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39 Random Bits of Trivia That Reliably Spew Forth From the Fact Geyser Every 35 to 120 Minutes

3.. 2... 1... FACTS

39 Random Bits of Trivia That Reliably Spew Forth From the Fact Geyser Every 35 to 120 Minutes

July 06, 2024

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39

The common head louse has a cousin that only infects gorillas. CRACKED.COM It is speculated that mod- ern human lice are de- scended from gorilla lice that parasitized early hu- mans that slept in gorilla nests or butchered gorilla corpses. — Source

38

America used to have 100 feet tall chestnut trees from Maine to Florida. CRACKED COM There used to be 4 bil- lion American chest- nut trees, but they all disappeared because of a fungus that kills them as saplings. — Source

37

A fake branch of a genuine bank in China operated normally for more than 1 year. CRACKED COM By the time authori- ties closed the estab- lishment down, all the money that customers put in (~$32 million) was gone. — Source

36

Los Angeles once had the largest electric rail system in the world. CRACKED COM Automobile, tire, and oil companies bought and dis- mantled it, along with mass transit systems in 44 other US cities. The mass transit systems were replaced with freeways and buses. — Source

35

'Hey Arnold!' was not set in New York City but in a fictional city called Hillwood, Washington. 3 CRACKED COM Craig Bartlett has stated that the city the show takes place in is some- where in the Pacific North- west, and is an amalgam of three cities that he lived in: Seattle, Brooklyn, and Portland. — Source

34

Saddam Hussein had a Qur'an printed in his own blood for his 60th birthday. CRACKED.COM It took two years and 27 li- ters of blood for the calligra- pher to complete all 114 chapters. The project was the result of Hussein re-embrac- ing his religion after his son Uday survived an assassina- tion attempt. — Source

33

Doritos were originally Disneyland trash. CRACKED.COM A restaurant named Casa de Fritos invented Doritos by re- purposing stale tortillas they bought from a local vendor. The chips proved to be so popular they were eventually rolled out nationally by Fri- to-Lay in 1966. — Source

32

A politician running for president in 1988 invited the media to follow him around after he was alleged to be a womanizer. CRACKED.COM Gary Hart was quoted as saying, Follow me around. I don't care. I'm serious. Members of the media complied and he was caught having an af- fair 2 weeks later. — Source

31

In 1985, a volcano in Colombia that was covered in glaciers erupted, instantly melting the glaciers. CRACKED.COM Two hours later, a 100 feet deep flood of rock and wa- ter traveling 39 feet per second leveled an entire nearby village named Armero, killing 20,000 out of its 29,000 residents. — Source

30

Testicle implants exist for dogs. GRAGKED.COM Inventor Gregg А. Miller won the Ig Nobel Prize for medicine for Neuticles - ar- tificial replacement testi- cles for dogs, which are available in three sizes, and three degrees of firm- ness. — Source

29

The Church of Scientology has a compound in California called Gold Base. CRACKED.COM It is guarded by snip- ers and armed gate guards and houses a prison that practices torture and a paramili- tary training school. — Source

28

Sunburn happens when skin cells put a hit out on themselves. CRACKED.COM Your skin gets sunburned because your skin cells put up a protein flag on their surface that tells your white blood cells to come kill them so that they don't become cancerous. — Source

27

You will never see a bin being emptied in Disneyland because of a series of hidden tunnels. CRACKED COM Small pipes vacuum the rubbish through the hid- den tunnels underneath the Magic Kingdom at 60mph. This process happens every 20 min- utes. — Source

26

There are almost no mosquitoes in Disney World. GRACKED.COM Even though it is in a swampy territory abun- dant with bugs, they have a sophisticated mosquito surveillance program to try and elim- inate them quickly. — Source

25

Many of the Nazi uniforms in 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade' were authentic. CRACKED.COM Most of the uniforms worn by the Nazis in the Berlin book burning scene are not costumes. A cache of old uniforms was found in Ger- many and obtained by Cos- tume Designer Anthony Powell to be used in the film. — Source

24

In South Korea, you turn 1 year older on New Year's Day no matter what day you were born. CRACKED.COM Babies are considered 1 year old from the day they were born and then get 1 year older on New Year's Day. There are calculators to convert international age into Korean age and vice versa.

