15 Trivia Tidbits That Quenched Our Thirst for Knowledge
![15 Trivia Tidbits That Quenched Our Thirst for Knowledge](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/6/5/784865_320x180.jpg)
Who doesn't aspire to be a brilliant conversationalist? There are very few things quite as rewarding as elegantly presenting some truly startling knowledge with your workplace, colleagues, or even someone you're looking to impress during a Zoom call. This is why we've compiled a list of odd facts you can share with anyone to make them wonder if you're quite smart. So keep reading, write notes, and revel in your unexpected position as the king or queen of strange information. Find out the truth behind some of these Well-Known "Facts" that are really just well accepted myths and old wives tales, if you want to impress people.
Do you have a strong desire to... uh... read? Ok, that was lame, and we apologize. However, we make no apologies for presenting you with these incredibly interesting facts. You'll own every conversation if you have this knowledge and confidence. (However, you'll need to bring your own self-confidence.)
So scroll on for some wild facts that we totally didn’t see coming!
![Steven Spielberg did Jaws because the original director flunked basic sea biology. Director Dick Richards was fired because he kept calling the shark a whale during planning meetings. Let this be a lesson, kids: Don't sleep through class, and you may one day change movies forever.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/6/3/784863.jpg)
More: 4 Behind the Scenes Stories That Deserve Their Own Movie
![The Emmys apparently didn't believe Mindy Kaling produced The Office. When The Office was nominated for an Emmy, Kaling (and only Kaling) was asked to justify why she had to be included. She needed to fill out a form, write an essay about her contributions, and get the other (male, white) producers to vouch for her.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/0/784850.jpg)
![Brad Pitt threatened to kill Harvey Weinstein In 1995, Weinstein tried to, well, get all Weinstein on an up-and-coming Gwyneth Paltrow. When her then- boyfriend Brad Pitt found out, he confronted Weinstein about it - and by confronted, we mean he told him, If you ever make her feel uncomfortable again, I'll kill you.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/0/5/785005.jpg)
![Football used to be a deadly game. 18 people died while playing football in 1905 alone. Predictably, there were calls to get the game banned. President Teddy Roosevelt got personally involved, and got colleges to change the rules and make helmets mandatory.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/6/2/784862.jpg)
More: 5 Annoying 'Modern' Debates That Have Been Around Forever
![Oil doesn't come from dinosaurs. Maybe some oil does have a teeny-tiny bit of dinosaur, but by and large, the stuff comes from microbes in the sea. The dino-oil connection comes from the Sinclair Oil and Refining Corporation, which used to sponsor paleontological research and had a dinosaur as its mascot.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/6/0/784860.jpg)
More: 5 Scientific Misconceptions People Believe For Extremely Dumb Reasons
![Steven Universe was censored for violence against watermelons. The show has faced censorship for its LGBT themes -- and also, for its wholesale slaughter of fruit. Apparently thinking that showing watermelon creatures being massacred in one episode was too much, some countries edited the scene, or even removed it altogether.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/6/4/784864.gif)
![Miraculous fasting girls were a big attraction in Victorian times. As Netflix wasn't a thing in the 19th century, people would entertain themselves by visiting fasting girls, who were said to live for years on end without eating anything. (As the girls weren't being watched by visitors 24/7, it isn't hard to figure out how this miracle happened.)](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/6/1/784861.jpg)
More: 6 Nightmare Tourist Traps From History (Even Crazier Than Reality TV)
![Mr. Freeze was cured in his first appearance. Mr. Zero was a one-shot villain in a 1959 comic - by the story's end, Batman cured him of his freak cold dependency. The character as we know him was defined by Adam West's series, with Batman: The Animated Series giving him his tragic backstory three decades later.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/3/784853.jpg)
![Pepsi tired to buy a song's title. When the popular calypso song Rum and Coca-Cola was about to hit the U.S. in the '40s, Pepsi offered songwriter Morey Amsterdam a lot of money for changing it to Rum and Pepsi-Cola. Amsterdam contacted Coca-Cola and got a counter-offer, and in the end, he made big bucks for exactly zero work.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/9/784859.jpg)
![The Sound of Music clashed with Salzburg over swastikas. The people of Salzburg weren't Nazi sympathizers! local authorities said when asked for permission to drape the city in swastikas for the movie. So the filmmakers said they'd just use newsreels from the time - which showed the people of Salzburg very much cheering on the Nazis. A compromise was quickly reached.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/7/784857.jpg)
More: 5 Behind-The-Scenes Controversies Audiences Never Noticed In Movies
![The title of Asimov's I, Robot was swiped from a different work. Asimov wanted to call his robot book Mind and Iron, but his editor just reused the title of a story by author Otto Binder, thinking it was punchier. Asimov didn't want to do this, but eventually the editor had his way.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/8/784858.jpg)
![Police use weaponized sound. Sound weapons aren't just a science-fiction technology. Police forces sometimes disperse crowds with a device called LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device), which hits you with a beam of sound of around 137 dB. The effects of this sonic shotgun include nausea, vertigo, and of course, hearing loss.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/2/784852.jpg)
More: 4 Sci-Fi Tropes That Are Coming True Because Of The Cops
![Turbans helped African Americans avoid racism. Some black people in Jim Crow America got to wrapping pieces of cloth around their heads to pass as Indians, who were exempted from the arbitrary segregation laws. The first black man to have his own TV show did so by donning a turban and calling himself Korla Pandit.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/4/784854.jpg)
![Nuclear bombs have made old shipwrecks incredibly valuable. Due to radioactive pollution from nuclear explosions, metal produced after World War II has impurities that makes it unfit for delicate electronics or lab-grade equipment. This has given rise to an entire shady industry, which loots metal from ships which sank before 1945.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/5/784855.jpg)
![A mafia drug dealer was caught because he became a YouTuber. After hiding out for years in the Dominican Republic, Marc Feren Claude Biart decided to open a YouTube channel to share his cooking skills with the world. Of course, he never showed his face - but he neglected to hide his distinctive tattoos, leading authorities straight to him.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/6/784856.jpg)