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Better to have a fact and not need it than to need a fact and not have it

40 Random Bits of Trivia That Probably Aren’t on the SATs, But It Can’t Hurt to Learn Them Anyway

February 19, 2025

Why don’t you take a break from studying to do some slightly more fun studying? Take your mind off of the boring facts and kick it with the fun facts for a bit. When it comes to break time, a good list of fun facts beats doom-scrolling, texting friends or going to the bathroom.

And who knows, maybe a fact about Flo Rida testing his songs in strip clubs will be on that test you’re cramming for!

40

Scams

The Nigerian Prince has been around for 200 years. Rich people randomly offering you big bucks if you help them out of trouble was already a scam genre in the early 19th century. Later, in the 1890s, scammers got to claiming in their letters that they were prisoners of the Spanish- American war, earning the scheme the name the Spanish prisoner. - - as VIS DE - - - CRACKED.COM — Source

39

Nazi Germany

CRACKED TURNING BERLIN INTO A BIZARRE MEGACITY In 1941, they built a huge concrete cylinder that weighed 12,650 tons to test how four pillars of a 120-meter-high Triumphal Arch would hold up. This arch was meant to be the main feature of Berlin as the new Nazi capital, Germania. — Source

38

The Cure

The Cure was originally named after one of their first songs Easy Cure. Robert Smith thought the name Easy Cure was too American and hippie-ish so they shortened it. CRACKED.COM — 20 Surprising Reasons Behind Musicians' Stage Names

37

Sweden

Stockholm, Sweden tested a Speed Camera Lottery. CRACKED.COM Limit-abiding drivers were automatically entered into a draw- ing to win a prize pool funded out of fines paid by speeders. — Source

36

Sophie Tucker

A border collie in Australia fell off a boat during a huge storm and swam 5 nautical miles through shark-infested waters. The dog, Sophie Tucker, washed ashore an uninhab- ited island and reverted back to her wild instincts to hunt and eat feral goats. She survived a month be- fore being reunited with her owners. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Sail World

35

Walk Hard

BEHIND-THE-SCENES FACTS THE FILM'S FAILURE AT THE BOX OFFICE DEVASTATED THE CAST. WALK'HARID The movie only ended up making $20 million at the box office on a budget of $35 million. It took me a couple years to dig out of the sadness of that, said John C. Rilley about the film's lackluster box office performance. CRACKED.COM — The Ringer

34

George Lucas

For 25 years, George Lucas tried to build a production studio on his Marin County property. His neighbors continually blocked the project, whining that it would ruin their everything. So Lucas sold the property for use as a low-iNCOME HOUSING pRojEct. CRACKED.COM http://www — Source: 21 Revenge Plots (Worthy Of 'Kill Bill')

33

The Earth

CRACKED 90% OF HUMANS LIVE ABOVE THE EQUATOR. That means less than a billion people live in the Southern Hemisphere. — Source

32

Pirates

The standard pop culture pirate flag is actually just one guy's personal flag. It belonged to John Calico Jack Rackham, who had a pretty uneventful two-year pirate career. His only lasting influence is, well, that flag. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

31

Confidence

Sit up straight to gain confidence. One study shows that people who sat up straight were more confident in their own thoughts. — Source: Science Daily

30

Firefighters

All 40,000 of Chile's firefighters are volunteers. B VBEROS NONOA They even have to pay monthly contributions to their stations, and they largely don't want to be paid- this is a tradition that dates to the founding of the service over 150 years ago. — Source: BBC

29

Arya Stark

CRACKED.COM GAME OF THRONES OVER 300 GIRLS AUDITIONED FOR ARYA. According to show co-creator David Benioff, casting Arya Stark was incredibly difficult, but as soon as he saw a thumbnail of Maisie Williams' audition video, he knew he finally found the right person. — Mental Floss

28

Gremlins 2

Hulk Hogan GREMLINS 2 CRACKED.COM The future bane of web publishing tears off his tanktop and threatens to fight the gremsters before breaking the fourth wall and apologizing insincerely to the audience. — YouTube

27

Animal House

A university was (kind of) fooled into hosting the filming of Animal House. CRACKED.COM AF William Beaty Boyd turned down a chance to let The Graduate be filmed at UC Berkeley, where he was vice chancellor, thinking it would do more harm than good. A decade later, as president of the University of Oregon, Boyd was given another chance with a new film and lept at the opportunity. Не must have assumed this was a similarly Oscar-nomination worthy film, but it turned out to be the total sex-farce Animal House. — Source: 16 Random Facts Better Than Anything You Learned In School

26

Hennessey

25

Cleopatra

The name 'Cleopatra' was popular for female royalty in Egypt. CRACKED.COM There are seven princesses with the name that sat on the throne. The last among them, Cleopatra VII, is the most famous, thanks to her romantic dalliances with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. — History Extra

24

Crypto

In Turkey, you can no longer use cryptocurrencies to buy anything at all. Due to rising inflation, people started using crypto for everyday transactions more and more, but the government put a stop to that on April 30, 2021. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Reuters

23

John Adams

The American Revolution was bitter and bloody. Yet founding father John Adams defended British soldiers in court. During the Boston Massacre, eight Br

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22

Grunge

Seattle became 1993 1994 the 1. 1994 epicenter of new music, thanks 1992 to Grunge. 199 097 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1993 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Seattle bands were getting 96 signed to major labels at the rate 1997 of one a week during April, 1992. 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 NOW YOU KNOW: THE '90s CRACKED.COM — Source

