COM JC was credited as Gay Karate Man in his first film role. — Source

35

The Puritans

Late 16th-century Puritan communities in Southern Britain saw common names as too worldly. GRACKED COM They opted to name chil- dren with bizarre strings of religious slogans, such as Jesus-Christ-came-in- to-the-world- to-save, and Job-raked-out- of-the-ashes. — Source

34

Star Studies

THE YEAR WAS 1922... ANNIE JUMP CANNON'S SPECTRAL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM WAS ADOPTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION A woman of many firsts in the science world, she was known as the census taker of the sky and forever changed how astronomers classify stars. She herself classified about 350,000 stars, manually. CRACKED.COM — Source

33

Star Wars

The Phantom Menace's Darth Maul rode around on a giant blue rocking horse. That's what stood in for his cool hoverbike. It didn't even have handles, s

32

Houdini

Harry Houdíni CRACKED COM Before he died, the magician and his wife created a secret way to communicate to test whether seances were real. After his death, his wife held unsuccessful seances for a decade. — Source

31

Jonah Peretti

Chelsea Peretti's brother Jonah came up with two of the biggest media sites. DMVONT hCrunch DISRUPT He co-founded BuzzFeed, and in 2005 also co-founded The Huffington Post (with Ken Lerer and Arianna Huffington, who reached out after an email of his went viral). CRACKED.COM — Source: Elle, CNBC

30

Dogs

Dogs grieve other dogs they live with Dog lovers won't be surprised to learn that 90% of dogs will 'mourn' dogs who lived in the same household for months after the death. Negative reactions include eating less and seeking more attention. CRACKED.COM — Source: New Scientist

29

Rich People

MUKESH AMBANI BUILT A HOME FOR AROUND $1 BILLION. The richest man in India built his 400,000-square foot private residence in Mumbai. It has 27-storie

28

The Statue of Liberty

The hand of the Statue of Liberty sat in an NYC park for six years. They sent the hand (with the torch) to be displayed in the US to raise the funds needed for finishing the statue - it took years, but it worked. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — VinePair

27

Blinking

BLINK AND YOU'LL MISS IT CRACKED.COM 1 blink is 100 milliseconds, and we blink roughly every 6 seconds, so that's 1/60th of our awake time. If we get 8 hours of sleep per night, then we're awake 2/3rds of hopefully an 80 year lifetime, and at that rate, we're blinking for 0.9 years of our lives. — Source

26

Fly Larvae

CRACKED FLY LARVAE: NATURE'S LITTLE MIRACLE WORKERS. Certain types of fly larvae, like blow flies, are used to this day in medical treatments to get rid of decaying tissue in wounds and release fluids that can fight off viruses and bacteria. — Source

25

Deadpool

Deadpoor's non-linear plot was just a way to save on filming action scene. They didn't have the money for a big action scene at the start plus more action scenes throughout the first act, so they shot just one and broke it up with flashbacks. — Source: FilmSchoolRejects

24

Stephen Colbert

STEPHEN COLBERT BROKE UP A NORM MACDONALD FIGHT 1997 CRACKED.COM LATE-NIGHT SOCCER GAMES WOULD BREAK OUT IN THE SNL HALLS. GUEST WRITER COLBERT WOULD JUMP IN, INCLUDING A GAME WHERE MACDONALD GOT INTO A HUGE FIGHT WITH INTERN WYATT CENAC. COLIN QUINN HELPED COLBERT PULL THE TWO COMICS APART. — Source

23

Crypto

In 2018, 50 Cent realized he had a bunch of Bitcoins (worth millions at that point). When his album Animal Ambition came out in 2014, he became the first artist to accept BTC and received 700 ВТС. 4 years later, that pile was worth $8 million. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

22

Nacho Libre

Sergio Gutierrez Benitez was a Mexican priest who fought as mysterious masked wrestler Fray Tormenta, then used his winnings to buy food for orphans. — Source: 6 Real People With Secret Identities Nobody Saw Coming

21

Jurassic Park

Classic movies crushed at the box office Last Action Hero was flattened by Jurassic Park. Last Action Hero was a box office flop, quickly losing to Jurassic Park which came back into theaters. CRACKED — Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures
MEL Magazine

20

Cats

Cats can't taste sweetness Cats, from house cats to lions, are the only mammals that don't have sweetness receptors. CRACKED.COM — Source: Scientific American

19

Katy Perry

Beloved celebrities who used to be hated KATY PERRY got a lot of hate in 2018 for backing Hillary Clinton and changing her look from the usual standard of beauty. People also weren't too happy with her judging on the new version of American Idol, or her jokes with the contestants. CRACKED — Featureflash Photo Agency/Shutterstock
Yahoo Style

18

Early Films

The first copyrighted motion picture. 1894 CRACKED COM W.K. Dickson copyrighted Fred Ott's Sneeze, a 5-second film of Thomas Edison's assistant snorti

17

Poltergeist

THE ACTOR PLAYING ROBBIE ALMOST GOT STRANGLED FOR REAL WHILE FILMING POLTERGEIST. In the 1982 film, Robbie gets strangled by the animated clown doll, but while filming the scene, the arms of the props doll was way too tight. Actor Oliver Robbins screamed that he couldn't breathe, but Spielberg thought Robbins was just improvising... until he saw the kid's face turn purple. CRACKED.COM — Source: 16 Facts About The Making Of Your Favorite Horror Movies

