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Facts with a smile

41 Acclaimed Bits of Trivia That Are Only Doling Out Some Brain Soup for the Publicity

January 05, 2025

Make sure to get a good shot of us giving these away. No, not from that angle. Come around to our left side and snap a good smiley pic of us handing out these facts to the less fortunate. These poor souls don’t have enough facts in their brain cabinets, so we’re stepping in to stuff them full.

And okay, so we’re using this as an opportunity to exhibit our awesomeness and factual abundance, but can you blame us?

41

Vidal Sassoon

41 Acclaimed Bits of Trivia That Are Only Doling Out Some Brain Soup for the Publicity — Source: Allure

40

Arnold Schwarzenegger

CRACKED.COM Arnold Schwarzenegger Bodybuilding opened many doors to him. Schwarzenegger lived in London for a while, while training with a former bodybuilding judge he had impressed. At age 21, he moved to the US speaking little English. As he told his coach, I'm going to become the greatest actor! — Sources: Wikipedia, Collider

39

The Pinky

SMALL BUT MIGHTY BE CRACKED.COM While our index finger, middle finger, and thumb are much bigger, they're mostly there to provide dexterity. 50% of our hand strength actually comes from our pinky. — Source

38

Flubber

one second of Robin williams' improv added three months of CGI work to Flubber. Williams shoving his face into the Flubber wasn't scripted - he just did it, as was his usual M.O. The VFX team took three full months to get the goo to properly interact with William' face. — More: 4 Movie Moments That Were More Work Than We Realized

37

Mental Health

Fall Guys publisher will make new games focused on improving mental health. 08 07 Devolver Digital co-founder Mike Wilson and Ryan Douglas, former CEO of medical device company Nextern, announced a new company, DeepWell, a games publisher explicitly dedicated to both developing and publishing games that provide proven health benefits.COM — IGN

36

Annabelle Comes Home

BTS STORIES FROM HORROR MOVIES 2019 ANNABELLE COMES HOME The set for the third Annabelle installment was so spooky, a priest had to intervene. A piano bench would move by itself, door knocks would be randomly heard, and performers saw shadowy figures on the set. CRACKED.COM — Source

35

The Pandemic

3 out of 4 millennials donated during the pandemic Millennials were hit harder than any generation during 2020 but were the most generous with financial aid. Gen Z had the second highest rate at 66%. The future doesn't look SO grim. CRACKED.COM — Source: CNBC

34

Mickey Mouse

MYTH Walt Disney drew Mickey Mouse. x FACT Disney came up with the concept for Mickey Mouse and voiced the character. But Disney's partner, Ub Iwerks, was the artist behind the Mouse, as well as his first animator. CRACKED — Source

33

Disney World

Disney World is hiding an abandoned island. Disney used it as a wildlife observatory, but shut it down in 1999 when they opened Animal Kingdom and moved all the animals there. Today, it's an overgrown jungle of empty animal cages, ruled by vultures (the actual kind, not the cartoon Disney kind). CRACKED.COM

32

J.J Abrams

Bumping into screenwriter Jill Mazursky made J.J. Abrams' career. At the mall, Abrams had a chance run-in with Jill Mazursky, screenwriter and daughter of Oscar-nominated director Paul Mazursky. Soon, they started working together on one of her script ideas, which became Taking Care of Business starring Jim Belushi. I owe everything I have to Jill, Abrams said. CRACKED.COM — Source

31

Big Mistakes

A printing error made adultery mandatory in 1631. Printers Robert nour thy father Barker and Martin may bee long vpon Lucas accidentally thy God giueth thee. Thou fhalt not kill. left the not out of the seventh Thou fhait commit adultery. Thou fhalt no. Itcale. commandment in Thou thalt not beare falfe their printing of the eighbour. King James Bible, Thou that not conet thy giving a big thumbs- It not couet thy neighb up to adultery. - - nor his maid-fo NON ESTINA - china اله When King Charles I found تحت - NO I be STATE - LA NATURAL — Source

