20 Splashy Facts That Really Floated Our Boats

About a dozen parents in LA make all the movie ratings.
20 Splashy Facts That Really Floated Our Boats

We've got three fun facts that are sure to get your brain going… and another 17 to keep it going. Fact number one: In Australia, a border collie named Sophie Tucker fell off a boat during a huge storm and ended up swimming 5 nautical miles through shark-infested waters before finally washing ashore on an uninhabited island. There, she reverted back to her wild instincts and survived by hunting and eating feral goats for an entire month before being reunited with her owners. Fact number two: Have you ever heard of the beer mile? It's exactly what it sounds like - a 1-mile race in which runners must drink a pint of beer for every quarter mile. And if that doesn't sound difficult enough, there are also variations of the sport that include drinking things like a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream or solving a Rubik's cube along with each beer for the mile. Yeah … we'll pass on that one. And last but not least: Whitney Houston did NOT sing live during her famous 1991 Super Bowl performance of the national anthem. Her microphone was turned off!!! Can you believe it?!

Apple sold iMacs in five packs to retailers so they didn’t end up with unpopular colors.

Apple made retailers buy their multicolor iMacs in five-packs, one in each color. This way, Apple wouldn't get stuck with the ипрори- lar colors, only the retailer. Around 2002 the most popular colors were blue- berry and grape, beating out strawberry, tangerine, and lime. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

Cnet

Funds for the Statue of Liberty were raised with auctions and boxing matches.

The US and Europe raised funds for the Statue of Liberty with auctions, a lottery, and boxing matches. The statue was planned to be ready by the United State's centennial, but fundraising took longer than expected. It cost the French an estimated $250,000 (more than $5.5 million in today's money). CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

History

Einstein didn’t know how to swim but loved sailing.

Albert Einstein was an avid, and terrible, sailor. Einstein was always run- ning his small sailboat aground because he was too busy relaxing. His family was convinced he'd die on the water, or in it - as he did not know how to swim. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

Sea History

A bacteria will excrete a detoxified gold when in a toxic solution.

There is a bacteria that poops gold. Delftia acidovarans ex- cretes gold when it's in a toxic solution, possibly to keep the metal from en- tering its cells and to de- toxify gold that breaches its cell walls. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

Nature

A German man sent a company-wide email announcing he did nothing there for 14 years.

A German civil servant told his colleagues he did no work for 14 years as he retired in 2012. 1 The 65-year-old found out he was going to be out of a job due to cutbacks, so he sent an email to 500 of his fellow employees an- nouncing he hadn't done a thing since 1998. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

Telegraph

In the 1970s, the U.S. Census Bureau removed Central and South American options.

Residents of the US kept picking the wrong country so the Census had to be changed. In the 1970s, the U.S. Cen- sus Bureau removed Cen- tral and South American options as nationalities be- cause people from the Midwest and the Southern USA would mistakenly pick them. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

Info Please

Volcanic activity heats Iceland.

Most of Reykjavík, Iceland is heated by volcanic activity. In 2008, natural hot wa- ter was used to heat roughly 90% of all build- ings in Iceland with geo- thermal heating systems for both residential and industrial districts. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

NEA

The San Francisco Bay

The San Francisco Bay wasn't discovered for over 200 years after Europeans first discovered California. Expeditions were so fearful of the Farallon Islands that they sailed west to avoid them, thus missing the small Golden Gate inlet. The Bay was later discov- ered by land. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

North Korean commandos almost killed the South Korean president in 1968.

In 1968, an elite group of North Korean commandos snuck across the DMZ to assassinate the South Korean president. The group of 31 made it to within 100 meters of their target, Park Chung-hee, in his residence at the Blue House, before their plot was foiled. All 31 were ei- ther captured, killed, or forced to flee. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

Tactical MilSim

About a dozen parents in LA make all the movie ratings.

Movie ratings are decided by about a dozen parents in Los Angeles. There are usually about 10 to 13 parents on the board, usually with kids aged 5 to 15, and they live in Los An- geles while on the board. They see a movie at the same time and then vote privately. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

Box Office Pro

A US charity abducted babies between 1924 and 1950.

More than 5,000 babies across the United States were abducted by a supposedly charitable organization. The group targeted poor Southern fami- lies between 1924 and 1950 and devel- oped a black market for white babies. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

NY Post

Whitney Houston did not sing a live rendition of the national anthem for the ‘91 Super Bowl.

Whitney Houston lip-synced her 1991 Super Bowl rendition of the U.S. National Anthem. The performance is fre- quently considered one of the best anthems in history but her micro- phone was turned off and a pre-recorded ver- sion was played. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

ABC

A certain race makes runner finish a pint of beer for every quarter mile.

A beer mile is a 1-mile drinking race where runners must drink a pint of beer for every quarter-mile. Other variations of this sport includes a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream for 4 miles, as well as a variation in which runners must solve a Rubik's cube along with each beer for their mile. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

Vine Pair

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