15 Now-You-Know Facts That Really Shredded Our Cheese

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15 Now-You-Know Facts That Really Shredded Our Cheese

When it comes to fashion, even the statues were keeping up with the times. Roman marble busts were often made with removable hair so that styles could be swapped out as needed. This saved Romans from having to commission new busts every time there was a change in hairstyle trends. Speaking of changing things up, did you know that John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson once almost had the same vice president? It's true! John C Calhoun got picked by both presidents as their running mate, despite being vehemently opposed to nearly all of Adams's policies. I guess he just couldn't say no when asked twice. And finally, we have an uplifting story about poet Robert Desnos who used his talent for palm reading to save concentration camp prisoners during WWII. He would tell them they had long lives ahead of them, full of children and joy - predictions that sounded so convincing and exciting that guards called off executions altogether. 

A gas giant 50 light years away is so hot it would glow red.

It rains iron on the gas giant 51 Pegasi В. CRACKED.COM The planet is located 50 light years away from us and has temperatures reaching 1000 to 2000°C (3632 degrees Fahrenheit). The gasses that make up the planet would be so hot that it would glow red.

Physics World

Danny Trejo shed his tough guy persona for Kermit.

Kermit the Frog made Danny Trejo cry on the set of The Muppets: Most Wanted! CRACKED.COM Trejo's mother passed away during filming, but he shrugged off most of the sympathy from the cast because of his tough guy persona. When Steve Whitmire apologized in character as Kermit, Trejo broke down.

Collider

A Somali refugee in the Netherlands joined parliament to champion women’s rights.

A member of Dutch parliament is a Somali-born woman who escaped and sought asylum in the Netherlands. CRACKED.COM Ayaan Hirsi Ali was a victim of genital mutilation and married off to her cousin. She is now an activist for women's rights and opposes honor violence and child marriage.

African Success

A miscommunication led to the deaths of 115 church goers in 1902.

115 people died in a stampede at a church in 1902. HILOH BAPTIST CHURGH Rev.T.W.WALKER PASTAR PHO CRACKED COM The congregation at the Shiloh Baptist Church in Alabama mistook a cry of FIGHT! for FIRE! and stampeded to the exits.

World Atlas 

Hermione almost had a different actress in the 6th Harry Potter film.

Emma Watson almost didn't return to the Harry Potter franchise after the fifth installment. CRACKED.COM She had considered not returning for The Half Blood Prince, but decided that she wouldn't be able to watch someone else play Hermione.

MTV 

Vanilla is largely thanks to a slave child in the late 1800s.

As a 12-year-old slave boy in 1841 invented the technique for pollinating vanilla orchids profitably. GRACKED.COM It's unlikely that vanilla would be nearly as well known as it is today without Edmond Albius' technique.

NatGeo

Half a dozen plane-crash rescue attempts just added more people needing rescue.

6 planes crashed trying to rescue plane-crash survivors in 1942. ASANA AIRLINE unicef GRACKED.COM The original plane crash-landed due to bad winter weather in Greenland. Survivors of the subsequent crashes spent up to 5.5 months taking shelter on a glacier waiting for help.

HistoryNet

Michael Jordan surpassed all the conditions Nike had before they gave him a contract.

Nike had conditions before giving rookie Michael Jordan a contract, and he blew all of them out of the water. CRACKED.COM Jordan had to be rookie of the year, or average 20 ppg, or be an All Star, or sell $4 million worth shoes in a year. Не was rookie of the year, scored 28.2 ppg, named All Star, and Nike sold $100 mill of shoes in 1984-85.

ESPN 

A poet saved the lives of concentration camp prisoners by reading palms.

A surrealist poet read the palms of prisoners going to the Nazi gas chambers, predicting long life. GRAGKED.COM Robert Desnos' readings predicting longevity, more children, and abundant joy were made with such contagious excitement that the guards were unable to go through with the executions.

Zcomm 

John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson each picked John C Calhoun to be their running mate in 1824 .

John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson each picked John С Calhoun to be their running mate in 1824. CRACKED.COM Calhoun was vehemently opposed to nearly all of Adams's policies, but he did nothing to dissuade Adams supporters from voting for him for vice president.

American Historical Review 

Roman marble busts could have removable hair to swap styles.

Roman busts sometimes had removable hair so that you could update it with the current fashion. CRACKED.COM It would have been too expensive to commission a new bust every time hair fashion changed, so a mix-and-match bust would have been preferable for women with less money.

JSTOR

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