Recreating a Monty Python Sketch Has Become an Annual Tradition for One European City

12 Farm-Fresh Trivia Tidbits for Wednesday, January 8, 2025

Christopher Nolan Had No Patience for Wisecracking Robin Williams

‘South Park’ Accidentally Ripped Off an Internet Comedy Video

40 Facts and Figures to Blow Your Mind Like a Dozen Mentos in a Bottle of Coke

38 Biodegradable Bits of Trivia That Will Naturally Enrich Your Brain Soil

Piling onto your mental compost heap

38 Biodegradable Bits of Trivia That Will Naturally Enrich Your Brain Soil

January 09, 2025

As this shovelful of trivia decomposes atop your mind garden, you’ll actually be able to feel the weird, somewhat useful knowledge sprout up and even sow their own informational seeds in random conversations. It really is quite miraculous. The best part is that, unlike real gardens, brain fertilizer actually smells amazing.

Here, sniff these!

38

Medical Blunders

Medical Mishaps FUMBLED HEART TRANSPLANT A hospital in California was able to do a successful heart transplant after the helicopter carrying it crashed on landing. Firefighters were able to get the organ, but then a medical worker stumbled and dropped it. Fortunately, it was quickly picked up and rushed inside. CRACKED — Dan Race/Shutterstock
BBC

37

Peace Sausages

During World War I, Cologne Mayor Konrad Adenauer developed sausages without meat to deal with shortages. While Germany didn't embrace his soy-based Friedenswurst (or peace sausage), after the war, they were taken back to Britain and Adenauer was granted a patent. CRACKED — Source

36

Torpedo Rays

The Torpedo Ray CRACKEDCO Electric torpedo rays can dispense 220 volts of electricity at any given moment, easily enough to knock an adult over. Saltwater amplifies the effect. — Source: Florida Museum

35

Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus' first paid job was to... ...go on stage after her dad's show and pick up all the thrown bras and underwear. Не paid her $10 for that. MILEYALIVE CRACKED.COM — Source

34

Whales

A Blue Whale's heart weighs over 400 pounds. It is about the size of a golf cart and can be heard from over two miles away. CRACKED.COM — Source

33

Daisy Ridley

Actors Who Got Some WTF Responses From The Public - Daisy Ridley got chased through the streets of New York by a guy who followed her all the way back — Source: People Magazine

32

Geysers

In 1916, a New York construction worker was literally shot up on a geyser. Just like in a cartoon - he was working on a subway tunnel, and got shot through a hole in the tunnel. Miraculously, and also just like in a cartoon, he survived. CRACKED.COM — Source

31

The NFL

Sports Reinvented SP THE NFL RECOGNIZES СТЕ For years, The NFL ignored research on Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (a brain condition from head injuries.) In 2016, they finally admitted that it is an issue, and implemented concussion protocols and sideline tents for injured players. CRACKED — Jamie Lamor Thompson/Shutterstock
CNN
The Boston Globe

30

Mean Girls

JANIS IAN IS NAMED AFTER A 1970s SINGER The song At Seventeen by the real Janis Ian (which plays during the movie) is about the struggles of a social outcast in high school, like the fictional Janis lan. — Source: Bustle
Photo Credit: monosnaps/Flickr

29

The Energizer Bunny

38 Biodegradable Bits of Trivia That Will Naturally Enrich Your Brain Soil — Source

28

Goat Boy

JIM BREUER HATED GOATS BUT BECAME GOAT BOY JIM BREUER CRACKED.COM THE WHOLE GOAT BOY CHARACTER STARTED OUT BECAUSE I PRETENDED I HAD TOURETTES, BREUER CONFESSES. WE'D GO INTO A BAR AND I'D ASK FOR A <BLEET>WEISER. CUE MORE GOAT NOISES. THE BARTENDER WOULD PAY FOR BEERS IF BREUER AND HIS BRAYING FRIENDS WOULD DRINK OUT OF SIGHT IN THE CORNER. — Source: 13 More Behind-the-Scenes Beginnings of Iconic SNL Characters

27

Shaving

CRACKED Shaved hair grows back thicker. Shaving doesn't change the color, thickness, or how fast the hair grows. It might feel a bit coarser or stubbly when it starts to grow back, which can make it seem darker or thicker, but it's not actually changing. — Source