21

Scooby-Doo

Scooby-Doo was the result of Robert Kennedy's assassination. In the '60s, action- packed cartoons were all the rage - but after RFK was shot, a moral panic ensued against violence in the media. Pressured to come up with more wholesome content, Hanna-Barbera created Scooby-Doo and his gang. CRACKED.COM — Source

20

Forks

The Italian church said forks were a tool of the debil. CRACKED.COM When forks made their way to Italy in the 11th century, rich people started collecting them, but the church insisted that actually using them was an affront to God. Man was meant to twirl his spaghetti, ostensibly, by jabbing his fingers into the bowl and walking circles around the table. — Ancient Pages

19

Steve Irwin

Steve Irwin had no idea what his movie's plot would be until the premiere. He just shot the crocodile footage and handed it over to be edited, and had nothing to do with the actual story of The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course. CRACKED.COM — Source: Entertainment Weekly

18

Mega Man

Mega Man CRACKED.COM Because the Japanese-to-English translation of his name doesn't distinguish between an L or R sound, Dr. Thomas Light is alternately known as Dr. Right and Dr. Wright in various games and manuals. — Source

17

Marvin the Martian

Movie and TV Aliens Looney Tunes Marvin the Martian was created as the opposite of Yosemite Sam. Animator Chuck Jones noticed that the loud, boisterous, violent Sam was getting outwitted by Bugs Bunny too easily, so he made a character that was soft-spoken, calm, and polite as a foil to Bugs. CRACKED COM — Source: Looney Tunes Wiki

16

Glenn Close

Glenn Close's father helped contain the Ebola outbreak in Zaire. During the '70s, Dr. William T. Close was the personal physician of former DRC President of Mobutu Sese Seko. In 1976, the Ebola virus broke out in the village of Yambuku, and Dr. Close used his connections to round up helping hands and medical equipment, ensuring the containment of the deadly virus. CRACKED.COM — Source

15

Sprinklers

Some sprinklers mix glycerin in the water. Glycerin happens to be flammable. It's not a problem when mixed properly, but when it's not, it's a disaste — For details, read The 5 Most Common Safety Devices That Can Kill You Violently

14

Jodie Foster

Jodie Foster Foster had an Oscar nomination when she was only 12 years old, but she attended Yale University, graduating magna cum laude with a degree in literature. During college, she was in five movies to help pay for her education. CRACKED.COM — Source: Yale News

13

Furbies

Furbies were banned from the Pentagon. Officials feared the toy would record classified information. CRACKED.COM — Source: Mental Floss

12

Armageddon

Armageddon Steve Buscemi's character is duct-taped to his seat after he loses control. That's exactly what is to be done. NASA's written procedures for dealing with a psychotic astronaut includes binding them using duct tape and bungee cords. CRACKED.COM — Source: CBS News

11

Wildfires

The worst wildfire in history lasted only two hours but killed 2,500 people across Wisconsin and Michigan. The reason the fire is for- gotten in the history books is it took place on the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, Great Michigan Fire, and Port Huron Fire. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Shepherd Express / Wikipedia

10

The Universe

WE'RE WAY CLOSER TO THE BIG BANG THAN TO THE END OF THE UNIVERSE. The universe is 13.8 billion years old- -and that's positively microscopic compared

9

Cavemen

Disastrous Comedy 2007 Cavemen Geico's original so easy a caveman could do it ads were pretty funny, but did not warrant their own show. The ABC sitcom only lasted six episodes, and was dubbed one of the worst ever. CRACKED — Source

8

Jack Daniels

You can't buy Jack Daniels in stores in the area where it's made. The distillery is in Moore County, which is a dry county. — Source: Thrillist

7

Spider-Man

Lucy Lawless plays a punk rock girl in Spider-Man. As part of a news program about Spider-Man, a reporter asks what she thinks about him. Guy with eight hands. Sounds hot, she says. CRACKED.COM

6

Sonic the Hedgehog

There is a mysterious, human-sized statue of Sonic The Hedgehog sitting in the woods. The Sega World Kadoma theme park in Takao, Japan closed in 2005, and the park auctioned off whatever people could carry away. A homeowner named Mr. Kadeo bought the statue to serve as a landmark guiding visitors to his house from the road. CRACKED.COM — 19 Facts About Sonic And Retro Video Games

5

The Civil War

Helen Keller and Robert Е. Lee were cousins. CRACKED GOM Despite their distant relation, the two took extremely different paths in life. Robert Е. Lee led the confederate army, while Helen Keller co-founded the ACLU. — Helen Keller Elementary / Perkins

4

Russian Prison Experiment

In 1933, Soviet Russia dumped 6,700 prisoners on an island in Siberia. lexandrovskoye Naz Nazino Island Ob River Narym Vasyugan Swamp Ket River Tomsk Oblast The deportees were sent to Nazino Island to construct a special settlement and to cultivate the island with only flour for food, a few tools, and no shelter. A month later about 4,000 of them were dead. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

3

Moana

40 Random Bits of Trivia That Probably Aren’t on the SATs, But It Can’t Hurt to Learn Them Anyway — Source: USA Today

2

Chestnut Trees

About 4 billion American chestnut trees once blanketed the east coast of the USA GRAGKED.COM They all disappeared by the 1950s due to an invasive species of fungus that has made them extinct. — Timeline

1

Flo Rida

Flo Rida uses strip clubs as a barometer for his songs before they're released. PLO CRACKED.COM Mr. Rida explains: I test my songs out at strip clubs first. If you can get a girl to dance you know you're on to some- thing good. — Source

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