30

Ferdinand Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan didn't actually circumnavigate the globe. CRACKED.COM Не was killed by a poi- soned arrow in the Philip- pines, and under the leadership of Juan Sebas- tian de Elcano, his expe- dition completed the trip without him. — History / Wikipedia

29

The Watcher

The people who were being watched.A family fled their home after being tormented by someone who called themselves the “Watcher.” The stalker wrote a — Sources: Washington Post, 5 True Stories That Put Every Horror Movie To Shame

28

Thomas Jefferson

President Jefferson would often greet foreign dignitaries while wearing pajamas. CRACKED.COM This often came as a shock to visiting offi- cials, dressed in full diplomatic uniform, who would take of- fense to Jefferson's utter slovenliness. — Source

27

Psycho

CRACKED.COM Psycho The Bates house was modeled after Edward Hopper's early painting The House by the Railroad (which, in turn, was based on a real house in Haverstraw, New York). — Dusty Old Thing

26

Oreo Barbie

CRACKED.COM OREO BARBIE DIDN'T LAST LONG ON THE SHELVES. Oreo Barbie, born in 1997 from a cross-promotional partnership between Mattel and Nabisco, came in both white and black versions. You can tell every person involved was white because nobody knew that MA Oreo is a derogatory OREO term in the African American community for a black person who is ORE white on the inside. — Source

25

Natalie Portman

GRACKED Natalie Portman has serious science cred. As a student at Syosset High School on Long Island in the late 1990s, Portman made it to the semifinals of a very demanding research competition, while also carrying out an investigation into a new method of turning waste into useful forms of energy. — Andrea Raffin/Shutterstock
The New York Times

24

Giant Things

Huge examples of normally small things A record- breaking parsnip A Brit grew an incredibly long parsnip at the UK National Giant Vegetable Championships in 2017. It was a world-record 21 feet and 5.87 inches long, and it's the longest in the world so far. CRACKED — The Mirror
Guinness World Records

23

Movie Release Dates

Release dates for big action films might greatly depend on the health status of other countries, especially in ASIA And EUROPE. Everyone knows about t

22

Killer Politician

A Tennessee politician received 1,531 votes after assassinating his opponent. 70 60 GRAGKED.COM Byron Looper changed his middle name to Low Tax as a vote-winning stunt, which must have worked since he still got over 1,500 votes a month after killing his opponent. — Source

21

Dogs

In the 1930s, a dog named Swansea Jack from Wales saved a total of 27 people from drowning in the River Tawe. CRACKED COM Не was awarded a silver cup by the Mayor of Lon- don and to this day is the only dog to have been awarded two bronze medals by the National Canine Defense League. — Source

20

Little Tikes

In 1991, The Little Tikes Cozy Coupe was America's best selling car. little tikes For over 40 years, the company has sold 457,000 cars each year. CRACKED.COM — Source: Smithsonian

19

The Baltic Sea

CRACKED SEABED TRACK 300 METERS UFO 60 METERS RI AN UNDERWATER ROCK FORMATION In 2011, Swedish divers exploring the Baltic Sea for sunken treasure stumbled upon something strange - it looked like the Millennium Falcon. A year later, they went back to take a closer look and found out it was just a circular rock formation. — ZME Science

18

The Verizon Guy

The Can you hear me now? guy says someone repeated his catchphrase to him at his grandma's funeral. CRACKED.COM Actor Paul Marcarelli says that the catchphrase plagues him so much that someone even said it to him as his grandmother's casket was being lowered into the cemetery plot. — NY Post

17

Thomas Edison Jr.

