37 Bits of Trivia to Make Up for All Those Days You Played Hooky
Enough of these facts will add up to a full lesson plan somewhere!
![37 Bits of Trivia to Make Up for All Those Days You Played Hooky](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/1/3/1031713_320x180.jpg)
If the facts were this good in high school, there’s no way we would’ve skipped class. Our desk would’ve been front and center, and our chins would’ve been nestled in our palms as we stared dreamy-eyed at the fact-filled lesson plan in our teacher’s hands. We’ll doodle the word “facts” with hearts around it while you develop a little crush of your own.
![Supernovae explode on an average once every 100 years in a galaxy. CRACKED.COM Assuming there are 170 billion galaxies in the universe, there are 53 supernovae exploding every sin- gle second.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/8/4/1030584.jpg)
![George Clooney keeps a photo of himself as Batman. CRACKED.COM The actor looks at the photo of his time in the rubber suit 'As a cau- tionary reminder of what happens when you make movies for com- mercial reasons'.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/8/3/1030583.jpg)
![Wal-Mart used to take out life insurance policies on their employees. WAL MART GUARANTEED CRACKED.COM The corporation would then keep the payouts when they died, a prac- tice colloquially known as Dead Peasant Insur- ance.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/8/2/1030582.jpg)
![Growing up in a warm climate will make your sweat glands more active. CRACKED COM Sweat glands mature during the first 2 years of life, so growing up in warm cli- mates leads to more active sweat glands than people who grew up in a cli- mate-controlled environ- ment or in cold climates.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/8/1/1030581.jpg)
![In the 1950s, the US Air Force tried to design a cockpit to fit the average pilot's body. CRACKED.COM After measuring 4000 pilots they discovered that none of them came close to having an aver- age body. This led to the introduction of adjust- able seats.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/8/0/1030580.jpg)
![Open plan offices are detrimental to workers and businesses. CRACKED.COM Despite about 70% of US offices being open con- cept, workers in open plan offices are 15% less pro- ductive, have trouble con- centrating, and are twice as likely to get sick.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/7/6/1030576.jpg)
![Tour de France has a dedicated team that transforms penis graffiti on the route. ISRAEL deceminch a LC QUICK STEP - LCL LCL BOY 45 CRACKED.COM The team's sole pur- pose is to drive each day's route and turn genitals graffitied on the road into owls and butterflies.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/7/8/1030578.jpg)
![Specially made, aluminum Lego figures are inside NASA's Juno probe. CRACKED.COM The 3 Lego mini fig- ures represent Galileo, the Roman god Jupi- ter, and his sister and wife, the goddess Juno, specially made by the Lego Company.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/7/7/1030577.jpg)
![While making the movie Coco, Disney tried to trademark the phrase Dia de los Muertos. CRACKED.COM The Mexican holiday has been celebrated in Mexico for centuries. The trademark also included applications pertaining to toys, cereals and jewelry.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/7/9/1030579.jpg)
![The average IQ has been rising steadily each generation. CRACKED.COM IQ tests are continually made harder to keep the average at 100. Today's children that take tests from past decades are averaging significantly higher than 100.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/7/5/1030575.jpg)
![The word Testify comes from the same root as Testicles. CRACKED COM Before the practice of swearing on a holy book became commonplace, witnesses would literally swear on their testicles that they weren't perjuring themselves.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/7/3/1030573.jpg)
![The venom of the Brazilian wandering spider can cause an erection that lasts for more than 4 hours. CRACKED.COM Erections resulting from the bite are uncomfortable, can last for many hours and can lead to impotence. Priapism is generally treated by jabbing a large needle in the penis and draining the blood.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/7/4/1030574.jpg)
![African wild dogs vote on important pack matters by sneezing. CRACKED.COM African wild dogs take part in high energy greeting ceremonies that occur before the pack moves, and they gauge pack interest with audible rapid nasal exhalations.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/7/2/1030572.jpg)
![Scientists were bewildered when the trees they grew in a sealed biosphere kept falling over. CRACKED COM They eventually figured out that the biosphere was lacking wind which provides the stress needed to ensure the trees grew strong enough to support themselves.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/7/1/1030571.jpg)
![The government had to step in to correct deceptive bacon packaging in 1974. CRACKED.COM The federal government intervened in 1974 by enacting strict regulations requiring that a representative slice be made visible through a transparent window.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/7/0/1030570.jpg)
![Former U.S. President Calvin Coolidge enjoyed playing tricks on hís bodyguards. CRACKED.COM Coolidge would buzz his bodyguards and then hide under his desk as they frantically searched for him.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/6/9/1030569.jpg)
![Birds will all face the same way on power lines if it's windy. CRACKED.COM Because birds are built front-heavy, they experience less wind resistance when they fly into the wind. When it's not windy, most bird species will face in randomly selected directions.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/6/8/1030568.jpg)
![Nashville is referred to as the Athens of the South because of its public schools. GRACKED.COM It was the first American southern city to establish a public school system in the 1850s, and the nickname has nothing to do with its full-size replica of the Par- thenon.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/6/7/1030567.jpg)
