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40 Rambunctious Bits of Trivia That Won’t Stop Kicking the Back of Your Brain’s Seat

Attention-starved facts that just need your brain’s approval

40 Rambunctious Bits of Trivia That Won’t Stop Kicking the Back of Your Brain’s Seat

December 04, 2024

We’ll try to keep these facts from pestering your brain, but hopefully you see that their attention-seeking tendencies are somewhat endearing. They like your brain, but they just don’t know how to properly express themselves. If you give them a quick read, they’ll feel seen enough to calm right down.

Try it now.

40

Nuke the Moon

The U.S. once considered nuking the moon UNITED STATES CRACKED.COM During the Cold War, the U.S. considered detonating a nuclear bomb in a crater to show off its nuclear power and study its effects. — Source

39

Ancient Rome

Ancient advertising Fancy menus Roman taverns would sometimes advertise, saying they had food and gambling, and their marketing materials were sometimes as clever as modern ones. For example, one tavern had a menu with the design of a gaming board. INCENA ABEMVS PISCEM PVILVM PERNAM PAONEM TORES BENA CRACKED — “Marketing an Urban Identity: The Shops and Shopkeepers of Ancient Rome,” by Rhodora G. Vennarucci

38

Steve Carell

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM Steve Carell Had His Number Retired The Office Traditionally the largest star on the show is what's known as 'Number 1 on the call sheet'. When Carrell left the show after 7 seasons, the cast and crew immortalized him by never having another number 1 on the call sheet again. — Source: Mental Floss

37

Princess Diana

Princess Diana actually performed Uptown Girl at the Royal Opera House. It was a total surprise and shock for Prince Charles on The Crown - and it was something the show didn't have to make up at all. CRACKED.COM — Vanity Fair

36

Spain

The Basque language, used in a region of Spain, is completely unique in Europe. VIN European languages are overwhelmingly members of the Indo-European family of languages -- but Basque isn't. It's not closely related to any of them. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: Science Magazine

35

Dumb and Dumber

15% UNSCRIPTED GRACKED.COM They had actors do 2 scripted takes, then let them improvise, so Peter Farrelly estimates about 15% of the movie was ad-libbed. The Most annoying sound in the world, scene, We've landed on the moon, and the heart in the doggy bag were a few of the improv-ed moments. — Source: mentalfloss

34

Michael Jackson on 9/11

He was almost at the WTC on 9/11 CRACKED.CO Jermaine Jackson says that Michael had a meeting booked at the top of one of the towers on the morning of 9/11. He only missed it because he was hung over from talking to his mom on the phone all night. — Source: Smithsonian

33

Orange Is the New Black

THE CIGARETTE-SMUGGLING ROACHES IN ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK WERE REAL TRAINED COCKROACHES. - Prop master Rachael Weinzimer said she CRACKED.COM couldn't just attach a cigarette to a cockroach and send it on its way, SO insect handlers had to teach the bugs to navigate a prototype maze they designed. — Source

32

Bucket Wheel Excavators

CRACKED 15 The Bagger 293 is a bucket-wheel excavator built in 1995 and weighs over 14,000 tons. It can clear 90 tons of earth from a building site in one go, doing up to 85,000 tons a day. It's grey and badass. — Source

31

Spaceballs

More: 'Fear Street' Was Created As An F-You To Another Author

30

Paris

At the start of the 20th century, Paris had a moving sidewalk that went 6 mph. It was over two miles long, and it got nicknamed the wooden serpent - although it's long gone, it turned out to be pretty influential. CRACKED.COM — Source: Gizmodo

29

Sickle Cell

CRACKED SICKLE CELL ANEMIA PROVIDES SOME PROTECTION AGAINST MALARIA. This is due to sickle cell genetics being prominent in areas with high malaria rates. — Source

28

Searing Meat

MYTH: TO KEEP YOUR MeAT MOIST, you need TO SEAR it. FAGT8 Searing DOESN'T LOCK in JUIceS Searing meat doesn't do a thing to keep juices inside. When

