Larry the Cable Guy’s real name is Daniel Lawrence Whitney. His notable Southern accent is fake – he was born and raised in the Midwest, not the South.
100 Mind-Blowing Fake Facts
There’s very little evidence the TSA has ever stopped a terrorist or found a real bomb. When tested, they failed to find fake weapons and bombs 95% of the time.
Animal Planet aired two fake documentaries that “proved” mermaids exist. So many people thought it was real that the U.S. government issued an official statement about it.
“OK” most likely stands for fake words. In the 1830s, people jokingly spelt abbreviations incorrectly. One of the most famous: “All correct” turned into “orl korrekt,” and then of course into OK. Historians think it stuck because Martin Van Buren—known as Old Kinderhook, after his hometown in New York—supporters called themselves the OK Club when he was campaigning for reelection.
A dime has 118 ridges on its edge. The ridges allow the coin to determine if it is real or fake. This was implemented on all coins before the 18th century. The ridges also make it harder to make counterfeit coins.
Fake ambulances are hired in Russia by the wealthy. They use this as a taxi for a faster and more convenient way of getting to their destinations. These vehicles can be hired for approximately $200 an hour.
Some pandas fake a pregnancy to get better healthcare. An example would be a Chinese panda named Ai Hin who was believed to show signs of pregnancy. Zookeepers ensured that she was given better care for the upcoming baby that never arrived.
More monopoly money is printed annually rather than actual currency. The U.S. government prints around $974 million annually to replace old money. However, the company behind the beloved board game prints over $30 billion worth of fake money annually.
An American man tried to fake his death so he wouldn’t have to pay his phone bill. In 2007, Corey Taylor attempted to fake his death to get out of his smartphone contract without paying for anything. However, despite his efforts, it did not work.
The organs in Grey’s Anatomy surgeries aren’t fake. … they’re cow organs. You were probably expecting something more dark, huh? Using synthetic organs for the operation scenes would have been shabby for a medical drama. Additionally, the hands shown in Grey’s Anatomy operation closeups are real surgeons’ hands.
The Great Reality TV Swindle is exactly what it sounds like. In 2002, 30 people were conned to join a fake reality TV show in the U.K. Nik Russian, a bookstore clerk at the time, posed as a TV producer who offered a 1-year show. Russia persuaded the participants to leave their homes and quit their jobs and partners. However, there was no program deal or prize money. As a result, most of the 30 contestants went bankrupt. Since then, Nik Russian has not been convicted (since he did not take money from anyone) and nobody has been able to track his whereabouts.
Reality TV phone calls are almost always fake. Phone calls are a familiar reality TV template, but there’s not much reality to them, either. It’s relatively easy since the fake conversation can be shot for each speaker and then edited together.
The blue meth in Breaking Bad is rock candy. Yup, they’ve been snorting rocks this whole time, but a confectionery kind: Crystal Sky is cotton candy-flavoured rock candy. It may have been fake drugs, but the cast and crew were still getting a different kind of high from it – they’d eat the sugary mixture to keep them up during shoots.
The Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Disneyland used to have real skeletons. In the 1960s, the skeletons on the Pirates ride at Disneyland were real. Why? They thought the fake skeletons didn’t look spooky enough. How? They contacted the UCLA medical department and bought skeletons usually found in anatomy classrooms. However, they stopped when they realized that the fake skeletons were cooler (and probably cheaper.)
The snow in The Wizard of Oz is asbestos. The famous poppy-field scene in The Wizard of Oz is blanketed by calming snow. However, it wasn’t so calming behind the scenes. The material they used for the fake snow was poisonous asbestos.
Maps sometimes have fake places to prevent plagiarism. Plagiarism can be hard to avoid for mapmakers. After all, what should they do? Invent new places? You’d be surprised to know some mapmakers do just that. Cartographers can add wrong streets, fake towns, or other landmarks to prove whether a competitor mapmaker is copying their work.
There are fake Apple stores in China. Some of the fake Apple stores are so convincing that even the employees thought they were working for Apple. They are usually selling real Apple products, and the employees even wear the same shirts that actual Apple associates wear. Sometimes the stores are shut down, but when that happens, more just pop up!
In Gravesend, England, there is a strategically built fake town used by police to imitate dangerous situations and formulate defence mechanisms against them.
The Secret Service Originally Fought Counterfeiting: Today we typically think of the U.S. Secret Service as protection for certain political leaders, including the President and Vice-President and their immediate families. But the agency was founded for a very different reason. By the end of the Civil War, fake money was a significant problem, with nearly one-third of all U.S. paper currency in circulation being counterfeit. As a result, the financial stability of the country was in jeopardy, so in 1865, the Treasury Department established the Secret Service to suppress the counterfeiting. They didn’t start protecting the President until 1901, after the assassination of President William McKinley.
Criticisms of YouTube include their servers promoting videos about conspiracy theories, fake news, and fringe beliefs.