12 Mouthwatering Bits of Trivia We’re Going to Leave Right Here in This Bowl, and If They’re Still There When We Come Back, We’ll Let You Have Twice As Many

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12 Mouthwatering Bits of Trivia We’re Going to Leave Right Here in This Bowl, and If They’re Still There When We Come Back, We’ll Let You Have Twice As Many

I want to be clear: There’s no punishment for enjoying these trivia tidbits right here and now. But if you can hold off consuming them, we want to reward your patience with twice as many trivia tidbits. Sounds good, right?

I mean, I’m sure it would feel great to just go ahead and nibble on the tidbit about the compromised sanctity of Rotten Tomatoes. Or how long PepsiCo says it takes a rodent to dissolve in a can of Mountain Dew. Or Canada’s official apology law. But it’s your choice! Totally up to you. We’ll just be on the other side of this one-way mirror, observing your every move. 

Enjoy!

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The ‘Beautiful Cigar Girl’ Responsible for the NYPD and Criminalized Abortion

Mary Rogers, a clerk at a New York City cigar store who was widely known for being super hot, was mysteriously murdered in 1841. While originally thought to have been kidnapped and killed by a gang, it’s more likely that she was the victim of a botched abortion. The story gained so much attention that the city passed a law ushering in the modernization of the police force, and the state passed a law criminalizing abortion. That fixed all policing- and abortion-related problems, forever. (Source)

The MythBusters Accidentally Shot a Cannonball Through a House and a Car

While goofing around at a police bomb range, a cannonball careened off course and hurtled into a residential neighborhood 700 yards away. A horrifying ordeal, but luckily no one was hurt. The MythBusters have referred to it as their “worst day” on the job. (Source)

Walmart Was Too Horny for Germany

Walmart Germany lifted the requirement for employees to smile at people, because male customers thought they were coming on to them. A union boss said, “People found these things strange; Germans just don’t behave that way.” (Source)

An Entire Town in One Building

The majority of the 280 permanent residents of Whittier, Alaska live — and work — in a single 14-story building. (Source)

Canada Passed an Apology Law

It’s not just a trope that Canadians apologize a lot — “sorry” is a true cultural touchstone, and, as of 2009, an actual law. The Apology Act says that expressing regret or apology — like saying “sorry” after a car accident — can’t be used as an admission of guilt in a court of law. (Source)

The Sanctity of the Tomatometer Has Been Called Into Question

PR firm Bunker 15 has allegedly been gaming the system, paying Rotten Tomatoes critics $50 for positive reviews of their clients’ movies, or convincing them to relegate negative reviews to smaller webpages that RT doesn’t monitor. (Source)

A Missing Dog Almost Won a Dog Show

A guy was on his way to a dog show when he scooped up a lost beagle he saw on the side of the road, examined her and decided to enter her in the show. She won third place in the Best Rescue Dog category — technically, if briefly, true — before they found her owner and reunited them. (Source)

A Coke Employee Tried to Sell Trade Secrets, and Pepsi Narced

An ex-secretary at Coca-Cola allegedly offered to sell secret documents and products “to the highest bidder” in 2007. Instead of taking her up on it, Pepsi warned Coke about the scheme, then played along with an undercover FBI sting to catch her. (Source)

A Missing Woman Resurfaced During Her Own Murder Trial

Fourteen-year-old Natasha Ryan went missing in 1998, and was thought to have been kidnapped by local creep and murderer Leonard Fraser. During his trial for Ryan’s murder, an anonymous tip pointed police to her boyfriend’s house, where she had been hiding for five years. She had decided to run away and live with her 22-year-old boyfriend, a local milkman. (Source)

Bill Clinton Snuck Away from the Secret Service in a Trench Coat

A Secret Service agent has said that Clinton would often sneak out under their protection to hook up with various women, but one time inexplicably snuck out behind their backs, too. He was discovered in the back seat of his lawyer’s car, hunkered under a trench coat. (Source)

The Inventor of the Computer Mouse Saw It As the First Step in Human-Computer Hybridization

Engineer Douglas Engelbart was obsessed with using the unprecedented power of mid-20th century computers to augment human intelligence. We would have never made it to chimp-killing brainstem microchips, though, without Engelbart’s blocky wooden mouse, which he first demoed in 1968. (Source)

Mountain Dew Swears It’s Caustic Enough to Goopify a Rodent

In 2012, a man tried to sue PepsiCo, claiming to have found a dead mouse in his can of Mountain Dew. PepsiCo’s legal defense was that, since the can was over a year old, the ingredients would have dissolved a mouse carcass into a “jelly-like substance.” (Source)

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