12 Farm-Fresh Trivia Tidbits for Wednesday, December 18, 2024
How many times can a lizard regrow its tail?
Click right here to get the best of Cracked sent to your inbox.
Stephen King’s Worst Movie Happened in Real Life (Kind Of)
King hates his movie Maximum Overdrive, where electronic devices come to life and murder humans. But a similar phenomenon has been observed in modern farming equipment: because they're piloted using GPS, solar storms can make them act erratically. One farmer said during a solar storm this year that "Our tractors acted like they were demon-possessed."
Have More Sex: Embrace Emojis
A study of 5,327 people found a connection between frequent use (or even overuse) of emojis and a more robust dating/sex life.
The World’s Largest and Oldest Iceberg Is Trying to Escape
The iceberg A23a was once stuck to the seafloor, but it broke free and began pirouetting in place, and has now left its home entirely and is migrating into the Antarctic Ocean.
New York Wants to Make a Special 9-1-1 for CEOs Who See the Boogeyman
Governor Kathy Hochul is holding a virtual meeting with dozens of CEOs and security experts to float ideas to make New York City continue to feel like a safe space for some of the richest people in the world. One idea she’s already pitched is making a hotline for CEOs to call when they get scared of the proletariat.
Denver Airport Kidnapped a Bunch of Kids and Took Them to the North Pole
Denver Airport packed over 100 kids onto a plane, took them for a spin in the air and then told them to close their window shades. When they landed (at a different terminal in the same airport), they were greeted by Santa, Mrs. Claus and a bunch of elves, and they all got gifts and ice cream.
Big News for Dumb People: The War on Christmas Is Over
The amount of people who have convinced themselves that America is waging a war on Christmas dropped from 39 percent in 2022 to just 23 percent this year, according to a YouGov poll. Among Republicans, it dropped from 59 to 36 percent.
Can Lizards Grow Infinite Tails?
Some lizards are able to shed and regrow their tails if they’re attacked by a predator, and technically, they could do it ad infinitum. The tail tends to break at the weakest vertebra, meaning it could regrow as many times as it has tail vertebra left. But these tails grow back in weird ways, sometimes forking off into a second tail, giving it extra potential breaks.
Our North American Ancestors May Have Been Tripping on Shrooms a Million Years Earlier Than We Thought
Scientists thought that Psilocybe cubensis (i.e., magic mushrooms) came to North America about 500,000 years ago, but the detection of an extremely similar species actually dates back to 1.5 million years ago, likely forming on ancient bison poop.
Japan Is Hoping Three-Day Weekends Will Make People Doink More
Tokyo is instituting a four-day workweek in the hopes that more free time will bring a 16-year streak of population decline to a halt.
Your Fad Diet May Be Making You Bald
Scientists have found a connection between intermittent fasting and slowed hair regrowth, due to overactivation of adrenal glands.
Stanley Cups Are Exploding
Stanley is recalling over two million of its cups because hot water is loosening the seal between the lid and the cup, causing it to explode out of the product like a pressure cooker, sometimes directly into people’s faces.
Why Red Wine Gives You Headaches
Research indicates there’s one specific compound in red wine grape skins, called quercetin, that may give you a worse hangover. The liver rushes to get quercetin out of your system by turning it into another compound called glucuronide. But the increased glucuronide messes with your body’s ability to process alcohol, causing all the other bad stuff to hang out longer and do more damage.