16

2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A Space Odyssey The opening theme mirrors the movie's overarching plot. Richard Strauss' Thus Spoke Zarathustra is based on Friedrich Neitzsche's philosophical book of the same name, about a journey to evolve beyond the human condition. — Source: Engines of Our Ingenuity

15

Mary Poppins

MARY POPPINS The books by P. L. Travers: Mary Poppins is a harsh, unlikable nanny. The movie: Mary Poppins is the — Source: Book Riot

14

Ben-Hur

MYTH: Someone was killed on Ben-Hur There's a rumor that a stuntman died while they were filming the chariot race scene in the 1959 version of Ben-Hur, and that it was left in the movie. That's not true at all, actually. CRACKED — Source

13

FirstEnergy

WEIRD WORLD A company can't figure out how it spent 460 million dollars. A 390 6556960 - DOLLA THE RESERVE VISTE TEEK UNITED STATES OF AMERICA D adidas IK1758282A Mode 05471231 4 DERAL RESERVE NOTE NOTE B EU 50 SHL FirstEnergy was supposed to spend that money on modernizing its electric grid, CRACKED.COM happened. but there's zero evidence that that actually — Source

12

Pilots

About HALF of airline pilots admit to falling asleep during flight. ONE THIRD report waking up to find the other pilot asleep as well. CRACKED COM — Source

11

Video Games

One of the largest battles in video game history cost $330,000. CRACKED.CO The Bloodbath of B-R5RB was fought in the MMORPG EVE Online in 2014, and lasted 21 hours. The conflict pitted two factions, the Russian alliances and Clusterfuck Coalition against the N3 Coalition and Pandemic Legion alliance, with 7,548 active users. The cost of the losses, using the market value of in-game item PLEX which can be purchased with real currency, is estimated to be $330,000. — Source

10

Frankie Muniz

Frankie Muniz was a pretty good race car driver. AC TOYOTA ta54 TA ESTONE W TOYOT CRACKED COM Starting out driving the pace car at the Daytona 500 in 2001, he worked his way up the ranks of professional racing over the course of a decade. He was ultimately sidelined by — Source: First Episode / Last Episode: 15 Career Changes No One Saw Coming

9

The Dublin Airport

A tombstone accidentally left behind in the Dublin airport read you will always be remembered, never forgotten. CRACKED.COM Also left behind at the Dublin airport: a toilet seat and cistern, a life-size mannequin, hu- man ashes, false teeth and a glass eye, and a live turtle. — Source

8

The Civil War

The U.S. was still paying a Civil War pension in 2016. Irene Triplett in 2016 The sum was $73.13 per month, paid to one Irene Triplett (b. 1929), the daughter of a soldier who fought on both sides of the Civil War. When she was born, her father Mose was a spry 83. CRACKED.COM — Source

7

Theranos

CRACKED KEPT LYING AFTER A JOURNALIST'S INVESTIGATION After the Wall Street Journal investigated ELIZABETH HOLMES' company Theranos, Forbes changed her net worth to zero. She then said in an interview: First they think you're crazy, then they fight you, and then, all of a sudden, you change the world. — Source

6

Frozen

DISNEY'S FROZEN RIPPED OFF A SHORT FILM. CRACKED Kelly Wilson's short The Snowman was almost entirely copied for the Frozen trailer. She submitted it to Disney as a job application, and sued them for ripping off the plot, themes, dialogue, mood, setting, and characters. They settled out of court. — SMH / Angel Matos

5

Kiefer Sutherland

CRACKEDGON Kiefer Sutherland lost $900,000 in a cattle deal gone wrong. 93 The scam was presented as a chance to resell cheap Mexican cattle in the St

4

Manhattan

MANHATTAN il A won the BAFTA Award for best film in 1980. SH MEXUAL - - - In retrospect, it's unseemly to praise Woody Allen for making a film about his romance with a teenage girl. CRACKED.COM — Source

3

Octopuses

CRACKED OCTOPUSES: NINE BRAINS, ONE GOAL (FOOD). Octopuses are incredibly smart for invertebrates, with nine brains - one in each arm and one in the middle of their bodies. They can figure out mazes and puzzles, especially when there's a tasty reward at the end. — Andrea Izzotti/Shutterstock
The Conversation

2

Cereal Box Toys

Spring-Propelled Rockets FREE FREE! INSIDE High-flying High flying TWO STAGE INSIDE! TWO STAGE Rocket ROCKET des back Count down... press the launcher IT and off a soons separating in.aid - package Comes uned of blue Made of identity plastic Actual length PC SUGAR SWEET HOW TO ASSEMBLE AND OPERATE WHEAT Place . Seperate process Lock postim booder i Song - - - (with book does Twistapring - L when ready HONEYS Person 1 Stide Seomething MA - GRACKED .COM 3... 2... 1... Lift off! In the late 50s and early 60s, Wheat Honeys & Rice Honeys were popular Nabisco cereals that offered a high-flying — Source

1

Chipotle

CRACKED CHIPOTLE LIED ABOUT BEING GMO-FREE. They announced that their food was GMO-free in 2015, but their meat and dairy still came from animals fed on GMOs. Chipotle attorneys said, no reasonable consumer would expect that the non-GMO claims would be so strictly applied. — Mashed / Barrons

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