15 Awesome Facts That Spiked Our Volleyballs
![15 Awesome Facts That Spiked Our Volleyballs](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/8/2/848382_320x180.jpg)
The following story takes place at the end of the first age, during which there was only one race. This tale is based upon a legend told to me by my grandfather. My mother has since been able to corroborate his claim. She said that she had heard it from an old man who used to work on the family farm. The man in question had apparently worked for the Emperor and had witnessed much of his childhood. The tale begins in the year 699 BC (before computers).
The Emperor grew up on his grandfather's farm. In those days there were no roads, only pathways worn into the dirt. The Emperor's father had died in the same accident that killed his wife, leaving the Emperor an orphan. As was common in those times, he was raised by his grandfather and his grandmother.
Having no entertainment, the future Emperor, then just a small boy, re-read one list of facts over and over to amuse himself. That list went …
A brewery in Canada uses icebergs to make beer.
![A Canadian brewery makes beer with water from before humans invented agriculture. Quidi Vidi Brewery in Newfoundland har- vests water directly from icebergs that are up to 20,000 years old and float down the ar- ea's Iceberg Alley. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/9/7/848397.jpg)
Apples last 10 months in storage.
![Apples are only harvested once a year in the U.S. If you store an entire apple harvest under con- trolled-atmosphere condi- tions, it'll last up to 10 months. So an apple you eat not in Autumn has been in storage for a while. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/9/9/848399.jpg)
Yosemite means “those who kill.”
![Yosemite was named after a group of renegade enemy tribes living in the valley. The word comes from the Miwok tribe and literally means those who kill. The Yosemite people were referred to as killers by these surrounding tribes, who feared them. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/9/8/848398.jpg)
Elephants provide support chirps to each other.
![Elephants comfort each other with chirps. When Asian elephants are feeling stressed or upset, their peers will at- tempt to provide comfort by caressing them with their trunks and offering chirps of sympathy. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/9/6/848396.jpg)
A lot of LA is, well, a lot.
![15% of Los Angeles is used as a parking lot. A 2015 study published in the Journal of the Ameri- can Planning Association was able to determine that 14 percent of the city's in- corporated land is devoted to parking. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/9/5/848395.jpg)
The North Pole is moving.
![The magnetic North Pole. moves 10 kilometers a year. The shift occurs under the influence of the dynamo currents in the Earth's core, as well as electric currents flowing in the ion- osphere, the radiation belts, and the Earth's mag- netosphere. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/9/4/848394.jpg)
Two headed snakes compete for food between each head.
![If a snake is born with two heads, they compete with each other for food. First the two heads have to decide they're both hungry at the same time, and then they have to agree to pursue the same prey. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/9/3/848393.jpg)
Holes in sand dunes baffled scientists for years.
![Mysterious, 100-feet deep sand dune holes baffled Indiana for years. Scientists discovered that trees, long since covered by sand, were eaten away by fungi under the dunes. The fungi created a cement-like shell that held its shape even after the trees rotted, but those eventually caved in. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/9/2/848392.jpg)
Reindeer’s eyes change with the seasons.
![A reindeer's eyes can change colors with the seasons. While their eyes are gold- en in the summer, they shift to dark blue in the winter to increase the scatter of reflected light, which accounts for their seasonal vision sensitivity. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/9/1/848391.jpg)
The horse on Wyoming license plates is famous.
![The horse on Wyoming license plates is named Steamboat. WYOMING 8 -20 0722561 WYOMING 2 48344 Steamboat was the star horse of the bucking bron- со events from 1901 to 1914, named so because he had a broken bone in his nose which caused him to make a snorting sound like a steamboat. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/9/0/848390.jpg)
It’s dangerous to hold in a sneeze.
![A 34-year-old British man was hospitalized after attempting to contain his sneeze. Не trapped air in his tra- chea, and essentially ripped a hole in the soft tissue of his throat. Halting a sneeze via blocking nos- trils and mouth is a dan- gerous maneuver. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/8/9/848389.jpg)
One part of Canada has a weak gravitational pull.
![One area of Canada has a weaker gravitational pull than the rest of Earth. Nearly 20,000 years ago, the weight of massive ice glaciers caused some of the rock beneath to com- press and sink, and in the process displace the un- derlying semifluid mantle. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/8/6/848386.jpg)
The person in the game “Operation” has a name.
![The patient featured in the game Operation is named Cavity Sam. ELECTRO PROBE Не is presumably named after what cardiologists call SAM (Systolic Anterior Motion), an ailment that occurs in a ventricular cav- ity of the heart. Why not just Sam, Hasbro? Why Cavity? WHY CAVITY? CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/8/8/848388.jpg)
The oldest library has been in operation since 859 A.D.
![A Moroccan library has been operating since 859 A.D. The Al-Qarawiyyin Li- brary in Fez, Morocco is the world's oldest library, and in 2016 it finally opened its doors to any- one wishing to explore its ancient texts. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/8/7/848387.jpg)
Lighting can heat the air five times hotter than the sun.
![Lightning can heat the air it passes through to 50,000 degrees. This is 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun, which sizzles at a relatively temperate 9,941 degrees fahrenheit. The sun makes up for this measly number by heating up inside to 27 million degrees. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/8/5/848385.jpg)