Cracked Archive - History

For those of us who grew up in the '80s and '90s, it's difficult to fully understand just how close to annihilation we actually came in the 20th century.

• By Chris J.
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• April 27, 2012

A generation of students found out the hard way that archaeology isn't anywhere near as much fun as Indiana Jones made it look. Still, experts in the field do have their exciting, and even shocking, days at the office.

• By Evan V. Symon
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• April 20, 2012

In situations where every day literally could be your last, sometimes an impecable wit is enough to get you through.

• By Jacopo della Quercia
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• April 19, 2012

Shooting from such a long range incurs a wide array of difficulties, leading to situations where making a successful shot is, by all logic and reason, impossible. It is in these situations where the best snipers sniff, wipe the sweat from their eyes and make the shot anyway.

• By Xavier Jackson, James Benoist
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• April 14, 2012

It's amazing what humanity can accomplish in a moment's notice.

• By Christina H
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• April 09, 2012

Humans are hard-wired to function in groups. But it's a double-edged sword -- it takes a lot of us to build a city, but as anyone who has ever witnessed a riot can attest, people's ability to act like idiots also multiplies in crowds. And this phenomenon can manifest itself in really weird and even fatal ways.

• By Pauli Poisuo
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• April 06, 2012

Every single person on this list puts Bear Grylls' tales of 'badassery' to shame

• By Chris J.
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• April 04, 2012

We tend to romanticize the age of exploration, like it was all grand exotic frontiers and tiny people tying sailors down with ropes. What we don't hear about so often is the scurvy and the starvation and the months of endless walking through landscapes full of awfulness. And that's too bad, because it actually makes their stories that much more bad

• By Eric Yosomono, Dustin Koski
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• March 31, 2012

Unless you're talking about diamonds, Twinkies or vampires, lasting forever usually isn't in the cards. Yet all over the world -- and universe -- there are machines, engineering feats and pieces of meat that never got the memo that we all have a use-by date.

• By Evan V. Symon
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• March 22, 2012

In which you'll discover that stuff you only thought existed in grainy old pictures continued until just a few years ago.

• By Robert Evans, Pauli Poisuo, Jacopo della Quercia , Xavier Jackson
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• March 12, 2012

We here at Cracked take pride in our research department's ability to make as many poop jokes in a 2,000-word article as is humanly possible. Especially when it's about poop.

• By Mohammed Shariff
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• March 11, 2012

During the Cold War there were good guys and bad guys. And it was all bullshit

• By Jacopo della Quercia
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• March 05, 2012

When we hear about a rebellion in Egypt or Libya or elsewhere, we instinctively want to root for the scrappy kids trying to fight back against The Man. Of course, a lot of coup attempts aren't all that inspirational. Some, in fact, border on slapstick comedy.

• By Evan V. Symon
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• March 04, 2012

We know how it is in movies but sometimes in real life, every once in a while, the good guys pull off a rescue that would seem grossly implausible by Hollywood standards.

• By Eric Yosomono
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• March 03, 2012

What do you get the man who has everything? The answer to that question is usually something lame like a 'poem' or a 'song' or 'a heartfelt macaroni portrait.' But sometimes it's something awesome like 'furniture made from super-predators' or 'all the cheese.'

• By Julien Blower
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• February 28, 2012