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Move over, childhood friends’ phone numbers. These facts need space in the memory bank!

42 Treasured Bits of Trivia That Need to Join That Coin Collection in Your Brain’s Safe

December 20, 2024

We know that you’ll probably get some stares for walking around in a helmet, but after these gems get up in your brain, you’ll want to protect them at all cost. You can simply assure those judgmental jerks that you’re ensuring the safety of precious cargo, or you can just come hang out with us.

We greatly appreciate that level of fact protection.

42

Italy

Italy has a Fort Knox for cheese. Credito Emiliano accepts wheels of Parmesan as collateral for loans while cheese makers wait for their sources of income to mature. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

41

Vape Pens

Vape pens have been around since the 1960s. In 1963, Herbert A. Gilbert invented a smokeless, electronic cigarette, but never made it widely commercially available. CRACKED.COM — Source: 23 'Modern' Things That Are JUST. SO. OLD.

40

The Simpsons

Number of Jobs held by Homer Simpson: 188 in the first 400 episodes CRACKED.COM — Source

39

Kidney Beans

Eating raw red kidney beans yields toxic results. CRACKED.COM Lectin, a natural component of the beans, causes mas- sive digestive prob- lems. — National Institute of Health

38

Ancient Rome

A form of revolt in ancient Rome involved commoners letting the elite fend for themselves. CRACKED COM In Secessio Plebis, when the ruling class of Rome would become too cor- rupt or unjust to the com- moners, the commoners would band together and evacuate the entire city. — Source

37

Oreo

CRACKED OREO The Oreo cookie was created to copy the Hydrox cookie. At first, the Oreo didn't do very well, but in the '50s they changed their marketing and pricing, and it became the most popular cookie in the world ... and Hydrox started looking like the ripoff. DW THINS THE REC Reeses and THINS ORE Soft the the Reeses Olive OHEO ... nom Korea Apristance with items - - top their Reese ORT OREO Solicite ayuda obtener utuados superior ... ORIGO OIL OREO - - GAO ONLY HINS - are THING OREO BROWNIE OBE check HINS ChiPA THINS OREO OREO — Business Insider

36

Jurassic Park

JURASSIC WORLD THE T-REX WOULD TURN ITSELF ON SOMETIMES. Jurassic Park producer Kathleen Kennedy shared that the giant animatronic dino would malfunction and turn itself on, scaring the crew during lunchs breaks. CRACKED.COM — Source: The Atlantic

35

Plague-Infested Fleas

Japan nearly dropped plague-infested fleas on Southern California in WWII. It was going to be revenge for the US firebombing their cities, and was supposed to involve planes launching from submarines to drop the fleas. CRACKED.COM — Source

34

Grocery Stores

42 Treasured Bits of Trivia That Need to Join That Coin Collection in Your Brain’s Safe — Source: Penn State

33

Landmarks

The Washington Monument has a tiny, hidden twin. A 12-foot replica of the Monument is buried right next to it. It was built in the 1880s as a surveyor's tool-they'd use its scale to verify readings. The ground level rose over time, and the Mini Monument was encased in a tube, buried, and forgotten. CRACKED.COM — Source

32

Donkey Cheese

Donkey Cheese A special donkey milk cheese, pule, is made in Serbia and is one of the most expensive cheeses in the world, selling for over $1000 a po

31

Helmet Heaven

Michael Persinger invented a helmet to see God. It's a modified snowmobile helmet that applies magnetic fields to your parietal and temporal lobes. Mo

30

Numbers

CRACKED ARABIC NUMBERS WERE ACTUALLY INVENTED IN INDIA. 1 + THE HKOP 12530 They were called Hindu Numerals by Arabic people, but when western merchants learned about them through Arabs they referred to them as Arabic numbers. — Times of India / India TV News

29

Lolita

Vladimir Nabokov thought Lolita should be burned. NABOK Nabokov spent five years writing Lolita, and when it was nearly done, he put it in a box and s

28

Quebec

The province of Quebec is banning all fossil fuel extraction going forward. The Quebec Premier announced that his government has decided to definitively renounce the extraction of hydrocarbons on its territory. CRACKED.COM — Source

