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40 Gorgeous Bits of Trivia That Are Honestly Way Out of Your Brain’s League

How did your brain land these facts?

40 Gorgeous Bits of Trivia That Are Honestly Way Out of Your Brain’s League

February 13, 2025

You must have been a saint in a previous life, because we have no idea how your brain is able to walk around town with its arm around these facts. We once heard of a guy with such a hot wife that the cashier at the grocery store put a dividing stick in the middle of their shared food mound. She thought that there was no way that these two humans would ever be going home together.

That’s how we feel today. Your brain isn’t unattractive per se, but man, it must be funny or knowledge-rich or something.

40

Stars

WHAT'S UP WITH SCIENCE? CRACKED.COM Stars outside our galaxy are bigger than we thought A new study shows we underestimated how large stars outside the Milky Way are. Stars in distant galaxies tend to be more massive than closer ones, and, the farther away, the larger the average stars may be. — Source

39

Cooking Videos

Most of those gross cooking videos trace back to one guy. The revolting viral videos of people making food come from Rick Lax, a street magician who realized those did better on social media than card tricks. We're just trying to put smiles on your faces, he says (probably very aware that the reaction is quite the opposite). — More: 4 People Who Secretly Ruined The Internet

38

Teachers

Teacher turnover is rising, which is bad news for kids and for the system. Secute 1o Nationwide teacher turnover is almost 17% (50% higher than a deca

37

Butts

CRACKED BUTT IS TECHNICALLY A UNIT OF MEASURE FOR WINE THAT STARTED IN MEDIEVAL TIMES. A buttload of wine is about 475 liters or 126 gallons. — NIST / Modern Mississauga

36

The Vatican

The Vatican had to pull 6000 papal medals in 2013 because of a typo. Instead of Jesus, the medals said Lesus - and, of course, collectors snapped up the medals with the misprint when they had the chance. CRACKED.COM — Source

35

12 Angry Men

Best Movies Ever 12 Angry Men Henry Fonda was never paid. The movie got great reviews but never turned a profit, so the lead actor didn't get his salary (along with writer Reginald Rose). Fonda was still happy with to be in the movie, though. ARK CRACKED.COM — Screen Rant

34

Dennis Hopper

Dennis Hopper CRACKED.COM During World War II, Hopper's fa- ther worked overseas as a spy, and the family even believed he'd been killed until he showed up one day after the war was over, explaining that the government had faked his death. Hopper blames the incident for his fa- mously paranoid behavior, and like, that's fair, man. — LATimes

33

Travelodge

To celebrate Christmas 2007, Travelodge in the UK offered a free room to any committed couple who could prove their names were Mary and Joseph. Travel

32

Faye Dunaway and Roman Polanski

Behind-the-scenes feuds Chinatown Faye Dunaway vs Roman Polanski Polanski was reportedly an abusive director, not even allowing Dunaway to go to the bathroom. Rumors that Dunaway peed on a cup and threw it at Polanski were never confirmed - but then again, she never denied it either. CRACKED.COM — More: 4 Bizarre Tales Of On-Set Movie And TV Feuds

31

Christopher Columbus

There used to be a terrible statue of Christopher Columbus in front of the Capitol Building. The statue depicted Co- lumbus holding the world in his hand as a Native American woman cowered beside him. It remained there from 1844 until 1958 when Native Americans protested. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — The United States Magazine and Democratic Review

30

Ghosts of Mars

Ghosts of Mars almost had Snake Plissken. The studio lost interest in the Escape franchise after Escape from L.A. bombed. So John Carpenter changed Ku — Source: Film School Rejects

29

Gilding

Gilding was used to cover decorative objects with gold and other precious metals, as far back as 2300 BCE in Egypt. It is superior to modern day elect

28

Mathematics

WEIRD WORLD A guy in Indiana got strange powers thanks to a horrible, freakish incident. X-X I Y-Y x2 2-X After a head injury from a violent attack, he became kind of a math genius - and even found a home thanks to his gift. CRACKED.COM — Source

27

King Henri VI of France

A king's severed head CRACKED.COM The head of King Henri IV of France turned up in some guy's attic. Seems a tax collector bought it years ago, stored it there, then forgot about it. — Source

26

Cats

Musical movies Lass 12 cats Andrew Lloyd Webber, creator of the stage play, got a therapy dog to deal with the trauma. When an airline demanded proof he needed a service dog, he directed them to watch the movie. Не was let through. CRACKED.COM — Source: NBC News

25

Trans Fat

CRACKED.COM NO TRANS FAT MEANS OK, MAYBE A LIL' BIT. According to FDA regulations, products can be labeled as trans-fat-free as long as they contain less than half a gram per serving. That means you can swallow half your maximum daily intake with just two servings of healthy stuff. — Source: 25 Marketing Lies Somehow Still Seen

24

Darth Vader

CRACKED DARTH VADER'S HELMET Like much of the original trilogy's aesthetics, Darth Vader was designed by legendary artist Ralph McQuarrie from a concept by George Lucas. Lucas was inspired partially by the armor worn by Japanese samurai for Vader. — ScreenRant

23

Girl Guides

During World War 1, MI5 used Girl Guides to deliver secret messages. CRACKED.COM They used Girl Guides instead of Boy Scouts because they found out that Boy Scouts weren't efficient enough, boisterous and talkative. — Source

22

Caravaggio’s Secret

CRACKED In his 1595 portrait of Bacchus, the god of wine, Caravaggio snuck in a minute self-portrait as a reflection in a carafe of wine. It took centuries for the miniature cameo to be spotted.

