12 Farm-Fresh Trivia Tidbits for Thursday, March 6, 2025
Kids in the Victorian era may not have had ice cream trucks, but they had something even better: weird guys selling mountains of horse meat and offal to cats.
Click right here to get the best of Cracked sent to your inbox.
Canada Knows How to Boycott
Our friendly neighbors are chafing over threats of annexation, and are organizing a nationwide boycott of American products. A survey found that 66 percent of Canadian respondents are actively buying fewer products from American companies, with 55 percent saying they’re already cutting back on Amazon deliveries.
One of the Biggest Fumbles of the Pandemic
Microsoft bought Skype for $8.5 billion in 2011, but competitors swooped in and ate their lunch — monthly users dropped from 300 million in 2016 to 36 million in 2023. Microsoft is shutting it down for good later this year.
One Dude Saved 2.4 Million Babies
Australian James Harrison began regularly donating blood at 18, after receiving a lifesaving transfusion at 14. Ten years into his habit, doctors discovered that his blood contained a rare antibody that helps pregnant mothers whose bodies would otherwise reject their fetus. He just passed away at age 88, after donating 1,173 times over 60 years.
China’s Puppy-Shaped Mountain
It looks like cheap A.I. slop at first, but a Chinese designer posted a real photo of a mountainside that looks strikingly like an adorable puppy dog, causing tourism in Zigui County to swell.
Six Scientists Were Held Criminally Liable for an Earthquake
Their convictions were later overturned, but a group of scientists was interviewed a few days before an earthquake that killed 309 people in an Italian town. They gave their insight on a troubling pattern of tremors that, in hindsight, heralded the big one, but a court determined that they should have given a stronger warning.
The United States Has 14 of the World’s Top 100 Coffee Shops
An official ranking at TheWorlds100BestCoffeeShops.com includes 14 spots in the U.S., starting with Onyx Coffee LAB at number two. Australia has three of the top ten, led by Toby’s Estate Coffee Roasters at number one.
Flossing Could Be a Matter Life and Death
A recent study of the cardiovascular benefits of oral hygiene found that people who floss regularly are at 44 percent lower risk of certain types of stroke.
As the American Economy Collapses, the Rich Are Importing $19 Strawberries
Tochiaika strawberries are grown in Japan, then packaged to look like the enchanted rose from Beauty and the Beast by luxury fruit company Elly Amai. Then idiots in America spend nearly $20 to get one shipped to their door for a goofy Instagram post.
How Did People Read Before Eyeglasses Were Invented?
Spectacles were invented in 1286, but the convex lens had already been in use. People might use a magnifying glass, a “reading stone” (a small magnifying glass that rests on top of a piece of paper) or, in the case of Emperor Nero, a pristine emerald.
A Real-Life Ace Ventura Spent Three Years Undercover to Catch a Butterfly Smuggler
When some doofus at the L.A. Bug Fair bragged that he was the “world’s most-wanted butterfly smuggler,” he had no idea he’d just bragged to the exact wrong person: Ed Newcomer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent. Newcomer spent three years gaining his trust so he could finally catch him red handed.
Cats Used to Have Their Own Food Trucks
When cats became household pets in Victorian times, vendors called “cat’s meat men” would roll carts around town selling horse meat and other second-rate innards.
Contender for Best Prom Date in History
Three decades after they graduated high school, a woman donated her kidney to save the dude she went to prom with. The two weren’t a genetic match, but UPenn’s “paired exchange program” allowed the woman to donate her kidney and free up a matching one for her date.