23

It was a custom to debate while drunk in ancient Persia. CRACKED.COM In the ancient Persian Em- pire, men used to debate ideas twice, once when so- ber and once when drunk, because an idea had to sound good in both states in order to be considered a good idea. — Source

22

The planet Uranus was discovered before the continent of Antarctica. CRACKED.COM In 1781, Uranus was the first planet to be discov- ered with a telescope. In 1820, 39 years later after Uranus was discovered, the first expedition in Antarcti- ca was led and proved its existence. — Source

21

Cities in Europe offer 'Sanisettes': private, self-contained, self-cleaning, public bathrooms. TOILETTES ROSERI w DITION USA CARD NEW CRACKED.COM After the user has exited, a wash cycle begins and the entire floor and toilet fixture are automatically sprayed, scrubbed and disinfected. Sometimes, people become trapped in them. — Source

20

Rob McElhenney from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia was raised by a lesbian couple. McElhenney plays the for- merly homophobic and now out-of-the-closet (and ripped) homosexual charac- ter, Mac. The show has used gay marriage to illustrate America's hipocracy re- garding marriage equality. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

19

The motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated is now the National Civil Rights Museum. In 1991, the National Civil Rights Museum was estab- lished in the converted Lor- raine Motel, one of the few black establishments, and one of the only hotels provid- ing accommodations to Afri- can Americans at the end of WWII. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

18

Matthew Lillard screamed himself hoarse to audition for Shaggy. Lillard originally screamed in his car before his audi- tion at Warner Bros in Los Angeles, until his voice went hoarse and scratchy to achieve the proper af- fect for Shaggy in Scooby Doo. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

17

Identical twins live longer. On an average, identi- cal same-sex twins live longer than fraternal same-sex twins, who in turn live longer than the general popula- tion. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

16

Quitting smoking by going cold turkey is actually better than gradually cutting back. Smokers who used the cold-turkey method to quit were almost twice as likely to abstain for a month or more in their at- tempt than those using the cut-down method. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

15

When Android was unveiled in 2007, Nokia said, We don't see this as a threat. NOKIA 16:52 A member of Micro- soft's Windows Мо- bile team stated, I don't understand the impact that they are going to have. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

14

A dumping site had to dye their water black because the blue color was too tempting for some people. Black dye was dumped into the Blue Lagoon lake of Buxton in England for safety reasons. The previous tur- quoise water was so inviting that even the signs to keep people out did not keep swimmers out. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

13

The longest kill shot in military history is claimed by an unnamed Canadian soldier. The soldier, from Joint Task Force 2 (JFT2), hit the target from 3,450 meters. His heart- beat could have made him miss his target. Canadian sol- diers currently claim three of the top five longest con- firmed shots recorded. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

12

A hockey goalie was asked about Nelson Mandela and thought he was a fellow hockey player. After Nelson Mandela's death, NHL goalie Jona- than Bernier gave a TV in- terview in which he re- ferred to Mandela as 'one of the most-known ath- letes' and 'a great guy off and on the ice'. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

11

Quentin Tarantino was offered to direct'Casino Royale! Tarantino would have set the film in the 60's, fol- lowing the original 1953 novel, made it in black and white, and retained Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

10

A crime lab chemist in MA intentionally mishandled thousands of samples. Annie Dookhan was driven by a compulsion to over- achieve, even if it meant making things up or cut- ting corners. As a result, only 320 convictions from a total of 21,907 were not thrown out. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

9

Camels living in an old nuclear test site near the Great Gobi Desert drink saltwater. The wild camel survived the effects of radiation from 43 atmospheric nu- clear tests. In the absence of fresh water, they adapt- ed to drinking salt water with a higher salt content than sea water. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

8

Ancient Egyptians were notorious for their subversive political humor. the NATURAL The Romans banned Egyptian advocates from the law because all of their jokes dis- rupted the sanctity of the courts. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

7

Earthworms have even been ranked the number one most influential species in the history of the planet. Ecologists consider earthworms keystone species because of how much they influence the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

6

An Inuit island is named after a lost ship that ended up crashing there. The HMS Erebus, part of the mid-19th-century Franklin Expedition which was lost for nearly 170 years, was found in 2014 near an island which in the Inuit language means The big boat sank here. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

5

A common cure for rheumatism in 19th century Australia was to sit inside a dead whale for 30 hours. The whale cure was popu- larized after a drunk rheu- matism-sufferer saw a whale carcass on the beach and jumped inside. When he emerged 30 hours later, the rheumatism had en- tirely disappeared. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

4

Rosacea is an adaptation by the Celts to fend off bacteria. The skin disease is found mainly in those of Northern European descent and it is also known as The Curse of the Celts. Ancestral Celtic people developed it during seasonal periods of low ul- traviolet levels. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

3

Barnum's American Museum tricked guests into leaving to make room for more crowds. Signs saying This Way to the Egress were put up. Not knowing Egress was another word for Exit, peo- ple followed the signs to what they assumed was a fascinating exhibit but ended up outside. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

2

When sonar was first invented, operators saw a false seafloor that changed depth with the time of day. It was eventually identified to be a previously un- known layer of billions of lanternfish. Sonar reflects off the lanternfish swim bladders, giving the ар- pearance of a false bottom to the seafloor. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

1

Frank Sinatra failed the psych exam for enlistment during WWII. Sinatra was classified as F4 (registrant not acceptable for military service) be- cause the US Army consid- ered him not acceptable material from a psychiatric viewpoint. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

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