32 Powerful Bits of Trivia to Ramp Your Brainship Up to Ludicrous Speed
Stuff that convo lull with these!
![32 Powerful Bits of Trivia to Ramp Your Brainship Up to Ludicrous Speed](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/6/1/1007561_320x180.jpg)
What in the world are you supposed to talk to people about after “What’s your name?” and “How much money do you make?” We’ve never known. That’s why we’ve devoted our lives to these conversation plugs. Now our conversations go, “What’s your name? How much money do you make? Did you know that Homer Simpson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame?” Nailed it!
![CRACKED THE LARGEST SNOWFLAKE ON RECORD WAS 15 INCHES WIDE AND 8 INCHES THICK. The snowflake was recorded in Fort Keogh, Montana, in 1887.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/2/3/1001423.jpg)
![CRACKED THE SHORTEST WAR IN HISTORY LASTED 38 MINUTES. The war broke out on August 27, 1896, after Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini refused to step down as ruler of Zanzibar, despite Britain's demand. Не was quickly defeated.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/2/2/1001422.jpg)
![CRACKED THE TALLEST PERSON IN RECORDED HISTORY WAS OVER 8 FEET TALL. Robert Wadlow was born in Alton, Illinois, in 1918, and grew to a height of 8 feet 11.1 inches before his death at age 22.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/2/1/1001421.jpg)
![CRACKED THE LONGEST WEDDING VEIL WAS OVER FOUR MILES LONG. The veil, measuring exactly 22,843 feet and 2.11 inches long, was worn by Maria Paraskeva, a bride from Cyprus, on her wedding day in 2018.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/2/0/1001420.jpg)
![The US Army Corps of Engineers turned off the Niagara Falls back in 1969. They did it so they could study the consequences of erosion --and there are plans to turn off the Falls again to rebuild a pair of old bridges. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/1/9/1001419.jpg)
![In India, there's a giant three-tone squirrel that looks like a psychedelic vision. The Malabar giant squirrel has a purple, maroon, and orange coat, and is 36 inches long (and can leap a distance of up to 20 feet). CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/1/6/1001416.jpg)
![The government of Cyprus turned down a particle accelerator for a pageant. An accelerator called SESAME was supposed to be built there, but the government decided to pay for the Miss Universe pageant instead. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/1/8/1001418.jpg)
![Homer Simpson got inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame a few years ago. WONDER BAT It was thanks to the 1992 episode Homer at the Bat, in which he played for the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant softball team. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/1/7/1001417.jpg)
![The light in the back of New York City taxicabs is called a trouble light. MA SOFF Address XXX.DVD XXX PGEP SHOP H RESMEMAES - LOVELY GIFTS.. NO ut of NATIONAL KINGMO It's a distress sign that can be silently activated by the driver ... and doing that also alerts any passing police cars that the driver is in danger. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/1/3/1001413.jpg)
![Charles Darwin travelled to the Galapagos islands as a geologist, not a biologist. He'd read Principles of Geology, a book that explained geological change as the gradual result of many small causes, which strongly influenced him. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/1/4/1001414.jpg)
![The first meal on the moon included bacon squares, peaches and coffee. It was eaten by Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, and it also included sugar cookie cubes and pineapple grapefruit drink. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/1/5/1001415.jpg)
![Krabby Patties in Spongebob Squarepants contain absolutely no meat. Show creator Steve Hillenburg explicitly specified there are no animal products in them (just as well, otherwise they'd be super gross). CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/1/2/1001412.jpg)
![The Egyptians were basically known as the class clown of the Ancient world. They had such a strong reputation for cracking jokes all the time, Romans banned Egyptian lawyers from courts because their jokes disrupted the work of the court. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/1/1/1001411.jpg)
![Neil Armstrong had a tiny piece of the 1903 Wright Flyer with him on the moon. Specifically, it was a scrap of fabric from the flyer's wing and a small chunk of its propeller, and Armstrong kept them in his suit pocket as he stepped on the moon. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/1/0/1001410.jpg)
![In 1381, English peasants revolted against the lords and sacked London. The revolt was led by a guy named Wat Tyler, and the mob beheaded the chancellor and treasurer and took over the Tower of London. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/0/9/1001409.jpg)