27

Monkeys

Male monkeys will pay to look at the butts of female monkeys. CRACKED COM Researchers at Duke Univer- sity Medical Center have dis- covered that male rhesus macaques will give up their juice rewards to get a peek at the rumps of female ma- caques. So like us! — Source

26

Knight of the Toilet Roll

Knight of the Toilet Roll French and English kings had a special knight whose duty was to wipe His Royal doody with a wool rag. That chevalier porte c — Source: They Eat Horses, Don't They? The Truth About the French

25

New Yorkers

New Yorkers were so excited about the first transatlantic telegraph message that they set City Hall on fire. GRACKED GOM Celebrations turning destructive are not just for big sports matches, or new. Fireworks honoring the success of the laying of the transatlantic telegraph cable set a fire at City Hall, leaving it severely damaged. — Wired

24

Stan Lee

CRACKED.COM Stan Lee tried to do smut for decades. Lee pitched a dirty comic to Playboy in the '70s, and didn't let that project's failure discourage him. Не kept pushing raunchy ideas for years, until he succeeded in the early 2000s with the cartoon Stripperella, starring Pamela Anderson. — Source: 15 Random Facts Ready To Plug Any Holes In Your Knowledge

23

9/11

CRACKED.COM Six men survived 9/11 thanks to a squeegee. All six were stuck in an elevator after the plane struck-among them veteran window washer Jan Demczur. Demczur used his squeegee to jimmy the door open and then cut through the brittle plasterboard wall. They managed to get out of the building minutes before it collapsed. — Source

22

Facebook Marketplace

WEIRD WORLD A Missouri man posted a Facebook Marketplace ad with a photo of meth. He was selling a catalytic converter, but forgot to remove the meth and syringe in the background before taking the photo. He was soon arrested. CRACKED.COM — Source: Newsweek

21

Coconuts

CRACKED.COM Coconuts in Thailand are picked by monkeys. Monkeys are much better than humans at climbing palm trees, so in Thailand they're trained for picking coconuts. Which sounds less whimsical when you learn that the monkeys are chained. Animal welfare laws exist, but coconut farmers operate in a legal gray area. — Source: 15 Random Facts We're Stroking Our Chins Over

20

The Roman Colosseum

The Roman Colosseum had a cloth awning that weighed about 24 tons. It was supported by an elaborate network of ropes, and it was there to protect the people in the Colosseum from the sun. CRACKED.COM — Source

19

Movie Memorabilia

It comer to life $1-1.5 million -amount of the highest valued movie poster. CARL LAEMMLE The poster for Boris Karloff's 1932 horror classic The Mummy went on auction in 2018, but TH wasn't sold. UNCAN GRACKED COM — Statista, YouTube

18

Dugongs

Dugongs (cousins of the manatee) are multiplying in the Great Barrier Reef. That's pretty surprising considering the damage the Reef is taking, but it's happening because seagrass, which they eat, is regrowing abundantly. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: National Geographic

17

Star Trek

In Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the first version of the scene in which Spock decides to enter the inner sanctum of V'ger looked totally different. — Source: The Hollywood Reporter

16

Haveibeenpwned.com

Useful Web Sites 0 haveibeenpwned.com PASSWO T BUG 8 4 B 8 2 M O D O YO ENT Personal N B K O G data watchdog ATTACK 0 ';-have i been pwned? This site allows users to check whether their personal data has been compromised by data breaches. You search for your own information by entering your username or email address, and can also sign up to be notified if you appear in future dumps. CRACKED — Have I Been Pwned, Sergey Nivens/Shutterstock
Have I Been Pwned

15

The Seawise Giant

CRACKED the JAHRE VIKING In 1979, the Seawise Giant became not only the world's biggest ship, but the largest moving human-made object ever. It was 1,500 feet long, weighing nearly 600,000 tons, with a stopping distance of, insanely, five and a half miles. — Source

14

Chickens

WEIRD WORLD A gang of brutal chickens has been terrorizing an NYC neighborhood for years. The chickens, plus a rooster, have been attacking people around 169th Street - it's so dangerous, small kids can't even ride scooters. CRACKED.COM — Source: NBC

