5 Fun Facts That Every American Should Know

Fun facts can liven up a conversation, or kick start a dead one. There is a wealth of knowledge out there, but here are 5 fun facts every good American should know. We encourage you to fact these statements. However, each one will include a link to at least one source.

1. Air Force made a super computer with Play Stations

We all know the Air Force are a bunch of nerds. However, this can be kinda cool sometimes. In 2010, the US Air Force connected 1,760 Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) consoles. This became the fastest super computer in the Department of Defense. It currently ranks as the 33rd largest super computer in the world. It was named the "Condor Cluster," and preform 500 trillion floating point operations per second. Despite this, they still sucked at Call of Duty.[caption id="attachment_22961" align="alignnone" width="300"]

Condor Cluster: US Air Force[/caption]

2. Astronauts left poop on the moon

In addition to the various personal affects left by astronauts, they discarded a bunch of trash too. They left things behind to lighten the load for liftoff on their return home. The rubbish included poop, wrappers, and 3 golf balls. Alan Shepard was a Navy officer. So, of course he blew off work to play golf on the moon. Other various items that were used to prefer experiments were also ditched, after the data had been collected.[caption id="attachment_22962" align="alignnone" width="300"]

NASA[/caption]

3. There's an island of science monkeys in South Carolina

Morgan Island is home to over 4,000 monkeys that have been used for science. We're assuming the "mad" kind of science, but that has yet to be proven. However, these primates have been used in research from everything from studies on polio, vaccines, and bio-terrorism. This is absolute bananas, if you ask us. Although this sounds like an dope place to visit, the island is off limits to the public. Probably for the best though. You'd get bit on the eyebrow by some science monkey and turn into a zombie. Some brave sailors have cruised close enough to see the monkeys, and document the no trespassing signs.[caption id="attachment_22963" align="alignnone" width="300"]

Credit: IG @gegebsinclair[/caption]That money would defiantly throw radioactive poop if you got too close.

4. There's a Darth Vader gargoyle on the National Cathedral

The National Cathedral, in Washington DC, held a contest back in 1980's. This was a design competition, aimed at children. The goal was to select art for the new construction. One of the winners submitted a drawing of Darth Vader, and it became reality. The National Park Service states, "The Cathedral is the burial place of many notable people, including Woodrow Wilson, Helen Keller, Admiral George Dewey, Bishop Satterlee and the architects Henry Vaughan and Philip Frohman." I'm sure they rest in peace knowing Lord Vader watches over them, albeit breathing heavily.[caption id="attachment_22964" align="alignnone" width="300"]

Washington National Cathedral[/caption]

5. The US conducted raids against British, well before the Declaration of Independence

In 1775, the 13 colonies were in desperate need of supplies. Especially, if they were going to fight the world's largest super power. Esek Hopkins, a former privateer, was directed by the Continental Congress to distress the enemy ships in anyway he could. Hopkins decided to just send it. He grabbed a bunch of hard charging continental Marines and promised them exotic booze. They grabbed their boom sticks and all headed down to Nassau, in the Bahamas.On March 3rd, 1776, the local British garrison crapped their pants when they saw a bunch of ungrateful colonials floating on their shoreline. However, the Navy was still hungover, and pulled up right in full view of Fort Nassau, who opened fire (but couldn't hit anything). Subsequently, all the Marines laughed at them. The colonials trolled the defenders so hard, the Brits realized they sucked and just surrendered. Nevertheless, the colonials took pity on the British nerds (and their inability to score with the tavern babes). The Marines just left with gunpowder and cannons, without killing anyone. Complete badasses.[caption id="attachment_22965" align="alignnone" width="300"]

Battle of Nassau: USMC[/caption]What fun facts do you know about our beloved country? Sound off in the comments below!