I forget sometimes that we all go to a school with a lot of history, and with that, a lot of shenanigans and wonders written in its past. I was surprised to learn that the brain of a serial killer named Edward H. Rulloff is stored somewhere on campus, purportedly the largest human brain in size on record. People who have passed through this campus have gone on to change the world, and such people attend this school today. I think we can all agree that this realization is both humbling and intimidating. I think we are all able to make some change in the world if we can only recognize what we are best at. Hopefully that doesn’t mean following in the footsteps of Edward H. Rullof for anyone.

During the trivia, there were a lot of facts revealed to me that I did not know prior. For example, the fact that there are serial killers’ brains put on display in one of the buildings on campus. Or that Cornell University was the first Ivy league to have women as students. I was surprised because I thought that I knew more about Cornell, but apparently there is a lot more that I still need to learn. The fact that surprised me the most was that the chicken nugget was invented here.

Before attending this trivia session I thought my knowledge about Cornell was somewhat decent. I wasn’t in my first year anymore and had experienced most of campus. I pretty much knew where all the buildings were and also most of the people the buildings were named after. However, after playing some Kahoot on Cornell trivia I soon realized how much depth there is to such an institution. I completely stumped on questions like whose brain is in the Uris brain collection? Or how many steps to the top of the clock tower? as well as other various trivia. There was so much I didn’t know that I felt like a completely new student. It made me realize how little I actually understand about this complex institution compared to what a thought. I think this concept is tied to almost all advice I have received from faculty or alumni. In all the Rose Buzz interviews, the speakers always tell the students to explore everything whether it be research or teaching because there is so much out there. Doing random Cornell trivia made me realize how true that statement is. 

Learning is always fun, and so much of our time at Cornell is spent learning. Learning about movies, music, popular culture, and random amazing facts is both fun and interesting, as it allows me to expand my knowledge while enjoying the questions about Disney and spooky characters. One particular fact concerned the weight of an average cloud, which I had no idea how to even guess. I was amazed to find that the average cloud weighs over a million pounds! This sparked my interest, and since then I’ve had multiple conversations with friends and family about this curious fact.

As a huge trivia and Jeopardy! fan, this event was perfect.  I was saddened by the fact that Alex Trebek, the iconic Jeopardy! host passed away a week before the event.  Doing trivia with friends was a great way for me to remember him.  My friend and I liked to compare answers after we entered them in and it was fun to see which answers we thought were correct, especially when we were absolutely clueless about what the answer was!  I enjoyed playing Kahoot!, a game that I loved playing in high school but have not played since then.  It was great to play different topics including Cornell trivia!  There are so many things that I do not know about the school that I attend!  Did you know that we had a brain collection?  I did not until the trivia game.  (Part of it is on display in Uris Hall if you want to visit.)  This event was a fun way to take a break from studying for my semi-finals and the perfect opportunity to brush up on my guessing skills.  As a trivia lover, I know that there is no way for me to possibly know everything, but making educated guesses based on what I do know is a very useful skill, and will get you a very good answer most of the time.  I just hope that my guessing skills are good enough to rescue me during my semi-finals!!

This past Saturday, I attended the Flora Rose trivia session.  We had the time to run through several different trivia sets.  Two of them were made by the host herself and contained general facts as well as Cornell-specific questions.  We also had the time to run through some publicly posted sets about movies, specifically about horror and Disney movies.  This was a great way relax but also  exercise my brain in a less academic way.  With semifinals coming up, it’s hard to think about anything but the many projects, assignments, and tests hanging over me, but trivia was a fun way to just forget about that stuff for an hour and learn some new, interesting facts.

Trivia is a great way to gauge how much you know while also realizing how little you know. I wonder how much you know. Here are a few facts I learned:

Did you know Ezra Cornell rests inside Sage Chapel? It is surprising and personally creeps me out every time I think about it.

Did you know someone at Cornell invented the chicken nugget? This was a really cool fact I learned recently. Something people around the world enjoy as their favorite fast food item was invented here on campus; it really puts into perspective how great Cornell is.

Did you know that, on average, clouds weight 1.1 million pounds? Those floating white bundles of water vapor in the sky are super heavy.

One more: Did you know that the peregrine falcon is the fastest animal in the animal kingdom? When it does a hunting dive, it reaches speeds over 200mph. Contrary to what I have believed all my life, the cheetah is actually the fastest land animal.

This sounds counterintuitive, but doing trivia is a great stress reliever. We all know a lot more than we think, and even if it is not conscious knowledge, it is somewhere deep in our subconscious. The challenge is whether you can recall it and recall it correctly. Like any test, when doing trivia, you have to trust your intuition. After attending virtual trivia this afternoon, I was reminded of that: when in doubt, trust your instincts.