20 Toe-Tapping Facts That Put a Song In Our Hearts

There are some people who enjoy this list of interesting facts, and others who just don't understand it. These people have never been to a place called “The Middle of Nowhere,” a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and never lived on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere. This is one of those places. They have never tried to fix a car using nothing but duct tape and a ballpoint pen. They have never heard of an award for the most disgusting dish in the world. And they have never seen a fish fly. These things exist, and there's more: the number of times it has snowed in the town of Hell; the name of a person who is famous for having the same name as a famous person; the fact that someone with the same first and last name was born on the same day of the same year as a different person with the same name,

20 The child actor who played Newt in “Aliens” became a teacher.

Newt from the movie Aliens never acted again. Carrie Henn, who was just 9-years-old when she was scouted at her school in England in 1986 for the role, left Hollywood and became an elementary school teacher. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — BestLife

19 Salted butter can be left out on the counter indefinitely.

Salted butter does not need to be refrigerated. Salted butter can be left out of the fridge indefi- nitely. The salt soaks up the moisture in the butter that would otherwise be a breeding ground for bac- teria. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — The Street

18 Italian pizza is just what tourists think it should be.

The Pizza Effect is when a culture is transformed elsewhere and then re-exported to its place of origin. Most pizza sold in Italy is specifically created to match the tourists' expec- tations of what authentic pizza is. Tourists then go home and open up pizza shops to recreate this au- thentic experience. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Myths of the Dog-Man

17 Two monks smuggled silkworm eggs out of China to bring silk manufacturing to Europe.

China's monopoly on silk ended when two monks smuggled silkworm eggs out of the country. In 552 A.D. two monks successfully smuggled silkworm eggs in their walking sticks from China to the Byzantine Empire, bringing silk manufactur- ing to Europe. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Silk Museum

16 Marriott hotels used jammers to stop customers’ from using their own WiFi.

The FCC fined Marriott for jamming customers' personal WiFi. JWMARKOTT Marriott was fined $600,000 for using jam- mers to interrupt the customers' personal Wi-Fi device so that they would be forced to pay for the internet. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — CNN

15 The FBI tried to set up the guy who made the Back to the Future car.

The FBI set up the inventor of the DeLorean car. John DeLorean was arrest- ed for conspiracy to traffic narcotics and only saved from prison after publisher Larry Flynt obtained and released tapes and docu- ments that proved his in- nocence. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — BME

14 Hobbits were real, until 12,000 years ago.

An early species of human lived alongside modern humans as recently as 12,000 years ago. The remains of Homo flo- resiensis, the Hobbit man, was found in Indo- nesia in 2003. This sister species of Homo habilis stood just 3 foot 7 inches tall. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — University of Wollongong

13 Buddy Holly’s death started a change in how a victim’s family is notified.

Authorities adopted a policy of notifying a victim's family before their name was released after Buddy Holly's death. Buddy Holly's wife found out about his death while watching TV and suffered a miscarriage the next day due to psychological trau- ma. His mother also heard the news on the radio and collapsed. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Time

12 The Green Frog was the first restaurant by the founder of Red Lobster.

The founder of Red Lobster first opened The Green Frog in 1938. Bill Darden opened the luncheonette in Way- ward, Georgia at the age of 19. Не refused to seg- regate customers by race, even though it was the law at the time. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — The Balance

11 Snakes can strike at G-forces that we could never tolerate.

The Texas rat snake strikes with a G-force over three times greater than pilots can withstand. The rat snake, as well as two other types of vipers, has been recorded to strike with accelerations up to 28 Gs. Pilots lose consciousness at around 9 Gs. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Live Science

10 Fingerprint analysis can be tainted with confirmation bias.

The judgment of expert fingerprint analysts is affected by context. When given fingerprints that, unbeknownst to them, they had deemed a match earlier in their career, and told that these were from the Madrid train bombings, 4 of the 5 experts said that they didn't match. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Huffington Post

9 Big Bird is a “Golden Condor.”

Big Bird's species was revealed in an episode of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. During an episode in the 11th season of Mr. Rogers, Big Bird was asked if he was related to a cassowary, and Big Bird noted to Mr. Rogers that he was a Gold- en Condor. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Pechakucha

8 Steve Martin surprised his celebrity friends with his own wedding.

Steve Martin's wedding came as a surprise to his guests. F Martin invited roughly 75 attendees, including the likes of Tom Hanks, Diane Keaton, and Eugene Levy, to his house just for a par- ty. Upon their arrival, the wedding began. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — People

7 An hour was not 60 minutes in Ancient Rome.

In Ancient Rome, an hour was 45 minutes in winter and 75 minutes in summer. Hours would have gov- erned meetings, courts and dinners, but not in the carefully struc- tured way so many of us experience today. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Smithsonian Mag

6 The vast majority of East Asian youths are near-sighted.

90% of East Asian young adults are near-sighted. This number is up from just 20% 60 years ago. Scientists suspect this is due to a decrease in time spent outside during childhood. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — ZME Science

5 Clooney suffered brain trauma filming “Syriana.”

George Clooney bruised his brain while filming Syriana. TUR Because the pain was so great, and since Clooney couldn't take pain killers due to a family history of ad- diction, he even con- templated suicide. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — The Guardian

4 Ghosts apparently need a lift sometimes.

Japanese taxi drivers reported picking up ghosts after a tsunami. In the months after the 2011 quake in northeastern Japan, taxi drivers report- ed picking up ghosts in the coastal town of Ishino- maki where nearly 6,000 people died in the tsunami. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Telegraph

3 Steely Dan and The Eagles made references to each other.

The Eagles and Steely Dan both paid homage to each other in their songs. In Everything You Did by Steely Dan, there is this lyric: turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening. The Eagles repaid the band in Hotel California with the lyric: they stab it with their steely knives. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — WMGK

2 A mysterious forest in Poland has trees that grow with a 90 degree bend.

There is a forest where the pine trees grow with a 90 degree bend at their base. The 400 pines in a cor- ner of Western Poland all bend facing north- ward and are sur- rounded by a larger forest of completely normal trees. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Unusual Places

1 The Swiss Air Force takes off nights and weekends.

French and Italian fighter jets had to step in over Swiss airspace because the Swiss were off the clock. Staffel 11 1-0011 OIL In 2014, a hijacked Ethiopi- an Airlines plane was head- ed to Switzerland, but had to be intercepted by French/Italian fighter jets because the Swiss Air force doesn't work on nights and weekends. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — The Guardian

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