20 Facts That Are Like A Road Trip To Knowledge Town

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20 Facts That Are Like A Road Trip To Knowledge Town

It had all started with an itch on the back of his neck. At first, it had seemed to be a tick, a minor inconvenience he'd ignored for a time. However, as days passed with no respite, he knew that something was wrong. The itching had turned to throbbing, and the throbbing to sharp pains in the center of his scalp, where the itch resided. He'd tried everything—scratching at the spot, smacking the top of his head, even rubbing a bit of toothpaste into his skin and letting it sit for a time—but nothing worked. It wasn't until he saw a picture of the Sphinx that he finally figured out what it was.

The Sphinx was one of those strange creatures found across ancient Egypt; and suddenly, when he saw the picture of the Sphinx, he somehow knew, without being able to say how he knew, that the whole thing had to be connected with that weird list of facts he'd learned recently. The list went …

The world wastes a billion tons of food every year.

Nearly 1 billion metric tons of food is wasted on the planet every year. CRACKED.COM The majority of wasted food (61%) comes from homes, while restaurants and other food services produce 26% of wasted food. Grocery stores make up just 13% of food waste.

UNEP

The tusk of a narwhal shows how the animal lived.

Like the rings of a tree, a narwhal's tusk tells us about how it lived. CRACKED.COM Each year, layers of the tusk are added, and they offer insight into the whale's age, the level of pollution it lived in, tem- perature levels, and what its diet consisted of.

Wired

Roller coasters are made so we won’t get distracted by saloons and brothels.

The first roller coaster was created to distract the public from debauchery. CRACKED.COM In 1884, disgusted with the uprising of hedonistic amusements like saloons and brothels, LaMarcus Adna Thompson invented the Switchback Gravity Railway at Coney Island.

Smithsonian Magazine

The original ‘Beauty and the Beast’ had a gross message.

The original 'Beauty and the Beast' was meant to help girls accept arranged marriages. CRACKED.COM It was written in 1740 to encourage girls into forced marriages, for an alliance that required ef- facing their own desires and submitting to the will of a monster.

The Atlantic

Lonely funerals get their own poet in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands sends poets to a funeral if the deceased has no one else. CRACKED.COM The country implemented the ritual of 'lonely funer- al poems,' where poets research the deceased and write a poem in their honor to recite at the fu- neral.

Emerson College

Koko remembered what Mr. Rogers did when he entered his home.

Koko the gorilla instinctively knew to help Mr. Rogers out of his shoes when she met him GRACKED.COM Mister Rogers' Neighbor- hood was Koko's favorite show, so it stands to rea- son why she would know to help untie his shoes when they met. She also cradled him in her arms because who wouldn't?

New Yorker

Brigham Young U. banned beards.

It was against Brigham Young University for students to grow a beard until 2015. CRACKED COM Exceptions at the Mor- mon flagship school were given to students with medical conditions, actors who need a beard for a role, or for reli- gious reasons.

BYU

Flamin’ Hot Cheetos was created by a Frito-Lay janitor.

A janitor pitched the idea of Flamin' Hot Cheetos to Frit-Lay. CRACKED.COM Richard Montañez had the idea to add chili powder to the cheesy treat, and has since risen up the ranks to serve as a PepsiCo executive. The movie Flamin' Hot about these events is cur- rently in post production.

Variety

You could report on cones on the road in the ‘90s.

Britain had a hotline to report errant traffic cones in the early'90s. CRACKED.COM The Cones Hotline was launched in 1992 for citi- zens to report traffic cones on the road for no appar- ent reason, and then shut- tered in 1995 for being a waste of government re- sources.

Independent

Someone tried to auction off New Zealand online.

New Zealand was put up for auction on eBay. CRACKED COM An Australian man in 2006 put the country up for sale for just $0.01 AUD, and bids got all the way up to $3,000 before eBay put a stop to it.

Grunge

There is no such thing as a ‘Crunchberry.’

Quaker Oats was sued by a woman who thought Cap'N'Crunch had real berries. CRACKED.COM Jeanine Sugawara felt tricked that the Crunch Berries cereal didn't have a single real berry, so she sued Quaker Oats on the grounds of false advertis- ing. The case was quickly dismissed.

Legal Info

James Bond has nothing on Roald Dahl.

Roald Dahl was a super sexy spy for the Brits. CRACKED.COM The 'Charlie and the Choc- olate Factory' author gath- ered intelligence for the British Security Coordina- tion during World War II, using his charm to seduce congresswomen, actresses, and oil heiresses'.

History

Russians use fake ambulances to skip traffic.

Wealthy Russians hire fake ambulances to speed through traffic. 03 CRACKED.COM С827АУ 1 The ambulance-taxis are equipped with plush interiors and are being rented our to VIP commuters too good to sit in traffic like the rest of us.

National Post

A plane crash survivor lost his wallet, but it was returned three decades later.

A wallet from 1972 was returned to a plane crash survivor. THE I I N LANE 5 2010 cta YOU I taken 2 NOSULTONY ONO suda The 11-22-07 GRN Eyes OF I I Save a DRIVER S I CRACKED.COM All but 16 passengers died in a plane crash in the An- des in 1972. Hiker Ricardo Peña found the wallet of one survivor, a Uruguayan rugby player, and returned it to him after tracking him down.

Back Packer

This park ranger is the luckiest unlucky person.

A Virginian park ranger was struck by lightning seven times. CRACKED.COM Between 1942 and 1977, Roy Cleveland Sullivan was struck by lightning on 7 different occasions, earn- ing him an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records and the nickname Human Lighting Rod.

GWW

Knots in rope were used to keep records.

Incan people tied knots in rope to keep records. GRAGKED.COM Called quipu, the types of knots and their loca- tion relative to the top of the cord would modi- fy the meaning of the apparatus.

MAA

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