CRACKED THOMAS EDISON JR. Edison Jr. tried to follow in his father's footsteps but was terrible at it. His several failed businesses (with the Edison name) found him in debt and investigated for fraud. His father took him to court to prevent him from ever using the Edison name. — Listverse

16

Screen Time

SCREEN TIME LEADS TO UNHAPPINESS. Multiple studies have shown people are unhappier with more screen time. (But I'm professionally required to beg you to please keep scrolling.) CRACKED.COM — VICE

15

Prairie Dog Language

Prairie Dog Language is Insanely Complicated. CRACKED.COM Prairie dogs have a compli- cated animal language sys- tem. Scientists discovered and decoded specific names for objects in their environment, and distinct alarm calls for individual predators. — Animal Studies Journal

14

The Victorian Era

CRACKED.COM Gas lamps might have contributed to Victorian ghosts. DE adidas With gas lighting being a new thing and regulations being not a thing at all, Victorian people weren't unlikely to inhale gas (not to mention the fires and explosions). Hallucinations caused by carbon monoxide poisoning might help explain the uptick in ghostly activity in the mid-1800s. — Source

13

The Universe

REPULSIVE GRAVITY CRACKED.COM We always thought gravity sucked, but in most of the Universe, it blows. On a smaller scale, gravity keeps planets in orbit and our feet on the ground, but in 1998, astronomers found that dark energy's repulsive gravity pushes galaxies away from each other, accelerating cosmic expansion. — Source

12

The SAT

CRACKED FLORIDA CONSIDERS A 'WESTERN TRADITION' TEST AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE SAT. Florida is considering the Classical Learning Test as an alternative to the SAT and ACT. Its creator believes the SAT has become too politicized and has left out the Christian-Catholic intellectual tradition and other important Western thinkers. — Tampa Bay / Every Student

11

The Madden Curse

Many NFL players have been featured on the covers of EA's Madden NFL series since 1999. UUTRAHD FIUI ENHANCED FA SPORTS Most of them had bad seasons t

10

Jim Carrey

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM JIM CARREY WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A SUPERMAN VILLAIN IN TIM BURTON'S MOVIE. Burton's Superman Lives was being worked on in the late '90s, with Carrey as the villain Brainiac (and Nic Cage as Superman), but the movie fizzled out. — Source

9

The Premier

Turbine 3 Turbine 12 Gue THE 263 LA Mondensator PREMIER SOLI M at PREM FEET CRACKED COM RJ Reynolds spent $325 million to develop this smokeless cigarette to counter secondhand smoke. It was vaping decades before vaping ... but smokers said it tasted horrible, and was too hot to hold. — Source

8

Viking Rituals

15 Amazing Festivals You Wish You Could Celebrate Right Now - Shetland in Scotland throws a flaming Viking parade. Citizens from each town dress as Vi — Source: BBC

7

Alcatraz

Alcatraz prison's scary reputation is Hollywood nonsense. Other federal inmates often requested transfers there because of its good food and humane co

6

Elections

The United States is the only modern democracy to elect its president via Electoral College CRACKED COM — Source

5

Australia

It is illegal to own a rabbit in Queensland, Australia, unless you're a magician. CRACKED.COM Due to ecological damage stemming from people buying and releasing rabbits, Queensland decided to ban anyone who couldn't pull one from a hat from owning one. — Source

4

Shaun of the Dead

Shaun of the Dead has a reference to Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright's TV shoW Spaced. AMIEA In Spaced, he played Tyres O'Flaherty- and in Shaun of the De

3

Bruno Mars

Peter Hernandez's father called him Bruno because he thought his chunky son resembled pro wrestler Bruno Sammartino. As he began his path to stardom, Bruno added Mars because, he joked, the girls would think he was out of this world. CRACKED.COM — Source: How Celebs Arrived At Stage Names (They're Stuck With)

2

The McAfrika

In 2002, McDonald's Norway released the M MCAFRIKA. It was a McAfrika DISASTER. It came at Fra kr. 32,- a time when many African countries were facing MASS FAMINE. Following a backlash, McDonald's allowed some locations to have donation boxes for humanitarian efforts. GRAGKED.COM — Source: 30 Products Companies Want To Forget

1

Picasso

Pablo Picasso was once the prime suspect in the theft of the Mona Lisa. The painting was stolen from the Louvre in 1911, and Picasso and his friends were considered suspects - and Picasso even went on trial. CRACKED.COM — Source

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