30 Trivia Tidbits About Everything

Our entire universe is a beautiful place, and it's full of strange and interesting information you may not have known about. Fortunately, Cracked users have compiled a list of true and confirmed facts. We’ve combed through them to pick our faves.

When you take a step back and consider it, the world is genuinely amazing. It’s full of stuff that continues to astound us, from great accidental innovations to the reality that coughs sound different depending on the location.

You'd think astronauts would despise viewing disaster movies set in space, but they actually enjoy them. They even keep an eye on them from the International Space Station. No thanks!

Check out our entire list of these exceptional nuggets about virtually everything there is to know. (Ed note: uh kind of). If you’ve got a hankering for some great facts, well sir, look no further. You're sure to learn new things, whether it's about a typewriter symphony or the history of sparkling wine.

Here's more on it, as well as 29 other fascinating facts about cinema, art, science, and other topics…

30

We don't swallow 8 spiders in our sleep per year. There's no scientific evidence that would suggest we swallow a single one. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Scientific American

29

A lion's roar can get up to 115 decibels, or 25 times louder than a lawnmower. That's because lions (and tigers), unlike most other animals, have square vocal folds, which lets them use less lung pressure than those other animals to roar. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Smithsonian Magazine

28

Ultramarine Blue pigment was more precious than gold in the 14th and 15th century Derived from the lapis lazuli stone, even the most famous artists needed wealthy patrons to buy it for them NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — The Paris Review

27

Diamonds very, very slowly turn into graphite (which pencils are made of). That's because the carbon atoms gradually settle into a lower-energy state - i.e. graphite. That happens on a time-scale of billions of years, so, for all intents and purposes, diamonds really are forever. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — West Texas A&M University

26

Zildjian

25

Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergère is one of the first cases of product placement. The labels on the bar show that they're from Bass Brewery. Art critics believe it's a negative commentary on consumer culture. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Artsy

24

Mark Wahlberg got $1.5 million dollars when an actor was replaced on his movie. His contract for All the Money in the World had a clause that gave him approval over who his co-star was, so when they quickly replaced Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer, he said he wouldn't approve it unless they paid him more money - and they did. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — USA Today

23

Shia LaBeouf plagiarized a movie, then plagiarized his statement addressing the issue. His directorial debut HowardCantour.com was a complete ripoff of a graphic novel by Daniel Clowes. To address it, he tweeted a very slightly changed version of a random Yahoo! Answers post about copying vs. inspiration. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — TIME

22

When Bill Paxton died, storm chasers paid him a fitting tribute. They used GPS markers to make a giant BP (the Twister star's initials) across 3 states. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Variety

21

In Troy, Brad Pitt and Eric Bana didn't use stunt doubles, and agreed to pay each other cash if they accidentally hit each other: $100 for a hard hit; $50 for a light tap. Pitt had to pay Bana $750. Bana didn't have to pay Pitt anything. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Today

20

CJ Jones, the actor who plays Joseph in Baby Driver, is actually deaf. Writer/director Edgar Wright says, I started auditioning other very good actors who were pretending to be deaf. It made me feel immediately uncomfortable. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Haben Girma

19

After six weeks of broken appointments by Comcast, Diana and Jason Airoldi finally got their internet and cable hooked up. 10/100/1000 PCHE ethz ethl eth0 A 6-U/4 ATA However, that only happened because a journalist knew how to contact the 92 year-old mother of Comcast's CEO. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — BGR

18

Ryan Reynolds has launched his own streaming service, Mint Mobile +. The platform's only offering is Foolproof, the 2003 movie he starred in with Kristin Booth. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — IGN

17

The Apostrophe Protection Society stopped trying to ensure the proper use of the apostrophe and dissolved as an organization in 2019. on apostrophe the sign (') that yo to show that yo examp The founder stated that the ignorance and laziness present in modern times have won! NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — The Guardian

16

Two people have fallen from the Empire State Building and lived. They both fell from the 86th floor and landed on the 85th. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — NY Daily News

15

The Volga River region of Russia held a 'Day of Conception' contest numerous times. Couples that gave birth nine months later, on June 12th, received money, cars, refrigerators and other prizes. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Know More

14

Facial hair was surprisingly strictly regulated back in ancient Egypt. Men had to keep their beards, and couldn't even shave them - unless they happened to be in mourning. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

13

The kind of quick-draw duel you see in Westerns almost never happened. The extremely famous one involving Bill Hickok is so famous because of its rarity - it's not at all a representative example of what people would do. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

12

Almond milk seems like a new hipster thing, but it was big in the Middle Ages. People in medieval Europe considered it a delicacy and way better than milk - they used it in fancy meals as much as they used spices. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

11

Turns out, the Mississippi River was surprisingly full of piracy back in the day. But things started to calm down in the 1820s, when steamboats grew more common - being faster and more secure, they weren't worth attacking. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

10

Dinosaurs died out because the meteor that killed them came 30 seconds early. If it hit the planet 30 seconds later, it would have fallen into the ocean, and its impact would have caused much, much less destruction. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

9

A tick bite can make you allergic to red meat (and other mammal products). It took scientists a decade to pin down the cause of what's called alpha-gal allergy and makes you allergic even to, say, a wool sweater. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — RSB

8

There are more U.S. museums than there are Starbucks and McDonalds- combined LOCANSE McDonald's SPEEDER SERVICE SYSTEM HAMBURGERS We have Sold OVER 1 MILLION McDonald's There are around 11,000 Starbucks and 14,000 McDonald's locations in the U.S., compared to 35,000 museums. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Washington Post

7

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 — 13 Stellar Now-You-Know Facts About Astronauts

6

Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini had a fling while filming From Justin to Kelly Clarkson admitted she briefly dated her American Idol runner-up. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — USA Today

5

The British navy used Britney Spears' songs to scare off Somali pirates The navy chose Spears' hit songs Oops! ...I Did It Again and ...Baby One More Time to ward off the pirates because of the pirates' dislike of western culture. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — The Guardian

4

Ships full of weapons exist in international waters to defend against pirates. Private security firms offer armed guards for merchant ships in high risk areas. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — BBC

3

Scientists didn't know the the length of a day on Saturn until 2019 It's 10 hours, 33 minutes and 38 seconds. It was difficult to figure out because the gas planet has no solid surface to follow its rotation and an unusual magnetic field. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — NASA

2

A helium balloon on the moon would plunge to the ground Without air to rise above, the helium might as well be lead. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — PopSci

1

Bitcoin's rise from $150 to $1000 was probably due to just one person. NON B That's the conclusion of a study that looked at trades happening when the price jumped - t they were done by two bots that didn't even own the BTC they traded. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — TechCrunch

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