27

Valkyrie

Germany wouldn't let Tom Cruise film a movie at their military sites because he is a member of Scientology. Scientology is viewed as a dangerous cult by the German authorities, and thus production of the 2008 film Valkyrie could not include German military sites. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Reuters / Unsplash

26

Superbad

BEHIND-THE-SCENESFACTS SUPERBAD The cast almost included some FREAKS AND GEEKS GRACKED.com In addition to Seth Rogen potentially playng Seth, Jason Segel auditioned for Evan. Martin Starr also read for the part of McLovin. Eventually, all the Freaks actors aged out of the roles. — Mental Floss

25

SNL

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM IN ANOTHER UNIVERSE, THERE WAS AN SNL SKETCH WITH ANTONIO BANDERS AS TARZAN. Specifically, a Tarzan who wears turtlenecks -JB Smoove pitched this idea at one point, but it got nixed. — Source

24

Oldest Companies

CRACKED THE WORLD'S OLDEST WOODWORKING COMPANY. Benediktinerstift Admont (The Benedictine Abbey of Admont, Austria) has been processing timber and performing woodworking since 1074. Since 1972, they continue to provide wood products and design concepts under the name Admonter. 1074 AD — Admonter / Incorporated Zone / Handwerk Und Bau

23

The Mandalorian

A Deaf actor developed Tusken Sign Language for The Mandalorian. Troy Kotsur, who played a Tusken Raider in the show, was also given the job of develo — Source: Daily Moth

22

Venus

There's a permanent vortex constantly swirling over the South Pole of Venus. It rotates incredibly quickly - once every 44 hours. Which isn't so unusual, since Venus' atmosphere rotates 60 times faster than Venus. CRACKED.COM — Source

21

First Ladies

Grover Cleveland's youngest sister was the acting US First Lady from 1885-1886. Rose Cleveland was a lesbian and had a rela- tionship with a wealthy widow named Evange- line Marrs Simpson, with explicitly erotic correspondence. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Miller Center

20

Hawaii

The Hawaiian alphabet only has 12 letters. CRACKED.COM The written language was adopted from the English alphabet in the 1800s by American missionaries. The letters they use are A, Е, H,I,K, L, M, N, О, P, and W. — Source

19

Uber

WEIRD WORLD An Uber driver in Manchester, UK, drove straight into a canal and still charged his passenger. When the passenger saw him going for the canal, she told him to stop, but he ignored her - after the car ended up in the water (nobody was hurt), she had to walk home, and then got charged for the ride anyway (but Uber refunded her since). CRACKED.COM — Source: Manchester Evening News

18

Serial Killers

HERB BAUMEISTER When his son found a skull on his property, Herb convinced his family it was from a medical skeleton his late father had owned. Later, — Source: Indianapolis Star

17

Pistachios

Pistachios spontaneously combust. Large quantities of raw pistachios are prone to heating up, and their oil catching fire. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Gothamist

16

Wearing Pepsi on Coke Day

THAT'S NOT ALLOWED! WEARING A PEPSI SHIRT ON COKE DAY A19-year-old got suspended from his PEPSI high school in Evans, Georgia in 1998 for wearing a Pepsi shirt on Coke Day. This was an event held to win a $500 contest run by Coca-Cola. CRACKED — andersphoto/Shutterstock
The New York Times

15

Kingdom of Heaven

An Oscar-nominated actor went undercover in Kingdom of Heaven. King Baldwin IV was the most famous king to have leprosy. In this 2005 Ridley Scott movie, he's played by Edward Norton in a mask. During shooting, that mask never came off, so nobody knew it was him. None of the cast knew they were working with the guy who had just been in Death to Smoochy. CRACKED.COM — Source

14

Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando often drank before filming his Apocalypse Now scenes. He'd also show up totally unprepared for filming (in addition to putting on weight that Francis Ford Coppola didn't expect him to put on when he cast him). CRACKED.COM — Source: The Guardian

13

Spiders

CRACKED.COM Meet the Heteropoda davidbowie a Malaysian spider named after the singer, in an effort to raise awareness about endangered arachnids.