21

MIT

In October 1958, MIT students measured the Massachusetts Avenue bridge using another student. His name was Oliver Smoot, and the bridge turned out to be 364.4 Smoots long (+/-1 ear). NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: 13 Surprising Facts About Movies And A Ton Of Other Things

20

Daniel Radcliffe

Daniel Radcliffe trolled paparazzi by wearing the same thing for months. Не realized paparazzi wouldn't take pics of him if he was wearing something they'd already photographed him in, so he wore the same outfit for 5 months in 2007. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Amazingly Over-The-Top Celebrity Pranks

19

Animals on TV

40 Gorgeous Bits of Trivia That Are Honestly Way Out of Your Brain’s League

18

Sanitary Napkins

After World War I, the government had a surplus of bandages. The company that had made them, Kimberly-Clark, bought them back, and knowing they'd been unofficially used as menstrual products by nurses, invented the sanitary napkin. CRACKED — Source / Smithsonian Mag

17

Mr. Robot

The first season finale of the show Mr Robot was inspired by Fight Club. Fight Club was one of my big inspirations for the show, said creator Sam Esmail, and The Pixies' Where Is My Mind in S1E9 was a nod to that. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Movies We Didn’t Know Were Inspired By Other Movies

16

Fraud

CRACKED FELICITY HUFFMAN'S SAT FRAUD SCANDAL. She pleaded guilty to mail fraud, and admitted to paying $15,000 to a service that guaranteed to boost her daughter's SAT scores. She spent 14 days in prison, got 250 hours of community service, and paid a $30,000 fine. — Source

15

Grimes

Grimes wrote a song about Dark Souls DARK SOULS The musician has written a song designed to be listened to while playing the notoriously difficult video game. CRACKED.COM — Source: 11 Celebrities With Nerdy Hobbies

14

Ford

Ford held a promotional campaign in Belgium with the bold promise that each car would come with a free zombie. Ford The ad was meant to say, Every car has a high quality body, but it was carelessly mistranslated into Every car has a high-quality corpse. CRACKED.COM — Source

13

Michele Ferrero

CRACKEDOON Michele Ferrero, the kinder SURPRISE inventor of Nutella, Kinder Eggs, and Ferrero Rocher, was fercely protective of his recipes, reputedly

12

Claude Monet

Claude Monet destroyed over a dozen of his iconic paintings. Vs Monet's water landscape paintings were instrumental for 2Oth-century art, but the pain

11

Trick or Treating

40 Gorgeous Bits of Trivia That Are Honestly Way Out of Your Brain’s League

10

Shaq

Shaq owns 155 Five Guys Burgers and 17 Auntie Annie's Pretzels. GUYS FIVE SUE FIVE GUYS cino 1 That's more than 10% of the Five Guys in the United States. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: NBC Sports

9

Faust

CRACKED GOETHE WAS SO MOVED BY AN EXECUTION THAT НЕ IMMORTALIZED IT IN FAUST. In 1772, Susanna Margaretha Brandt was put to death with a sword for killing her baby. This event was so chilling that it inspired Johann Goethe to include something similar in his famous play. — Joseph Karl Stieler/Wiki Commons
ExecutedToday.com

8

Apollo 13

Astronauts are really into watching space disaster movies on the ISS. They have movie nights on the ISS, and they watch movies on a screen and projector- they love sci-fi and disaster movies set in space, like Apollo 13. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: The Naked Scientists

7

Salt

Himalayane salt is no different than regular salt. The pink salt consists roughly Of 98% sodium chloride, the same amount as ordinary table salt The o

6

The New York Times

The first ever public online news repository was created by the New York Times-in 1973. The New York Times Information Bank: A User's Perspective The New York Times Information Bank, developed by the New York Times, is a computerized, interactive information storage and retrieval system designed to provide easy and efficient access to more than sixty differen current events publications. The Information Bank has been developed with the end user specifically in mind; every effort has been made to bridge th gap between the world of automated information systems and the student business executive, government official or other information seeker. — Source

5

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Dumbest censorship Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles Ninjas are violent, so the turtles had to be heroes in the U.K. CRACKED.COM

4

Easter Eggs

Tangled has a shout-out to Lion King. In the I Have A Dream scene, Pumbaa is in the Snuggly Duckling tavern. CRACKED.COM — Source

3

The Buttermilk Diet

THE BUTTERMILK DIET Dr. Irwin Maxwell Stillman (an actual doctor) wrote a diet book in 1967 called The Doctor's Quick Weight Loss Diet, which included a diet that consisted of only drinking six glasses of buttermilk a day. CRACKED.COM — Source: Today

2

Hickeys

A HICKEY GAVE A WOMAN A STROKE. 20 2010 21 mm CRACKED.COM Days after a make-out session, a 44-year-old Maori woman found her arm getting weaker. Turned out a love bite had created a blood clot, which traveled to her head and led to a stroke. — Source: 14 Medical Oddities To Give You Nightmares

1

Transplants

1962/ Lung 1 963 Liver First human organ Kidney transplant from deceased donor. 2018 First successful penis and scrotum transplant. CRACKED.COM — Source: 18 Ways Technology Has Changed In A Short Time

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