20 Toe-Tapping Facts That Really Tuned Our Radios

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20 Toe-Tapping Facts That Really Tuned Our Radios

With trains comes … uh, great responsibility, we guess. Did you know that there is a device used to intentionally derail trains? It's true! The derailer works by, you guessed it, derailing the equipment as it rolls over or through it. In these situations, there is a risk of greater damage to equipment, injury or death if the train is allowed to proceed, so they have to derail it. On the (gruesome) subject of injuries, did you know that James Brady died 33 years after being shot? That's right - the death of Reagan's press secretary was ruled a homicide when he died 33 years after getting shot. Interestingly enough, John Hinckley Jr., who attempted to kill President Ronald Reagan in 1981,. only faced charges for the 3 other people he injured and not Brady's homicide, due to the fact that he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. In other news from the '80s - have you heard about the D.B Cooper copycat named Glenn K Tripp? He hijacked an plane for $600k ransom but then had his drink spiked with Valium by a flight attendant. Eventually, he lowered  his demand to 3 cheeseburgers before getting apprehended (and no doubt enjoying those burgers, at least). 

Kim Jong-Il shipped an English brewery to North Korea in pieces to reassemble.

Kim Jong-Il bought an entire brewery in England and shipped it piece by piece to North Korea. Jong-Il planned to re-use equipment from the Ush- ers plant, purchased for £1.5 million, to build a gi- ant new brewery on the outskirts of its capital, Pyongyang. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

BBC / Wikipedia

The Netherlands have drastically reduced water requirements for growing produce.

The Netherlands is a leader when it comes to food production due to innovations in agricultural techniques. Growing a kg of tomatoes in the Netherlands uses 9.1 liters of water (1.1 gal- lons/lb). The global aver- age is over 210 liters of water per kg (25.6 gal- lons/lb). CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

Nat Geo / Wikipedia

A bag handler was awarded a medal for kicking a suicide bomber in the nuts.

John Smeaton was awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal for kicking a suicide bomber in the testicles. The bag handler (an ар- propriate position) was working at Glasgow Air- port during the terrorist attack in 2007, and ran to confront the bomber after he heard explosions. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

BBC / Pexels

The red combs on a rooster’s head can be used to make a compound that acts like botox.

Red combs of roosters and hens are the best source of hyaluronan, which is used in plastic surgery. Hyaluronic acid is used to keep arthritic joints lubri- cated and used in plastic surgeries like botox. The combs are maybe the only part of the chicken people don't eat, but they still have a use. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

NY Times / Unsplash

The most extreme temperature change happened in South Dakota in 1943.

On January 22, 1943, the temperature in Spearfish, SD, changed from -4°F to 45°F in just two minutes. by BACK PORCH The temperature eventually rose to 54°F before drop- ping back to -4°F. This was caused by a Chinook wind, set- ting a world record. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

Weather.gov / Wikipedia

JFK’s limo went on to serve the next four presidents.

The limo in which JFK was assassinated went on to be used by four future presidents. Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Car- ter all got to travel in JFK's last ride, be- fore it was retired in 1977. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

USA Today / Wikimedia

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