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35 Cultured Bits of Trivia That Aim to Teach Your Brain A Thing or Two Without Sounding Pretentious

How can you not be a know-it-all when you know it all?

35 Cultured Bits of Trivia That Aim to Teach Your Brain A Thing or Two Without Sounding Pretentious

December 30, 2024

Like people, incredibly smart facts aren’t all that socially aware. They come across as know-it-alls, but they really do mean well. For now, until we can teach them to audibly share their knowledge without annoying or possibly enraging you, we’ll just type them out here.

35

Benjamin Franklin

CRACKED BENJAMIN FRANKLIN CRAFTED HIS OWN WEIRD MUSICAL INSTRUMENT. The glass armonica is an instrument made of tuned and color-coded bowls that were spun with a foot pedal. Its sound was so beautiful it was said to be the music of angels. — Source

34

Aquatic Snails

The hardest natural material are aquatic snail teeth. CRACKED.COM The teeth of limpets, a type of aquatic snail, can withstand more pressure than it takes to create diamonds from carbon. — Source

33

Allied Powers

The Allies during WWII initially only fired certain weapons over water, so the enemy couldn't get a hold of samples. MOLDED-IN ANTENNA CAP OSCILLATOR COIL PLASTIC NOSE OSCILLATOR-DETECT NNULAR FIRING AMPLIFIER THYRATRO CONDENSER BUNDLE GRAGKED.COM There was an embar- go on using the prox- imity fuzed shell, one of the most effective weapons in World War 2, over land until 1944. — History Net

32

California

WEIRD WORLD In California, one guy got arrested 3 times in a span of sixteen hours. Apparently, the last arrest happened at 3 AM, after police had to pursue him-they tried to cite him for jaywalking, but he fled. CRACKED.COM — Source

31

Ronald McDonald

If you ask Ronald McDonald where burgers come from, he says they're grown. According to a former Ronald McDonald, the story for kids was that hamburgers grow in a patch and then they just get plucked. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

30

Rhenium

The element that holds the distinction of the world's highest boiling point is Rhenium. Boiling at roughly 10,100 degrees Fahrenheit, it's also one of the world's worst things to try to cook ramen in. CRACKED.COM — Source

29

Sunglasses

Sunglasses were originally designed for Chinese judges to hide their facial expressions in court. CRACKED.COM Sunglasses were originally made out of smoky quartz in 12th century China, where they were used by judges to mask their emo- tions when they were ques- tioning witnesses. — Source

28

Cowboys

At least on some trails in Texas, about 25% of all cowboys you'd see were Black. Turns out, Black cowboys were a lot more plentiful in the Old West than Western shows and movies would lead you to conclude. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

27

Gerald Butler

GERARD BUTLER apologized to the people of Ireland. GeS BUTLER SWANK L loveyou In a 2009 interview, Butler admitted he butchered the Irish accent in P. — YouTube

26

Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton burns all unsold bags and products at the end of each year. This is done to ensure product exclusivity and eliminate the sale of discounted merchandise. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

25

Video Games

ARCADE GAME RAD MOBILE REVEALS SONIC THE HEDGEHOG. 19 RANK Round GRAGKED COM 41 Half a year before Sonic hit the Sega Genesis in North America, he could be seen dangling from the rearview mirror of a Ferrari 330 P4 Type in the coin-operated Rad Mobile. — Source

24

Star Wars

There's an important detail JJ Abrams would change in The Force Awakens. When Rey and Chewie come back after Han's death, Abrams says Chewie shouldn't have just walked past Leia (who embraced Rey). CRACKED.COM — Source

23

Archaeology

A skeleton found in a Cheddar, U.K. cave has a relative living half a mile away. The person teaches history & is nearly 300 generations removed. NOW Y — Source: The Independent

22

Sued Savior

PUNISHED HEROES SUED FOR SAVING A DROWNING WOMAN. A man noticed a woman drowning in the ocean, but the lifeguard was in the bathroom. Не swam out and saved her, but she sued him for not acting fast enough. The case was dismissed, but he had to pay for his own legal bills. CRACKED — Roy Pedersen/Shutterstock
Urbo

21

Will Smith

At one point, Will Smith was the top choice to play Django in Django Unchained. He ended up passing because he thought it should be a movie about love, not vengeance, and that just didn't work for Tarantino. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About Tarantino Movies

20

Tomatoes

TOMATOES ARE LEGALLY VEGETABLES. Tomatoes are, in fact, fruits - but the Supreme Court decided in 1893 that they're to be considered vegetables, not fruits, when it comes to taxes. GRACKED — goffkein.pro/Shutterstock
National Geographic

19

MADtv

Key and Peele were pitted against each BE other in their audition GY Av Awards CRACKED.COM As ludicrous as it sounds, MADtv producers were originally only interested in Key or Peele. The Chicago-based comedians were brought in to audition for a single spot, and it was only once producers saw the duo's synchronicity that they decided to make room for both of the show's decorated alumni. Said Keegan-Michael Key, I think that what happened is that they saw that we worked really hard and that we wouldn't stop working until something is perfect. — Source: Onward State