26

Elliott Smith

CRACKEDco COM GOO WILL HUNEINC Fron Tu MIRAMAX MOTION PeTuBE After finding incredibre success by being nominated for an Academy Award for best origina

25

Twinkies

In 1930 on the way to pitch his idea for the next best American snack cake, Jimmy Dewar sawa billboard for Twinkle Toe Shoes and thus the Twinkie ch

24

Bear Pee

WEIRD WORLD In North Carolina, a woman trying to boil bear urine accidentally caused a fire. She was out hiking and was thirsty, and when she came across a puddle of bear pee, she tired boiling it to purify it... which led to a wildfire. CRACKED.COM — Source: Fox10Phoenix

23

Garth Brooks

Garth Brooks's 1993 song We Shall Be Freè was boycotted by some country radio stations. The boycott was because it included the line When we're free to love anyone we choose. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Georgia Voice

22

The Day-Long Movie

CRACKED There are lots of needlessly long experimental art films and installations, but the longest non-experimental movie is still extraordinarily long: the Bangladeshi film Amra Ekta Cinema Banabo lasts over 21 hours. — Source / FilmFreeway

21

Terminator 3

Terminator 3 CRACKED.COM Wondering why Terminator robots look like Arnold Schwarzenegger? No? Even so, Terminator 3 almost introduced Chief Master Sergeant William Candy, Terminator model played by Arnold Schwarzenegger with a ridiculous overdubbed Southern Accent. Back in a jiffy, y'all! — Source: 19 Deleted Scenes (That Were Actually Pretty Important)

20

Scandals

CRACKED FELICITY HUFFMAN'S SAT FRAUD SCANDAL. She pleaded guilty to mail fraud, and admitted to paying $15,000 to a service that guaranteed to boost her daughter's SAT scores. She spent 14 days in prison, got 250 hours of community service, and paid a $30,000 fine. — Source

19

Chernobyl

It would be no exaggeration to call the disaster at Chernobyl power plant one of history's greatest whoopsies. It released 400 times more radioactive material into the atomsphere than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. CRACKED.COM — Source: 10 Years After Chernobyl

18

Chimps

CHIMPANZEES ARE VERY THOROUGH IN HUNTING TERMITES. CRACKED.COM Before sweeping a termite nest with a fishing stick, chimps run the fishing stick through their teeth, giving it a rough, frayed edge that catches more termites. — 29 Animals That Are (Secretly) Evil Geniuses

17

Survival

A border collie in Australia fell off a boat during a huge storm and swam 5 nautical miles through shark-infested waters. The dog, Sophie Tucker, washed ashore an uninhab- ited island and reverted back to her wild instincts to hunt and eat feral goats. She survived a month be- fore being reunited with her owners. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

16

Deepest Human-Made Hole on Earth

The deepest man-made hole on Earth is 7.5 miles deep. It's the USSR's Kola Superdeep Borehole, and its deepest part is nine inches in diameter but reaches a third of the way down the continental crust. One of the Borehole researchers' most amazing finds was two-billion-year-old rocks with intact organic compounds inside. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

15

SNL Arabia

SNL around the world Saturday Night Live bil Arabi entertained audiences in the Middle East and North Africa It was canceled by Egyptian officials during its fourth season over sexual expressions that are inappropriate for viewers. CRACKED.COM — Saturday Night bil Arabi
The Guardian

14

Clone High

MTV's 'Clone High' was canceled after it sparked controversy in India. GRACKED.COM Due to its portrayal of Gandhi as a loose party an- imal, 100 people in India began a hunger strike and even a national protest where members of parlia- ment got involved. — Source

13

Discoveries

CRACKED AN ANCIENT STRUCTURE The mayor of Șanliurfa, Turkey, suggested that the 12,000-year-old Göbeklitepe archaeological site might have been built by aliens. Не pointed to the purse motifs on the statues, as well as T-shaped pillars that weigh up to 20 tons, as evidence. — Source

12

Butt-Head

Butt-Head SKULL CRACKED.COM Mike Judge once lived next to an annoying little kid who called himself Iron-Butt: 'Supposedly, you could kick him in the

11

Burglary

A burglar was caught after his 82-year-old victim drew a caricature of him. CRACKED.COM Australian cartoonist Wil- liam Ellis Green called the police after confronting the intruder, and produced a pen and paper to quickly capture his likeness. The criminal was soon appre- hended. — Source

