40 Super Interesting Trivia That’ll Blow You Away | Random List #300

The 2011 earthquake off the coast of Japan was so powerful, measuring almost 9.0 on the Richter scale that it moved Japan 8 feet closer to North America and shifted the planet on its axis, causing the length of a day to shorten by almost 1.8 microseconds.

2. Every fall, Alaska’s Katmai National Park hosts “Fat Bear Week” and crowns the park’s fattest brown bear. It aims to highlight the park and wildlife conservation.

3. Laminated safety glass was invented by chemist Édouard Bénédictus after a lab accident in 1903. A glass flask coated with the plastic cellulose nitrate was dropped, shattering but not breaking into pieces. In 1909, he filed a patent, after hearing of a car accident causing injury by glass debris.

4. French astronomer and mathematician Urbain le Verrier used observational data from Uranus to deduce the position of an unknown planet. German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle then used his data to find Neptune, within one hour of searching and within one degree of Verrier’s prediction in 1846.

5. Evel Knievel (born as Robert Craig Knievel) got his nickname after spending a night in jail next to the well-known William 'Awful' Knofel. The jailer made a joke about 'Awful Knofel' and 'Evil Knievel' and Evel decided to keep the name.

Serotonin, the neurotransmitter responsible for happiness, can be toxic. When injected into the skin it causes extreme pain and is the main ingredient of wasp venom.

7. Mahatma Gandhi wrote two letters to Hitler, in which he asked him to stop the war because it would cause many victims. Neither of the letters he wrote was allowed to be sent by the British colonial government in India.

8. In State v. Linkhaw (1873), the North Carolina Supreme Court reversed the conviction of William Linkhaw, who sang so badly in church that a jury had found him guilty of “disturbing a religious congregation.”

9. Neanderthals, who were traditionally thought of as extremely primitive humans, are now believed to have been extremely intelligent, even comparable to the intelligence of modern humans. They used tools, had social structures, thrived in hostile environments, and lived long lives.

10. Frank “Cannonball” Richards was a carnival entertainer whose most famous act involved getting hit by a 104 lbs cannonball from close range. He performed the act twice a day because “more than that was too painful.”

There is a community in Cairo, Egypt that collects the trash of the residents of Cairo and recycles upwards of 80% of it. Nicknamed "Garbage City", these mostly Christian residents have been collecting and recycling Cairo's trash for several decades.

12. An ape named Oliver preferred walking upright. He was bald, freckled, showed sexual attraction towards humans and even liked to pour himself a cup of brandy every night while wearing a smoking jacket. Due to his human-like features and mannerisms he was once believed to be a "Humanzee."

13. There is a street that is split down the middle by the USA-Canadian border, aptly named Canusa street. People who live in houses on the south side of the street are in the USA, and the north side, in Canada. Crossing the street requires having to report to the border crossing office.

14. Rome was basically a ghost town during the Middle Ages. After the fall of the West-Roman empire, the population of Rome dropped from 1 million in 330 A.D. to just 20,000 in 650 A.D. The population remained roughly the same till 1600 A.D.

15. Not all people have an internal monologue and people with them have stronger mental visual to accompany their thoughts.

Grasshoppers are older than grass, having evolved roughly 250 million years ago.

17. In 2016, the “Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum” in Hollywood paid $4.8 million for Marilyn Monroe’s “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” dress that Monroe wore at JFK’s 45th birthday celebration. The purchase cements it as one of the most expensive pieces of pop-culture memorabilia of all time.

18. Courtroom sketches became popular in the earlier 20th century due to a general prohibition of cameras in the courtroom. Artists are able to sketch scenes in just minutes, often from memory. Despite most courtrooms now allowing cameras, sketch art is still in demand today.

19. Elephants can hear through both their ears and feet. Through special fat pads called digital cushions, they can hear sounds other elephants vocalize below the range of human hearing from many miles away. This helps warn them of far-off danger, incoming floods, and rival elephants.

20. The Driftless Area is a rugged area of Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and a minor part of Illinois that was completely missed by glaciers. It is roughly the size of West Virginia, and is home to huge bluffs, deep canyons, and rare species of plants found nowhere else.

Macaroni and cheese originated in the 14th Century. A Middle English recipe describes it as "Take and make a thynne foyle of dowh. and kerve it on pieces, and cast hem on boiling water and seeþ it well. take cheese and grate it and butter cast bynethen and above as losyns. and serue forth."

22. The American Smarties candy received their namesake “Smarties” because the creator wanted to encourage people to pursue an education.

23. Frank Eaton, a.k.a Pistol Pete, began training to avenge his father at the age of 8. His father's friend handed him a gun stating, "My boy, may an old man’s curse rest upon you, if you do not try to avenge your father.” He succeeded in his revenge.

24. The Brooklyn Dodgers’ name stems from a nickname given in the 1890s to people who, in a matter of life and death, had to evade railcars speeding down the streets. They were known as trolley dodgers.

25. Queen Victoria's coronation was beset with problems. The coronation ring was painfully forced onto the wrong finger, an elderly Lord fell down the stairs while paying homage to her, and a confused bishop wrongly told her that the ceremony was over.