30 General Now-You-Know Facts to Stimulate Your Brains

There’s a whole almanac of tidbits out there that is so amazing that you can’t help but ask everybody you meet, “Did you even know this?!” Well, we know a few things, too, Mr. Almanac. What kind of things, you ask? Things like why grapes catch fire in the microwave and how long it takes the typical mammal to urinate. Oh, and these other fascinating facts about pop culture, art and science, too…

30

In 2018, 50 Cent realized he had a bunch of Bitcoins (worth millions at that point). When his album Animal Ambition came out in 2014, he became the first artist to accept BTC and received 700 ВТС. 4 years later, that pile was worth $8 million. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

BBC

29

Tibbles the cat wiped out an entire species of bird The lighthouse keeper's cat hunted the rare Stephens Island Wren to extinction. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

7 Random Animals That Decided The Course Of History

28

Vikings didn't wear horns. It was have been extremely impractical to battle in a horned helmet. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

National Museum of Denmark

27

Lions kill hyenas in the wild, just because. 27% They kill hyenas even if they're not hungry, and they're so prolific that they cause around 60% of all hyena deaths. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

ABC

26

Disney uses a green paint to hide visually hide items in their park The paint is called Go Away Green. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Apartment Therapy

25

Marlon Brando introduced himself to Samuel L. Jackson by quoting the Pulp Fiction Ezekiel speech. Brando then gave him his number, and when Jackson called, he was told he got a Chinese restaurant. So he asked for Brando, and got him - i it turned out that was Brando's way of filtering phone calls. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

The Hollywood Reporter

24

When threatened or anxious, hagfish produce incredibly bizarre slime. They take less than half a second to release about a bucketful of slime that's 10,000 to 100,000 times softer than Jell-O - it's one of the softest materials science has identified. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

The Atlantic

23

Three companies own almost all of the S&P 500. S&P 500 3,669.01 +6.56 [+0.18%] 2-DA 3681 3672 3663 3654 7 660 Taken together, the financial firms Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street are the largest single shareholder for almost 90% of the companies that make up the S&P 500. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

The Conversation

22

In 2012, the sewers of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, were cleared by a synchronized flush. y Stanble Bank The town asked every one of the million residents to flush at the same time, saying they might be fined if they refused. The big flush (as the mayor called it) was intended to keep the pipes wet, so that they don't burst or get clogged. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

The Guardian

21

George Lucas really, really didn't want Harrison Ford to play Indiana Jones. Ford was already in two of Lucas' movies, and Lucas said I don't want him to be my Bobby De Niro, (De Niro was considered Scorsese's actor). Years later, Lucas said, Не was perfect for the part. I can't imagine anybody else in that part. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Business Insider

20

Ruth Bader Ginsburg's photo makes a cameo in Deadpool 2. She's one of the candidates Deadpool's considering for X-Force. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

CBR

19

The Michelin Man is white because early rubber tires were white. In 1912, companies started adding carbon to make the tires more durable. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Michelin

18

Paul McCartney hid his face and went to see Yesterday. Не watched from the back row, and tried not to laugh whenever he heard his name. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

People

17

Jim Carrey is the first actor to have three films reach number one at the box office in the same year. It was during 1994. The films were The Mask, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, & Dumb and Dumber. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Entertainment Weekly

16

People who move to the Villas Las Estrellas settlement in Antarctica must first have their appendix removed. This is because the nearest hospital is 600 miles away. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

BBC

15

Goats are totally immune to poison ivy, oak, and sumac. They can eat up to several pounds per day. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

NPR

14

In 1986, Clint Eastwood was elected mayor of tiny Carmel, California. One of his first official acts was to repeal a city ban on selling ice cream cones. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Mental Floss

13

They didn't actually burn witches at the stake during the Salem trials. Some were sentenced to death by hanging, and some died in jail (and one person was pressed by stones to death) but nobody got burned. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Source

12

We can thank Ancient Egypt for the existence of the humble, beloved D20 die. 2 12 2 8 8 01 9 14 ~ 20 4 6. 21 OI 8 h S Well, in a sense - what's probably the world's oldest D20 die, over 2,000 years old, was found in Egypt. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Source

11

Tumbleweeds are actually an invasive species that came from Russia. Russian immigrants apparently brought it by accident to South Dakota in the 1870s on contaminated flax seeds, and it spread from there. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Source

10

Medieval knights wearing full armor actually weren't terribly bulky at all. For example, contrary to widespread myth, knights could get on their horse without any help - they didn't need, say, elaborate cranes or anything. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Source

9

Pirate crews were surprisingly ready to stick together and cooperate. For example, in 1717, pirates threatened to kill every New Englander they captured if members of another pirate crew, who were in prison, suffered. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Source

8

No, you really shouldn't rinse your turkey at all before you start preparing it. That actually makes you more vulnerable to microbes, since it can spread them around the sink and yourself - it's worse than not cleaning it. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Mental Floss

7

For sixteen years, they used the Statue of Liberty as a regular lighthouse. But it wasn't very good at that (it wasn't designed for it), so it wasn't considered critical to navigation in those 16 years in the late 1800s at all. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

US Lighthouses

6

Lynsi Snyder became the sole owner/heiress of In-N-Out on her 35th birthday. IN-N-OUT BURGER She has been the target of at least two attempted kidnappings so she tries to stay out of public eye for her family's safety. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

OrangeCoast Magazine

5

Astronauts on the ISS literally drink coffee made out of their own recycled pee. Water is extremely scarce in space, since it's pretty voluminous and heavy, so recycling pee is more cost-effective than bringing up new water. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

The Conversation

4

There is one remaining Blockbuster located in Bend, Oregon new release NIES NET - DES CHIP HOME In April 2020, the store was listed on AirBnB for '90s-themed sleepovers. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

ABC News

3

Drake got his high school diploma at 25-years-old. Не had dropped out of high school to play a high schooler in Degrassi. Не returned to school in 2012, after he was already Grammy-nominated. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Washington Times

2

The EU offers free train passes to 18-year-olds so they can explore Europe The 'DiscoverEU' program offers 60,000 travel passes to young people. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

The Brussels Times

1

Cicadas build elaborate underground tunnels and chambers to live in. Just after it hatches, a cicada is in an immature form (called a nymph) and digs underground, creating tunnels where it can spend years in. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Phys.org