15 Facts About Celebrities, Banned Books, and Why You Shouldn't Kiss A Sloth

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15 Facts About Celebrities, Banned Books, and Why You Shouldn't Kiss A Sloth

Learning is a lifelong endeavor, or at least that's what they say. We pretty much buy it. Bulking up one's knowledge reservoir is a good practice, you never know when trotting out some cool fact or arcane piece of news will light up the room and make everybody think you're the smartest person in it. 

As such, we’ve compiled a nice, handy list of cool information for you to download right into your knowledge reservoir for just such occasions. Or maybe just for your own edification, that’s fine, too.

So with that in mind, here’s a small selection of what we have in store for you: China has a weird stance on enchanted animals, like censoring Winnie the Pooh references. Long before Chinese President Xi Jinping, it was against the law for bears and other animals in fiction to talk with human speech. Read more about this and other weird facts from around the globe below.

Lawn mowers will horn up a lady cicada.

Female cicadas can confuse loud tools for mating calls. CRACKED.COM The roar of a lawn mower is enough to send the insects into a heated frenzy, swarming the poor soul out doing yard work.

Source: CNET

Bela Lugosi is wearing his Dracula garb for eternity.

Bela Lugosi was buried in one of his Dracula capes. GRAGKED.COM Не was so poor at the time of his death, his family could not afford to bury him, so his friend Frank Sinatra quietly paid for it.

Source: Grunge

"Dude" used to be an insult to dandies.

The word dude originated in the 1800s. GRACKED COM It was used as an insult to men overly concerned with the latest fashion trends.

Source: BBC

Captain Kirk sold a kidney stone.

William Shatner sold a kidney stone for $25,000. CRACKED.COM An online casino bought the jagged rock made of calcium for the publicity, and Shatner donated the money to Habitat for Humanity.

Source: CBS News

You can hunt unicorns in Michigan.

Hunters in Michigan can get unicorn permits. GRAGKED.COM Lake Superior State University has issued permits to unicorn hunters since 1971. Hunters may not pursue the beasts when the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus is around.

Source: LSSU

The Soviets drank all of their vodka in a day.

The Soviet Union ran out of vodka in 24 hours. SMIRNOFF SMIRNOFF. SM OFF SMIRNOFF CRACKED.COM After Germany's defeat in WWII, the Soviets began to celebrate immediately, depleting the vodka supply 24 hours later.

Source: MentalFloss

Sloths don't fart, at least not out of their butts.

Sloths fart out of their mouths. CRACKED.COM Sloths only poop every three weeks, so gasses escape through the mouth to not build up inside and hurt the poor animal.

Source: Vox

The mail in the Galápagos is as slow as the tortoises.

The Galápagos island of Floreana has a barrel of mail in place of a postal system. CRACKED.COM Tourists are responsible for sorting through the mail and grabbing any parcels they can deliver on the way to where they're headed.

Source: National Geographic

There shall be no talking animals in China.

Alice in Wonderland was banned in China because of talking animals. CRACKED.COM Bears, lions, and other beasts cannot use human language, said the Governor of the Hunan Province in 1931.

Source: The Guardian

The FBI was useless before Shazam technology.

The FBI investigated the song Louie Louie because people thought the lyrics were dirty. GRACKED COM After three months, the FBI abandoned the investigation because it couldn't make out the words.

Source: NPR

Octopi don't actually have any tentacles.

Technically, octopuses have arms, not tentacles. CRACKED.COM A tentacle only has suckers at its end, while a cephalopod arm has suckers for most of its length.

Source: Discovery

Reagan had candy holders on Air Force One.

Air Force One once had jellybean holders. UNITED STATES DE AMERICA CRACKED.COM During Ronald Reagan's presidency, Air Force One was outfitted with jellybean holders to keep the president's favorite snack from spilling.

Source: The Guardian

The term "undertaker" was deemed too unfriendly.

The term mortician was invented as part of a PR campaign. CARPENTER SHOP MURGUE COFFIN MAKER CRACKED.COM The funeral industry wanted a more customer-friendly term than undertaker, so they called for ideas in Embalmer's Monthly.

Source: MentalFloss

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