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40 Random Bits of Trivia We Filtered Out From Liquified Encyclopedias

Crisp, clean, refreshing facts!

40 Random Bits of Trivia We Filtered Out From Liquified Encyclopedias

February 18, 2025

Not that encyclopedias aren’t great sources of knowledge, it’s just that they’re most likely a little old and dusty. Some of the facts remain true, but when we snagged one from that book wall in our parents’ house, we noticed that more recent knowledge has dated or even fully debunked some older facts.

Not these, though! These facts are as true today as they were back then. Now you don’t have to sift through a mountain half-truths like we did. You’re welcome!

40

Wealth

A recent study by Italian economists shows that the wealthiest Florence families from 1427 remain the wealthiest even today, six centuries later. This

39

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson's parrot had to be expelled from his owner's funeral... Because it wouldn't stop swearing. CRACKED.COM — Source

38

Spam

The creators of Spam sued Jim Henson Productions for using the name Spa'am. CRACKED.COM The judge dismissed the suit for failure to prove damages from the pig character in Muppet Treasure Island, noting, one might think Hormel would welcome the association with a genuine source of pork. — Source

37

Trainwreck

Trainwreck: a term difficult to translate around the world. FROM THE GUY WHO BROUGHT YOU BRIDESMAIDS TRAINWRECK WE ALL KNOW ONE. Titles include: A GIR

36

Solar Eclipses

There will only be solar eclipses on Earth for another 600 million years. CRACKED.COM The moon moves 1.4 inches away from Earth every year. The final total solar eclipse will be in 600 million years time, as the moon will be around 19,000 miles further from the Earth while the sun's diameter will be around 5% larger. — Fourmilab

35

French-Style Salads

A recipe published in a magazine in 1936 pranked readers for decades. CRACKED.COM George Rector published a recipe, that he called a green salad in the French style. This involved smearing your salad bowl with garlic, and never washing it. People ate salad this way for decades before catching on. — Food History Almanac

34

Akira Kurosawa

GRACKED.COM NO 15 Akira Kurosawa, the auteur behind Rashomon, was widely hated in his home country Japan for pandering to Western values. PANAVISION — Source: 24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)

33

Snooki

Purse makers sent Snooki their competitor's products. Various fashion houses engaged in preemptive product placement or unbranding, by sending the Jersey Shore star new purses from their competitors' collection. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Today

32

Grand Theft Auto

A PLAYER FIXED GRAND THEFT AUTO'S LOADING TIMES. GTA Online used to take forever to load, until a player who goes by tOst found a way to cut down loading times by up to 70%. Rockstar officially included tOst's fix in March 2021, thanked him, and paid him $10,000 for doing their job for them. — Source: Polygon

31

Landlords

This just in: landlords are needlessly cruel! CRACKED.COM A San Francisco landlord converted a room into a storage unit, presumably by moving a single empty box into the foyer. An occupied room on the top floor was then, technically, no longer rent-controlled, and the rent was jacked up 400%. — Source: 9 Insane Loopholes You Won't Believe Are Legal

30

Antioxidants

The best beverage for adding antioxidants to your diet is tea, right? Not really. Studies have shown that instant coffee can be comparable with tea or wine. Even drip and espresso coffee contains antioxidants, as long as you drink it black. CRACKED.COM — Source

29

Santana

CRACKED CARLOS SANTANA Santana has said he's been talking to an angel called Metatron since 1994 and has gotten spiritual messages from him. Не believes these messages have helped him make changes in his life that have led to his success. — Source

28

The Gestapo

A Belgian aristocrat flew to Brussels and machine gunned the Gestapo headquarters in WWII. Jean de Selys Longchamps gunned the Gestapo head- quarters after learning that his father had been mur- dered by the Nazis. Не was demoted for insubordina- tion but also awarded a medal for heroism. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — World War II Aces

27

Mormons

Although they forbid hot coffee, Mormons will allow medical marijuana use with a doctor's note. The rule set called Word of Wisdom prohibits alco- hol, tobacco, illegal drugs and coffee and tea, based on what church members believe was a revelation from God to Joseph Smith in 1833. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — LA Times

26

The Simpsons

Comic Book Guy has a name Love you It's Jeffrey Jeff Albertson. Worst name ever? CRACKED.COM — Source

25

Cracker Jills

WEIRD WORLD Frito Lay introduced 'Cracker Jills' to honor women in sports. Cracker Jack is committing $200,000 to the Women's Sports Foundation and is also asking fans to donate. Those who donate at least $5 will get a bag of Cracker Jills. CRACKED.COM — Fox 8

24

Africa

The closest US state to Africa is Maine Quoddy Head, Maine, is 3,154 miles from El Beddouza, Morocco. CRACKED.COM — Source: 13 True Facts That Don't Seem Real

23

Tomatoes

SCIENTISTS ARE STILLTRYING TO EXPLAIN WHY TOMATOES HAVE MORE GENES COMPARED TO HUMANS Theories include for survivability & merely junk genes' but nobo

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22

Cologne

Celebrity Colognes and Perfumes VENOM by Stone Cold Steve Austin /WWE During the height of WWE's Attitude Era, every single type of merch was created including this cologne. If it were accurate to Austin, it would probably smell of spilled beer and swampy knee braces, but are you gonna tell him that? STONFECOLO 3:16 Austin 3.16 VenoM 221 POT 218 Veno10 - OT . vastina Information - CRACKED.COM — Source

21

Space Jam

Space Jam was a spin-off of a Nike Super Bowl commercial. The 1992 ad featuring Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny was very popular, leading Jordan's agent to take the now famous duo to the big screen. CRACKED.COM — Source

