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20 Trivia Entrees Off The Knowledge Menu

An architect wanted to join Africa and Europe, and all we had to do was drain the Mediterranean.

20 Trivia Entrees Off The Knowledge Menu

August 29, 2022

I enjoy this list of interesting facts because it's not the same as any other list of interesting facts. You can read other lists, but these are special. I love these facts, but you don't. If you do, you're reading the wrong list. You have been warned. These are fascinating facts. They're true. Some of them might be kind of interesting. All of them are entertaining. Most of them will make you feel silly, like you missed something really obvious and dumb when you were a kid. What You Won't Find Here: I won't bore you with any statistics, and I'm not going to try to sell you anything. This isn't a “Top Ten Reasons to Buy This Book,” “10 Amazing Secrets of Success” or “5 Amazing Strategies to Get Your Man.” This isn't a how-to guide. There's no step-by-step process here. There's nothing that you're going to have to memorize. There's nothing to practice.

20

Baldness

A play in the early 20th century was ruined by the bald heads of audience members. Prankster Horace de Vere Cole ruined a pretentious and terrible play by giv- ing tickets to strategically selected seats to bald men, whose heads lit up when the lights came on to spell a swear word. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Sniggle

19

Big Ben

Big Ben's bell was cracked barely two months after its inauguration. After the crack in 1859, the bell has rung with a unique resonance. The bell has since been ori- ented in such a way that the hammer doesn't strike the 'crack.' CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — AC Versailles

18

Steve Jobs called up the CEO of HP in 8th grade.

Steve Jobs was offered a job at Hewlett-Packard in 8th grade. A young Jobs called then CEO of HP, Bill Hewlett for parts of his project to build a frequency counter. Bill not only agreed to give him parts but also offered a job assembling frequen- су counters. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Business Insider

17

A wine by any other name tastes just as sweet, but more so if it’s French.

People will rate a wine higher if they think it's from France. A Texas A&M study invited people to taste wines la- beled France, Califor- nia, and Texas, and while nearly all ranked the French as best, in fact, all three were the same Texan wine. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Austin Chronicle

16

World War II

A Finnish soldier during WWII was found after a week in a ditch weighing 94 pounds. Aimo Koivunen overdosed on meth, got injured by a landmine, survived for a week in a ditch by eating pine cones, skied 250 miles and was found with a heart rate of 200bpm. Не lived for another 45 years. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — History

15

Most people have bone spurs.

Over 50% of the human population has bone spurs. Bone spurs are permanent deposits and do not heal or go away. You would nev- er know you had them un- less you had an x-ray spe- cifically to look for them, as they have zero impact on your life. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Algacal

14

An architect wanted to join Africa and Europe.

A German architect wanted to dam the Mediterranean to make a supercontinent. Herman Sörgel devoted his whole life to promoting the idea of draining the sea and connecting Europe with Af- rica, a landmass called At- lantropa. Не thought it could provide shelter, em- ployment and food. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Independent

13

More uranium is released by coal plants than all the nuclear power plants.

Coal-fired power plants release more uranium than nuclear power plants. 2068 More uranium is released by coal plants in one week than what has been re- leased by all nuclear power plants combined (includ- ing Chernobyl/other acci- dents) over the past 50 years. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Energy Consumers Edge

12

Being the 7th son born in Argentina in the early 1900s meant you’d turn into a werewolf.

Argentinians in the early 20th century thought the 7th son born to a family would turn into a werewolf. The belief was so wide- spread that parents would kill or put up for adoption the child. In the 1920s, a law was passed that the 7th son would automatically receive godfathership of the presi- dent of Argentina. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Werewolf Page

11

The god Khepri was thought to have pushed the sun like a dung beetle pushes poop.

Ancient Egyptians believed the Sun God Khepri moved the newly-born sun like a dung beetle. Khepri is depicted as hav- ing a scarab as a head be- cause the Egyptians be- lieved that he moved the sun across the sky in the way a dung beetle pushes large balls of dung along the ground. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Ancient Egypt Online

10

The largest population of tigers in the world is in the USA. With an estimated 5,000 tigers, the U.S. captive tiger popula- tion exceeds the ар- proximately 3,200 ti- gers in the wild. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — World Wildlife

9

“Happy” only made Pharrell $2,700 from Pandora plays.

Pharrell made only $2,700 in songwriter royalties from 43 million plays of Нарру on Pandora. Нарру was nominated for Best Music Video and Best Pop Solo Performance in 2015, but that didn't help his cut from the streaming service, where a million streams yields roughly just $60 in royalties. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Kolumn Magazine

8

Memento

Memento is a surprisingly accurate portrayal of amnesia. The film is lauded by medi- cal experts for its accurate portrayal of anterograde amnesia and is considered close to a perfect explora- tion of the neurobiology of memory. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — NCBI

7

Spam Calls

A UK man set up his own 0871 line so that he would earn money from spam calls. O NOX e Incoming Call Unknown Decline In 2011, every time a bank, gas or electricity supplier asked Lee Beaumont for his details, he submitted the toll number as his con- tact number, which cost money to the caller. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — BBC

6

King Cambyses II used cats as a meat shield to invade Egypt.

King Cambyses II of Persia used cats to invade Egypt. Knowing that cats held a high place in Egyptian soci- ety, the king brought hun- dreds of cats into his front lines. As a result, Egyptian archers refused to fire on his felines, fearing that they would injure the animals. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — World History

5

Chess

A chess grandmaster played a game that saved him from a firing squad. Ossip Bernstein was sen- tenced to death by the Bolsheviks in 1918. A Rus- sian officer heard his name and offered the chance to prove his identity in a game of chess. Не beat the officer and was released. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — History Collection

4

A Black architect in the 1920s had to draw upside down so he wasn’t sat next to white clients.

African American architect Paul Williams learned to draw upside down. White clients were uncom- fortable sitting next to a black man, so Williams learned to draft upside down so that he could sit across the desk from his clients who would see his drafts right-side-up. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — LA Times

3

A black belt in martial arts does not mean the wearer is Bruce Lee.

The black belt in martial arts does not necessarily indicate expert level or mastery. It was introduced for judo in the 1880s to indicate competency at all of the basic techniques of the sport. In judo and some other Asian martial arts, the highest ranks have sol- id red belts. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Black Belt Magazine

2

A koala was harder to steal from a zoo than a croc.

Thieves tried to steal a koala from an Australian zoo, but it was too vicious. The animal abductors changed their mind after scratched the sh*t out of them, and decided to try their hand with a less brutal animal: a crocodile. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Sydney Morning Herald

1

Rome adopted Christianity as their state religion after Ethiopia.

Ethiopia adopted Christianity as its state religion before Rome did. The Ethiopian empire was one of the first in the world to officially adopt Christianity as the state religion in 324. It took Rome a few decades to catch up, in 380. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — The First Seven Ecumenical Councils

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