20 Trivia-Tastic Facts That Really Stirred Our Coffee

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20 Trivia-Tastic Facts That Really Stirred Our Coffee

There's something definitely otherworldly about hands that have a mind of their own and, well, alien hand syndrome is a rare neurological disorder where one hand functions involuntarily. AHS sufferers often report feeling as if the affected limb has a life of its own. Moving to history, giant soldiers might sound like they're straight out of Game of Thrones, but Prussian King Frederick William I really did breed tall men to create an elite regiment in the 1700s. These “Potsdam Giants” were given extra money for being taller, and even more money was doled out if they married tall women in hopes of continuing to produce giant heirs. Except none of them ever saw action - turns out when you've got giants on your side, you become too valuable to risk losing them in battle. Now, on the subject of literature, blank pages can be pretty intimidating whether you're staring down writer's block or just trying to doodle some flowers around the margins, but for JRR Tolkien it was actually where he found inspiration for The Hobbit. One day while grading papers, he came across an empty sheet and suddenly wrote ‘In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.’ And with that simple sentence began one now-beloved fantasy series.

Tree shrews in Borneo use pitcher plants as toilets.

Borneo pitcher plants get nitrogen from tree shrew poop. CRACKED.COM The tree shrews feed on the nectar on the leaves and deposit their feces into the pitcher plants, using them like nature's toi- let.

NCBI / Wikipedia

A man at the Bronx Zoo attempted to be “one with the tiger.”

A man jumped into the tiger enclosure at the Bronx Zoo in 2012. CRACKED.COM David Villalobos intention- ally jumped off of the monorail to be 'one with the tiger.' Не survived, and when the police asked him why he did it he replied: everyone in life makes choices.

ABC / Wikipedia

Radiation makes astronauts see flashes of light in space.

Astronauts often see random flashes of light in space, even through their closed eyes. CRACKED.COM This is caused by cosmic rays passing through their eyes or optical nerves. Scientists think the light is either gen- erated by Cherenkov radia- tion or by the ray being pow- erful enough to activate the optical nerve.

NIH / Pixabay

A farmer exploited a loophole to build a castle.

A British farmer exploited a legal loophole while building a faux castle. CRACKED.COM Robert Fidler in Surrey built the castle and hid it behind a towering wall of haystacks and tarps for 4 years, since a legal loophole said a building was legal if no one com- plained about its presence for 4 years.

MNN / Pixabay

It only takes one single snowflake to make a “white Christmas” in the UK.

It only takes one single snowflake to make a white Christmas in the UK. CRACKED.COM In the UK, a White Christmas is defined as one snowflake to be observed falling in the 24 hours of 25 De- cember somewhere in the UK.

Meta Office / Wikipedia

Tolkien started “The Hobbit” on a blank page while grading papers.

J. R. R. Tolkien began work on The Hobbit one day early in the 1930s. CRACKED.COM While he was marking school papers, he found a blank page. Suddenly inspired, he wrote the words, In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit.

Ed Week / Wikipedia

A Prussian King bred tall soldiers with tall women to make giant soldiers that never saw any action.

Prussian King Frederick William I had a regiment of very tall men, known as the Potsdam Giants. CRACKED.COM The taller they were, the more they were paid - and they were paired with tall women, to breed giant sol- diers. However, they were never sent on active ser- vice, as they were too valu- able.

History Answers / Wikipedia

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