15 Now-You-Know Facts That Blew Our Socks Off

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15 Now-You-Know Facts That Blew Our Socks Off

What's a brain good for? Well, it's good for memorizing phone numbers and the names of your seventh grade classmates and the lyrics of a dozen pop songs. It's also good for playing word games and solving logic puzzles and understanding the theory of relativity. But if you ask any scientist what it's best at, you're likely to get a blank stare. The brain has been described as the most complex structure known to science. And yet, the brain has no practical value. It can't be used to cure diseases or grow crops, nor can it be used to build bridges, cars, or computers. It's not even clear what purpose brains serve, because the brain doesn't seem to do anything. In fact, the brain is often described as a kind of biological waste bucket, a massive organ that consumes tremendous amounts of energy with no apparent function. Anyway, please enjoy this list of interesting facts.

Mao Zedong invited people to openly express themselves, so he could see who said the wrong things.

Mao Zedong initiated a campaign to crack down on people with the wrong opinions. CRACKED.COM In the Hundred Flowers Campaign, Mao Zedong in- vited people to openly ex- press their opinions and have free discussions. Once this happened, he cracked down on those who said the wrong things.

Marxists

BTS brings big bucks to South Korea.

800,000 foreigners visit South Korea every year just for the band BTS. NBC NE dcr CRACKED.COM BTS is responsible for a ripple effect that includes increased tourism to South Korea, inter- est in Korean culture, movies, and study of the Korean lan- guage, and added approxi- mately $5 billion per year to South Korea's economy.

NPR

A hockey player had their throat cut by a skate during a game.

Hockey goalie Clint Malarchuk's throat got slashed by a skate during a live NHL game. 30 GRAGKED.COM The injury was so bad that 11 fans fainted, two people had heart attacks and at least 3 players vomited on the ice. Clint was back on the ice just a week later, with 300 stitches.

CBC

Earth Simulator is one of the most powerful supercomputers on Earth.

One of the most powerful supercomputers is used to model the planet's climate. CRACKED.COM Developed by the Japanese government, Earth Simula- tor runs global climate mod- els to evaluate the effects of global warming and prob- lems in solid earth geophys- ics with nearly 35 trillion ор- erations per second.

Jamstec

Dogs are honored on a holiday in China.

There is a special holiday in China where dogs are carried around like royalty. CRACKED COM Dog Carrying Day is a holi- day where villagers in China dress up a dog and carry it around on a throne to honor a legend where a dog saved the village by leading the people to water.

Independent

Flavor Flav can play 15 instruments.

Flavor Flav is a musical prodigy. GRACKED.COM By the time he started performing with Public Enemy, he was proficient in 15 different instru- ments, from drums to oboe, and co-wrote their first album with Chuck D.

The Guardian

A replica of the Statue of Liberty was accidentally used on a “forever” stamp.

A Las Vegas replica of the Statue of Liberty was mistakenly used on a USPS stamp. CRACKED.COM The USPS mistook the replica for the real one in New York when creating the Lady Liberty forever stamp in 2010, resulting in $3.5 million payouts to the replica's sculptor for vio- lating his copyright.

Washington Post

Tikka Masala is a Scottish dish.

The popular Indian style dish Chicken Tikka Masala was invented in Glasgow, Scotland. CRACKED.COM The dish comes from Ali Ahmed Aslam, proprietor of the Shish Mahal, said to have prepared a sauce us- ing spices soaked in a tin of condensed tomato soup after a customer said his meal was too dry.

BBC

Coke has an arrangement with the DEA.

Coca-Cola has a special arrangement with the DEA. mBC J S B G Coca-Cola® OF DE HCC# CRACKED.COM In order for it to continue to exist in its current form, the company has a special arrangement with the Drug Enforcement Agency to al- low them to import dried coca leaves from Peru in huge quantities.

NY Times

The Bugatti Veyron isn’t cheap to maintain.

The cost of an oil change for a Bugatti Veyron is $20,000. GRACKED.COM The car literally has to be split in half in order to get to the oil inspection area. This includes taking off the heads, inspecting inside the engine thoroughly, and checking to make sure that oil is being applied in key areas.

Art of Gears

There are temples in Japan with blood on the ceiling.

There are 5 temples in Kyoto, Japan that have blood-stained ceilings. CRACKED COM The ceilings are made from the floorboards of a castle where warriors killed themselves after a long hold-off against an army. To this day, you can still see the bloody outlines and footprints.

Samuel Hawley

The “Cinnamon Challenge” is dangerous.

The Cinnamon Challenge could lead to permanent lung conditions. CRACKED.COM Cinnamon powder, when inhaled, can cause in- flammation and perma- nent scarring in the lungs, leading to condi- tions like emphysema and pulmonary fibrosis.

National Post

A man mailed his bullies old underwear and soggy trash.

A Tokyo resident mailed soggy garbage to the people that bullied him in the Boy Scouts. CRACKED.COM Не mailed more than 500 boxes of garbage, including old underwear and rotten tea leaves, to his tormentors. Не wrote a random destination as the address with the bul- ly's return address in order to escape detection.

Atlas Obscura

Moscow street dogs know how to scare the food out of your hand.

Street dogs in Moscow will sneak up on people holding food and startle them. CRACKED.COM One technique some dogs have for getting food is to sneak up behind a person who is holding some. The dog will then bark, which some- times startles the human enough to drop the food.

Financial Times

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