20

COVID

COVID is all over street art from Berlin to Denver. The visual style and the themes range widely, but a common theme all over the world is depicting h — Source: The New York Times

19

Empty Nesters

A new study suggests having kids makes you happier, once they move out of your house. CRACKED.COM Data from a European sur- vey of 55,000 people aged 50 and older revealed par- ents had greater life satis- faction and fewer symptoms of depression, but only if their kids had left home. — New Scientist

18

Kit Kat

Imperfect Kit Kat bars are made into Kit Kat filling. CRACKED.COM The defective candy bars, that don't meet standards thanks to air bubbles or weirdly shaped wafers, are ground up and turned into a paste that is incorporat- ed back into the produc- tion process. — Source

17

Adele

Adele used her contract for a good cause. Her 2011 rider stipulated that every attendee with a free ticket must donate $20 to SANDS, a charity organization for anyone dealing with the loss of their babies. CRACKED.COM — Source

16

Hiccups

HICCUPS LASTED THREE YEARS 2010 Chris Sands starred in a documentary about the hiccups, and they diagnosed him with ... a brain tumor He was lucky; without the hiccups, the tumor might have grown undetected and killed him. — Source: BBC

15

Alec Baldwin

Alec Baldwin lost his mind when airline staff asked him to quit playing Words With Friends on his phone. TI UNA 14.00 DL SAMSUNG 213 . I Andrew ZAS . EN . - of D H O I D ، b G TL с CI A S a AR of Onzos O POURS SEA HARDO . WH IRL MAE O AW . . BOT by NO GED NOR I U U E E PLAY After the surliest and puffiest Baldwin brother boarded an American Airlines flight, he refused to turn off his cell phone after multiple requests by the crew. So he locked himself — Source: 11 Supernova-Grade Celeb Meltdowns

14

Taco Bell

A man awoke from a 47-day coma. His first words? I want Taco Bell. UMU NATURAL Unfortunately, Jake Booth wasn't able to eat solid food for another three weeks. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

13

Fountains

CRACKED.COM THE FOUNTAIN OF THE FALLEN ANGEL in Madrid, which depicts a statue of Lucifer being cast out of heaven, coincidentally happens to be at 666 meters above sea level. — Source

12

China

China had the second largest death toll of World War II. China's involvement in the war is rarely talked about in the media, but they played a very important role of defending against the Japanese. Approximately 20 million Chinese people died in the war, with 16 million of those deaths being civilians. CRACKED.COM — Source: 18 Perspective-Shifting Historical Statistics

11

Seinfeld

remember and WHOLE Cristy B Seinfeld as being the quintessential show about nothing, but it often had long-running - storylines. 11 CONKAMON & SOLAR ABE THIS Season Four, for instance, was about the show's Jerry Seinfeld getting his own sitcom, and Season S Seven was about George Costanza's engagement to Susan Ross. LAB S I C 03250 BCCOM WEED CRACKED.COM

10

Salma Hayek

Salma Hayek has an owl named after her husband's luxury company. He's the CEO of Kering, so that's the owl's name. Kering likes to drink wine, and likes to stand on Hayek's iPad while she watches TV on it. CRACKED.COM — Source: Vanity Fair

9

Urban Outfitters

In 2014, URBAN OUTFITTERS released a blood stained sweater with holes. It read Kent State University. It received immediate criticism for its insensitivity regarding a school shooting at Kent State in 1970 where four students were killed. KENT KENT STATE UNIVERSITY STATE OHIO UNIVERSITY GRAGKED.COM — Source

8

Men in Black 3

Visual effects guy Rick Baker cameos as an alien (that he designed) in Men in Black 3. For the '60s scenes, he made aliens just like they were in pop-culture at the time -> with exposed brains and even cameo'd as one. CRACKED.COM — WeAreMovieGeeks.com

7

Lasers

Archaeologists discovered a lost city in South Africa with lasers. The remains of the coun- try's earliest metropolis, the city of Kweneng, was believed to be lost to histo- ry. The settlement likely reached its peak some- where between the 15th and 19th centuries. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Science Alert

6

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

5

The Burrito Incident

CRACKED.COM PITCH PERFECT ADAM DEVINE HIT A CAMERAMAN WITH THE BURRITO. He said to aim for him, DeVine said, thinking I wouldn't hit him, and I pegged him right in the face. That's why that scene is slightly out of focus. I think now that I have a reputation for an amazing toss, I should do a baseball movie. — Vulture
Image Credit: Universal Pictures

4

Mark Wahlberg

CRACKED MARK WAHLBERG WAS CHARGED WITH RACIALLY MOTIVATED ATTEMPTED MURDER. At 16, he knocked out a middle-aged Vietnamese man in the street. Later that day, he attacked another Asian man with a metal hook, leaving him blind in one eye. Не was charged with attempted murder, was sentenced to 2 years in prison, and only served 45 days. — Source

3

Equifax

Equifax changed their name to rehabilitate their public image. 1550 PEACHTREE S FOOMFAX Before 1975, they were known as the Retail Cred- it Company, and sold cus- tomer information to the point where congress had to enact the Fair Credit Reporting Act. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Wired

2

Cheap Trick

Cheap Trick is insanely huge in Japan, with their songs reaching the number one spoT on Japanese charts multiple times. In fact, it was thanks to Japa

1

What We Do in the Shadows

TAIKA WAITITI SAID THE SCENE WHERE НЕ HAD TO BITE INTO THE WOMAN'S NECK IN WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS WAS PRETTY STRESSFUL AND UNPLEASANT. The blood went in my eye, actually in my eyeball, down my throat. CRACKED.COM — Source: 16 Rad Behind-The-Scenes Facts About Your Favorite Horror Movies

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