![The first Zildjian cymbals were created in 1618. Avedis Zildjian CRACKED.COM Avedis Zildjian was an alche- mist who was looking for a way to turn base metal into gold. Не made an alloy of tin, copper, and silver into a sheet of metal, which could make musical sounds with- out shattering.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/6/5/1030565.jpg)
![A concert was held 303 meters below sea level in 2006. CRACKED.COM In 2006, Katie Melua gave a concert at 303 meters below sea level in one of the legs of the Troll A oil rig, earning a Guinness re- cord for deepest under- water concert.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/6/6/1030566.jpg)
![In 1938, a revolver-camera was invented to take a picture when the trigger was pulled. 26913 GRACKED.COM There's no evidence that this gun was actually put to use other than for trial photo shoots and practice runs. The only known sur- viving photos come from the 'Nationall Archief of the Netherlands.'](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/6/4/1030564.jpg)
![The Colorado River has not flowed into the ocean since 1998. CRACKED.COM The Colorado originates in the Rocky mountains and tra- verses seven US states be- fore reaching Mexico, where it is supposed to flow on- wards to the Sea of Cortez. Instead, the river is dammed at the US-Mexico border.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/6/3/1030563.jpg)
![Italian cowboys challenged Buffalo Bill when his troupe toured in Italy. CRACKED.COM The Butteri, led by Au- gusto Imperiali, chal- lenged his troupe in 1890 when they came around - and won, proving far more expe- rience.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/6/2/1030562.jpg)
![No species of centipede has exactly 100 legs. GRAGKED.COM Despite the name, centi- pedes can have a vary- ing number of legs, ranging from 30 to 382. Centipedes always have an odd number of pairs of legs.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/6/1/1030561.jpg)
![Disney built a temporary theater just to show 'Fantasia/2000.' FANTASIA 2000 CRACKED.COM When the only IMAX theater in Central L.A. couldn't meet the demands of Disney to showcase the very first ani- mated IMAX movie, Fanta- sia/2000, Disney spent $4 million to build a theater to show it.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/6/0/1030560.jpg)
![A boy raised by wolves lived among other humans in the 19th century. CRACKED COM Dina Sanichar was a feral child, born in 1861, and dis- covered by a group of hunt- ers among wolves in a cave in India. Не went on to live among other humans for over twenty years, but never learned to speak.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/5/9/1030559.jpg)
![Xerox holds the patent for Ethernet. CRACKED.COM The idea was first docu- mented in a memo that Robert Metcalfe wrote in 1973, where he named it after an omnipresent, completely-passive medi- um for the propagation of electromagnetic waves.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/5/8/1030558.jpg)
![Wheeler, Virginia is closer to the capital of 9 other states than it is to its own state capital. SE ... VII 192 - Herlb Cardin GRACKED.COM It is the southwestern- most populated place in Virginia, at the very tip of Virginia's west stretching arm, 411 miles away from Rich- mond.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/5/6/1030556.jpg)
![Thomas Wise used his reputation as a legit collector of first editions to create and sell forgeries. CRACKED.COM Wise was a keen collector of first editions in original con- dition dating back to Elizabe- than era and given an honor- ary М.А. by University of Ох- ford. Не created and sold forgeries of nearly 300 works of English authors.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/5/7/1030557.jpg)
![A Michelin star restaurant in Norway is completely underwater. CRACKED.COM Half-sunken into the sea, the building's 34-meter long monolithic form breaks the surface of the water to rest direct- ly on the seabed five meters below.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/5/1/1030551.jpg)
![Billie Holiday CRACKED.COM She was 10 when a neighbor tried to rape her. At 11, she dropped out of school. At 12, she was running errands for a brothel. A 14, she worked as a prostitute. Then when a producer heard her singing at 17, he had trouble convincing anyone she understood the blues.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/5/4/1030554.jpg)
![Demi Moore CRACKED.COM Demi Moore's real father abandoned her family before she was born, and the man she thought was her father left her mother then killed himself. She was born cross-eyed, and kidney dysfunction repeatedly sent her to the hospital.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/5/3/1030553.jpg)
![Drew Carey ERCY FO ANIMALS GRACKED.COM Drew Carey tried killing himself twice. The first time, he was 18 and tried overdosing on pills. Then he went in for stand-up comedy, which only made things worse, so he tired again while in his twenties.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/5/5/1030555.jpg)
![Ingvar Kamprad CRACKED.OOM IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad managed to get good grades in school despite being dyslexic. The iconic Swedish- sounding names are also a result of his dyslexia: having trouble remembering product codes, he came up with a system easier for him to visualize.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/5/2/1030552.jpg)
![Tom Cruise CRACKED.COM Quite a few celebrities are dyslexic, actually. Tom Cruise was diagnosed at seven and graduated high school as a functional illiterate. During his first auditions, he'd have to ad lib from whatever info he could pry from the director or producers.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/5/0/1030550.jpg)
![Jack Ma CRACKED.COM Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba Group, flunked his college examinations thrice. Не applied for 30 jobs, including working for KFC, but he was rejected. When he started Alibaba, people said his escrow payment service was a stupid idea. IPO value: a record-setting $21.8 billion.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/4/9/1030549.jpg)
![Dr. Phil WILL GIVE BAD ADVICE FOR RATINGS CRACKED.COM Dr. Phil was homeless. At 12, McGraw lived out of a car with his father before securing a $5 a week room at the YMCA. They were eventually able to save up enough for a one-bedroom apartment, though it lacked such amenities as running water, heat, or electricity.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/4/8/1030548.jpg)