13

The Population of Tokyo

THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE LIVING IN TOKYO, THE CAPITAL OF JAPAN, THAN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY OF CANADA, THE SECOND BIGGEST COUNTRY AFTER RUSSIA. CANADA POPULATION TOKYO POPULATION 36.44 MILLION 38.24 MILLION TOKYO IS REPRESENTED WITH A RED DOT ON THE MAP OF JAPAN. CRACKED.COM — Source: 22 True Facts (That Seem Like Nonsense)

12

Castoreum

The goo that beavers excrete is sometimes used to enhance the flavor of vanilla. CASTOP CRACKED.COM Castoreum is secreted near the base of a beaver's tail when marking their territo- ry. Although now it's rare, processed forms of casto- reum have been used as food additives. — Source

11

Paula Deen

PAULA DEEN sells BUTTER-FLAVORED lip balm. It is available in her store in Savannah. eO Ou L Sahen BamE PPut a lcdle South E one youor mouitkl CRACKED

10

Kristen Bell

KRISTEN BELL AND DAX SHEPARD MEET RIZ AHMED The couple met Ahmed at the 2016 Golden Globe Awards. Bell said she immediately blurted out that she found Ahmed very attractive, to which Shepard added: made him very nervous, because he immediately looked at me and he thought, 'Is this their perverse setup? Now he's going to get jealous and fight for her? Bell then told Ahmed that she just thought he was fabulous and, you know, easy on the eyes. CRACKED.COM — EW

9

Colin Kaepernick

Colin Kaepernick had a sneaker collection - but he ended up giving it away. UG Riddell For a pretty good cause, too-he donated the sneakers to shelters for the homeless and for orphaned children. CRACKED.COM — Source

8

Child Support

WEIRD WORLD A spiteful dad paid his child support payment with a total of 80,000 pennies. Ironically, his daughter turned out to be pretty adult about it, and donated every last one of those pennies to a domestic abuse shelter. CRACKED.COM — Source: Hawaii News Now

7

The Fake Lawyer to the Evil Stars

CRACKED GIOVANNI DI STEFANO WAS THE (FAKE) LAWYER TO THE (EVIL) STARS. Не presented himself as a lawyer to the likes of Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milošević, earning himself the nickname the Devil's Advocate before it was revealed that he had zero legal credentials in addition to scruples. — Source

6

Harry Potter

J.K. Rowling told Alan Rickman the end to Snape's story arc before he ever appeared on camera. CRACKED.COM As a result, he often ar- gued with directors about knowing something that they didn't. Rickman used this knowledge to subtly inject affectations that would point to his hidden motives. — Source

5

Minnesota

WEIRD WORLD They found a personal airstrip built on some guy's property in Minnesota. illustration He built all 2,200 feet of it himself, not far from his house, all the way back in 2003. It was just for personal use (he's a licensed pilot), he explained. CRACKED.COM — Source

4

The Moon

The Moon isn't a cold chunk of rock-it has an intensely hot core, just like Earth. And also just like Earth, its solid inner core actually sits inside a molten outer core. CRACKED.COM — Source

3

The Office

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM Weird AI Helped The Cast In А Pinch The Office At a The Office convention in 2007 Kate Flannery (Meredith) and Creed Bratton (Creed) played The Pennsylvania Polka with The Scrantones to kick off the event. The group rehearsed in LA before the event and Weird Al Yankovic stopped by to help them practice. — Source: Office Ladies

2

Bang Bang Chicken

Bang Bang Chicken was named for the method of tenderizing the meat. CRACKED.COM The dish isn't called bang bang to conjure up imag- es of spicy explosions of heat, but because the chicken is traditionally smacked with a stick of a hammer to get it tender. — The Chinese Kitchen

1

Bird Saliva

Bird saliva is a Chinese delicacy. Birds' Nest Soup is dangerous to harvest and difficult to prepare. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED COM — Source: All That's Interesting

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