18 Facts To Keep Your Brain Up To Date
You can't go on forever with the same old facts.
![18 Facts To Keep Your Brain Up To Date](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/5/8/752158_320x180.jpg?v=2)
Your computer needs updates, and your phone needs them too -- and so does your brain. Ordinarily, you meet this need by reading books and journals (or Cracked articles) -- but occasionally you have no time for it, and just want the facts downloaded directly into your frontal cortex. That's why we have prepared these, so you can install the new data in the pauses of playing Tony Hawk: Shred.
(And if you still want Cracked articles, you can find the originals linked under each image.)
![Margaret Abbott won an Olympic medal without even intending to. - Abbott, an amateur golfer, entered a golf competition while visiting Paris in 1900.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/3/1/752131.jpg?v=2)
![Paul W. S. Anderson bluffed his way into directing Mortal Kombat. - Mortal Kombat's awful CGI is due, in part, to the fact that it was the '90s -- and](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/3/0/752130.jpg?v=2)
![Lois Lane was supposed to learn Superman's secret identity much sooner. - As early as 1940, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were working on a story where](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/2/8/752128.jpg?v=2)
![Idling your car on cold mornings is harmful. - Leaving your car to warm up is only useful if it has a carburetor -- which it hasn't if it was made aft](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/3/5/752135.jpg?v=2)
![Doctors used to prescribe speed to lose weight. - We know very well today that amphetamines aren't good for you — but back in the 1950s, doctors doled](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/3/2/752132.jpg?v=2)
![Slice bread was banned during World War II. - Fearing that wartime regulations might lead to rising prices, the U.S. government banned pre-sliced brea](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/2/7/752127.jpg?v=2)
![The original 9/11 truther regrets his film. - Dylan Avery was 18 when he started working on Loose Change, the documentary which kicked 9/11 conspiracy](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/3/9/752139.jpg?v=2)
![Will Smith did The Fresh Prince because he was broke. - Late '80s Will was in trouble -- he had blown most of his rap money, and he owed what was left](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/3/4/752134.jpg?v=2)
![The Matrix fought aliens. - “Goliath,” a tie-in short story written by Neil Gaiman, has the Matrix unplugging a man to fight an attacking alien ship](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/2/3/752123.jpg?v=2)
![Ronald Reagan was almost strangled by a chimp. - In the 1950s, Reagan starred opposite a chimpanzee in a movie titled Bedtime for Bonzo. And he didn't](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/2/2/752122.jpg?v=2)
![Being rich can be addictive. - Research has shown that the mere idea of money activates the brain's reward system in the same way as sex or food, whil](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/2/0/752120.jpg?v=2)
![Climate change is shortening human gestation. - Studies have found that high temperatures are causing an increase in preterm births. The numbers are e](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/2/1/752121.jpg?v=2)
![David Wise made the Ninja Turtles into the critters you love. - The turtles themselves were created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman — but it was cart](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/1/9/752119.jpg?v=2)
![Return of the King was shot on a minefield. - While shooting the Battle of the Black Gate, New Zealand army staff was present to clean up the area and](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/1/8/752118.jpg?v=2)
![Nick Offerman played Ron Swanson because of a Post-It note. - After a guest spot on The Office fell through, writer/producer Michael Schur kept Offerm](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/1/6/752116.jpg?v=2)
![Lucius Malfoy's appearance was Jason Isaacs' idea. - Lucius was supposed to wear a pinstripe suit, but Isaac reasoned that someone who hated Muggles w](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/1/5/752115.jpg?v=2)
![Gene Roddenberry wrote tunes for the Star Trek theme. - The theme is famously lyrics-less -- but Roddenberry still wrote words for it. He never intend](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/1/4/752114.jpg?v=2)
![Andy Warhol sent a dick pic to the Moon. - When Apollo 12 took off for the Moon, it carried a tiny art installation. A little ceramic wafer had been s](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/1/7/752117.jpg?v=2)