18

World War II

Britain killed 750,000 pets in the run-up to WWII. CLOSED SUNDAYS UNWANTED ANIMALS HUMANELY DESTROYED SUPPORTED BY VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS They feared food shortages being made worse due to people feeding their pets. Pamphlets advised the population that if they could not send their pets into the countryside, it really is kindest to have them destroyed. CRACKED.COM — 6 True Stories From History Creepier Than Any Horror Movie

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17

Gwyneth Paltrow

WEIRD WORLD Gwyneth Paltrow backed a crypto miner, and it crashed right off the bat. Not long after TeraWulf Inc., a crypto mining company, went public, its shares dropped 40% on Nasdaq. CRACKED.COM — Source

16

Wales

There is one castle for every 5,200 people in Wales. CRACKED COM There are more than 600 castles in Wales, more per square mile than anywhere in the world. Some have been lived in continuously for a thousand years, while others are romantic ruins. — Source

15

Cheetahs

Cheetahs were raced at Romford greyhound stadium in 1937. CRACKED.COM The big cats were brought to Enlgand and given a year to acclimate and train. If the mechanical hare was released too early, the cheetahs would catch it with ease before the first turn. — NY Times

14

Cats

The skin and fat on a cat's belly is called the primordial pouch. oue It has a survival function - when cats stand on their front legs and kick their enemy in a fight, that skin and fat protects their organs. NOW YOU KNOW — Source: Yahoo

13

Divorce Rates

GRACKED.COM SECOND AND THIRD MARRIAGES ARE MORE LIKELY TO END IN DIVORCE. The divorce rate in America for first marriage is 41% to 50%. Second marriages have a rate of 60% to 70%, while approximately 73% of third marriages fail. — 25 Bizarre Statistics About Relationships And Sex

12

Witches

One popular way to see if someone was a witch was actually to weigh them. Witches were so light that they could float on water, the belief went, so suspects would get weighed. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

11

The IRS

999999 8800 The IRS uses a 60-year-old computer system. When you file your taxes, they're processed by the Individual Master File, a computer program written in the 1960s. Modernization plans have existed for years, but have yet to become a reality. 1040 on 888888888888888 5 822222222222 99999992 CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Old Technologies Still In Use Well Past Their Expiration Date

10

Beretta

CRACKEDG We 1791 BERETTA HAD BEEN MAKING GUNS FOR dlnitite years TWO AND A HALF 265 CENTURIES WHEN i 1526 THE SECOND AMENDMENT WAS RATIFIED.

9

The Washington Monument

The Washington Monument has a tiny, hidden twin. A 12-foot replica of the Monument is buried right next to it. It was built in the 1880s as a surveyor's tool-they'd use its scale to verify readings. The ground level rose over time, and the Mini Monument was encased in a tube, buried, and forgotten. CRACKED.COM — Source

8

Nicki Minaj

STARSHIPS NICKI MINAJ Nicki Minaj said she regrets a lot of her discography, including, I wish I never recorded 'Anaconda.' I like the video but ugh. My first ever solo song on Billboard was 'Your Love.' To this day I like the video but I hate the song. I could go on and on. I hate 'Starships,' I mean ew, 'Starships?' I'm like, 'Why did I do that?' I really think that every time I hear it. CRACKED — Source: Genius

7

H.G. Wells

You can kind of thank H.G. Wells for the nuclear bomb. THE WORLD SET FREE Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard, who played a key part in building the bomb, wrote that Wells' novel The World Set Free, which features a uranium-based grenade that keeps exploding indefinitely and can be dropped from — Source: BBC

6

South Park

The character Kenny on 'South Park' is based on a real childhood friend of Trey Parker. CRACKED.COM Kenny was the poorest kid in town, wore a large parka that muffled his voice and would frequently skip school, inspiring the run- ning joke that he died by classmates. — Source

5

Lenora Eaton

Lenora Eaton died after 45 days without food. CRACKED COM She even allowed doctors to treat her, but she continued to refuse food, and they couldn't find any medical reason why she would. This one seems like a clear case of mental illness, but they didn't even bother labeling her as hysterical, as was the fashion in those days. — Fasting Girls / Greek American Girl

4

Charlie Sheen

CRACKED Selma Blair (like many) couldn't handle Charlie Sheen. She questioned his professionalism and told producers he was a menace to work with, so Sheen fired her himself via text. ANGER MANAGEMENT — Cheatsheet / IMDB

3

Daniel Day-Lewis

Daniel Day-Lewis CRACKED.COM The legendary method actor may have just been preparing for a role we never heard about, but he quit acting for 3 years to apprentice with a master cobbler in Italy, and became a shoemaker himself. — Source

2

Chewing Gum

BRAIN HACKS CHEWING GUM Gum can help stop those annoying songs from getting stuck in your head, like when you keep saying a random word in your head. This is called irrelevant sub- vocalisation, and it weakens your short-term memory. CRACKED — Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock
Mental Floss

1

Marvel

Thanos creator Jim Starlin hated a Thanos homage in vengers: Endgame. Thanos' weapon is shaped like a helicopter blade, which is a nod to the dinky Th — Source: Digital Spy

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