12

Stone Cold Steve Austin

Celebrity-Owned Booze and Weed STEVE AUSTIN'S BROKEN SKULL ElSegundo BREWING STONE COLD IPA AND BROKEN SKULL LAGER by Stone Cold Steve Austin El Segundo Brewing Company and the beer swilling-pro wrestler debuted an IPA back in 2015, and it sold so well that they developed a lager in 2022. CRACKED.COM — Source: Fox Sports

11

Jeopardy!

Jeopardy! controversies STOKING THE RUSSIA/UKRAINE CONFLICT. Jeopardy! raised eyebrows with a Double Jeopardy question about Russia and Ukraine, which was recorded in January but aired during the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Jeopardy! acknowledged the difference between recording and broadcast dates, but the question was still seen as potentially insensitive. CRACKED — Sasa Dzambic Photography/Shutterstock
Giant Freakin Robot

10

Nukes

The United States has lost 6 nuclear weapons. H WT Special CRACKED.COM The U.S. has lost at least six atomic bombs or weapons-grade nuclear material since the Cold War. One submarine sank in 1968 with 99 men aboard, and at least one nuclear missile. — NY Times

9

France

French beaches are covered in Garfield phones. For 30 years beachgoers have stumbled upon the novelty phones on beaches in the French region of Brittany. The mystery was solved in 2019 when volunteers tracked them to a wrecked shipping container in a nearby seacave. CRACKED.COM — Source

8

PMS

PMS is used as a defense against murder charges. Since the 19th century, premenstrual issues have been used as defenses in crimes such as shoplifting and arson-and even murder sometimes. The Rajasthan High Court in India acquitted a woman of pushing three children into a well, killing one, due to doctors testifying that she suffered from severe PMS prior to the event. CRACKED — Source

7

Game of Thrones

Rheumatoid Arthritis: Jane Lvnch Talks About 90% of Game of Cory Mo Healthidation Return To Rehab Thrones 's viewers did it illegally. h M GAME HRONES According to MUSO, a piracy monitoring Healing e firm, e the opener for 10 Remedies the seventh for season 6 Weird Facts was ab watched illegally by 182 million eMedTV people far surpassing the 16 million legal e al S viewers. as In total, the season was viewed filming, through illegal means a whopping 1.03 action at McKinley billion times times. But ures Stare - What Happened But that requires Ga CRACKED.COM Disea — Source

6

The Capitol

There are three tiny flagpoles on the Capitol. They're used for the Capitol Flag Program, through which you can buy flags flown over the Capitol. The flags fly on one of these flagpoles, not the real flagpole, for all of 30 seconds before they're packed and shipped. CRACKED.COM — 17 Unknown Secrets In Well-Known Landmarks

5

Norm Macdonald

COMEDY DEL NERD Norm Macdonald would bomb about 90% of the time when he started out. IAMS in the Club Club.com So he figured out a strategy- if he didn't get a laugh, he'd have a drink on stage, and people would cheer (but the alcoholic drinks were fake). CRACKED.COM — Source

4

Hollywood Feuds

Hollywood feuds CHEVY CHASE VS CHRIS COLUMBUS Columbus quit Christmas Vacation because of Chase's nasty behavior. Не said, To be completely honest, Chevy treated me like dirt. I called John Hughes and said there's no way I can do this movie. I know I need to work, but I can't do it with this guy. CRACKED — Source

3

Water

The water we drink may be older than the solar system. GRACKED.COM Water on our planet may have originated from ice specks floating in a cosmic cloud 4.6 billion years ago, making the same water we drink millions of years old- er than the solar system it- self. — Source

2

Dark Energy

Dark energy makes up 68% of the Universe Dark matter makes up another 27%. We don't know much about either. Everything else (including Earth and everything observed with instruments) makes up only 5%. CRACKED.COM — Source: NASA

1

Coronation Street

When TV saves lives (or destroys them) Coronation Street In 2009, a storyline about breast cancer inspired actress Kris Mochrie's mom to get checked out, and it ended up saving her life. The actress who played the part, Sally Dynevor, was diagnosed with cancer in real life too. CRACKED — ITV
The Sun

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