![A man named Daniel Kish went blind at 13, and taught himself to see with sound. Specifically, he uses echolocation, roughly the same method bats use - he clicks his tongue, and the echoes he hears tell him about the environment he's in. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/0/4/1001404.jpg)
![In Ireland, there's a monument older than Stonehenge and just as amazing. It's called Newgrange and, every year on December 21, a chamber in the structure is illuminated for 17 minutes. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/0/8/1001408.jpg)
![One way of keeping people with dementia in care facilities is to use dark doormats. They tend to see such doormats as holes, and won't step on them to avoid falling into the hole. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/0/6/1001406.jpg)
![A violin that played as the Titanic went down was found - in an attic, of all places. And it sold in an auction for $1.6 million, or roughly three times the expected price. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/0/5/1001405.jpg)
![Fight Club might be a classic today, but it tanked when it came out. It really disappointed at the box office and only got mixed reviews - but, eventually, 13 million Fight Club DVDs were sold. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/0/7/1001407.jpg)
![CRACKED FIRST MURDER BY ROBOT. In 1979, a robot arm at a Ford plant in Michigan hit a man in the head and killed him, making it the first recorded instance of a robot causing a death.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/0/3/1001403.jpg)
![CRACKED THERE ARE CHINESE REPLICAS OF FAMOUS CITIES. Five Chinese towns have been constructed to look like some of the most famous cities in the world, like Jackson Hole in Wyoming, Hallstatt in Austria, Paris in France, Venice in Italy, and London in England.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/0/2/1001402.jpg)
![If your mouth burns when you eat pineapple, that's because it eats you back. It secretes an enzyme called bromelain, which breaks down protein - and it works on the proteins that make up your mouth tissue. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/9/9/1001399.jpg)
![In 2010, a group of people made up a fake case just to get on Judge Judy. It involved smashed TV sets and a dead cat, and four roommates just made it up out of thin air. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/0/0/1001400.jpg)
![Not all vanilla beans are created equal - the taste depends on the country of origin. Sure, they all have a base vanilla flavor, but they might also have, say, mocha or floral or buttery tones, depending on where they're grown. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/0/1/1001401.jpg)
![In the early 20th century, an American explorer smuggled 30,000 Mayan artifacts. Не took them from a structure in Chichen Itza - basically a giant well - where they had piled up for centuries and smuggled them out of Mexico in his friends', colleagues', and own wife's luggage. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/9/8/1001398.jpg)
![A curator replaced exhibits at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts with fakes. Не then sold over a hundred of the exhibits, for millions of dollars. Не was arrested, and in his defense claimed that somebody had already been replacing paintings with fakes when he started work at the Academy. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/9/6/1001396.jpg)
![CRACKED HELENA BONHAM CARTER'S POWERFUL GREAT-GRANDDADDY. Her greatfather Herbert Henry Asquith was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the first World War.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/9/7/1001397.jpg)
![CRACKED HILARY DUFF'S ANCESTOR DEFEATED BLACKBEARD THE PIRATE. As Governor of Virginia, her ancestor Alexander Spotswood sent Lieutenant Robert Maynard and his men to North Carolina to capture or kill Blackbeard. They were successful, and Maynard killed Blackbeard on November 22, 1718. hul LO](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/9/5/1001395.jpg)
![CRACKED CYNDI LAUPER'S 7TH GREAT-GRANDAD LED THE FIRST-EVER SWISS REBELLION. In the 1650s, Christen Lauper gathered rebels to fight the oppressive government. It was the first time that Switzerland had ever faced action against the peasants. There are monuments in Switzerland honoring the rebel cause.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/9/4/1001394.jpg)
![CRACKED JOHN LITHGOW'S ANCESTOR WAS ON THE MAYFLOWER. His 9th great-grandfather William Bradford's name was found in the passenger log of the Mayflower. Не was the Governor of this new colony, and he's also an ancestor of the Baldwins, Clint Eastwood, and Sally Field.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/9/3/1001393.jpg)
![CRACKED BROOKE SHIELDS HAS FRENCH ROYAL ANCESTRY. She is a direct descendant of Henry IV, the King of France from 1589 to 1610. His daughter Christine Marie de France was born in the Louvre in 1606.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/9/2/1001392.jpg)