10

Safety Last

Hollywood tragedies that brought change Noah's Ark Drowning (well, allegedly) On the set of the 1928 movie Noah's Ark, three people reportedly passed away while filming a scene about the Great Flood. This caused safety rules to be put in place in Hollywood - a new idea at the time. CRACKED — Warner Bros. Pictures
Grunge

9

Dentistry

Toothpaste used to be made of lizard livers. CRACKED.COM The field of dentistry is still astonishingly unregulated. But back in the day, you could get bamboo pegs or copper shards pounded into your jaw, depending on where you lived. Early toothpastes were made of ground up tiny animals -- oh, and urine. Dentists didn't even wear gloves until the AIDS scare of the 1980's. — Source: 5 Ways The Past Used To Be Unbelievably Disgusting

8

Mystery Shoppers

Mystery shoppers even work at funeral homes. All kinds of businesses use mystery shoppers, including funeral homes. Which may result in a shopper pretending to have a terminal illness. CRACKED.COM — Source

7

Titan

CRACKED TOURIST SUBMARINE STEERED WITH A DECADE-OLD $30 GAME CONTROLLER. In 2022, a CBS Sunday Morning show showed that the tourist submarine Titan was being steered with a Logitech F710 wireless PC game controller from 2010 that cost $30. — Ars Technica

6

Potato-Inspired

TV was inspired by a potato field. Plowing a field at 14, Philo Farnsworth imagined a system that could break down an image into horizontal lines (like the furrows on the field) and then put it back together at the other end, creating the first electronic TV system. CRACKED — Midhat/Shutterstock,
jakkapan/Shutterstock
Smithsonian Magazine

5

Dogs

Dogs are cutest between six and eight weeks old. CRACKED.COM A 2018 study from Arizona State University compar- ing how people viewed the cuteness of dogs found that the highest ratings were between these ages, depending on the breed. — Source

4

A Star Is Born

Bradley Cooper's character in A Star Is Born was inspired by a real musician. It was Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder, and Cooper even went to Washington to shadow him in preparation for the role. CRACKED.COM — Vanity Fair

3

The MCU

CRACKED.COM Characters losing their hands in the MCU is a nod to Star Wars. Kevin Feige has confirmed that people keep losing their hands on MCU movies as a sneaky shout-out to Star Wars, a franchise with a similar track record. It wasn't intentional at first, but that changed with Phase 2. — Source

2

Biff Tannen

Biff Tannen was a studio exec parody CRACKED.COM When Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale pitched an earlier movie, a studio exec named Ned Tanen behaved aggressively toward them. So they named Biff for him, then humiliated the villainous character. Or course, in the sequel, he was also based on a certain real-world real estate developer... — 6 Secret F-Yous Lurking In Famous Pop Culture

1

Hackers

Wanted hacker Kevin Mitnick stayed a fugitive from the FBI for two and a half years... CRACKED.COM partly because FBI agents made regular phone calls, and he used their call logs to track their movements. — Source

Tags:

Visual

Scroll down for the next article

Must Read

Trivia & Jokes

37 of the Funniest Tweets from Thursday, January 9, 2025

Movies & TV

These Are the Most Brutal Reviews of Tim Allen’s New Boomer Humor Sitcom

Movies & TV

‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Fans Are Seething Amid Dennis Reynolds’ Absence From ‘Abbott Elementary’ Crossover

Movies & TV

Seth MacFarlane Ridiculed for Offering Tone-Deaf Support to First Responders During Tragic L.A. Fires

Movies & TV

These Are the ‘Slightly Tamer’ ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Episodes Kaitlin Olson Recommends to ‘Abbott Elementary’ Fans

Trivia & Jokes

37 Brokenhearted Bits of Trivia That Are Finally Ready to Play the Brain Field Again

VIRAL ON CRACKED

1

Elle King to Dad Rob Schneider: ‘You’re Talking Out of Your Ass’

2

15 Biggest MCU Blunders of the Last Decade (Give or Take)

3

Deleted Scenes From ‘The Blues Brothers’ Were Rescued by the FBI

4

21 Movie Scenes That Nobody Would Survive

5

4 Horror Movie Mask Details (That Make Them Work Or Fail)