The most interesting useless facts are chronological paradoxes. For example: when Nintendo was founded, the Ottoman Empire was still a global power and Jack the Ripper was fresh news.
Here are three facts that prove historical timelines rarely line up the way people expect:
1. Oxford University is older than the Aztec Empire.
People tend to think of the Aztecs as ancient history and Oxford as a pillar of the modern academic world. But teaching at Oxford University began in 1096. By 1249, the university was officially established and rapidly growing into a massive institution. Meanwhile, the city of Tenochtitlán—the capital of the Aztec Empire—was not founded until 1325. Students were taking exams at Oxford centuries before the Aztecs laid the first stones of their capital.
2. Sharks are older than trees (and the rings of Saturn).
Sharks have been swimming in Earth's oceans for over 400 million years. They are so old that they have survived four of the five mass extinction events. To put that into perspective, the first recognizable trees did not appear until about 390 million years ago. Even more surprising, data from the Cassini spacecraft revealed that Saturn’s rings are likely only 10 to 100 million years old. For the vast majority of their existence, sharks were swimming under a sky where Saturn had no rings.
3. Nintendo was founded during the Victorian era.
When people hear "Nintendo," they immediately think of video games and sleek Japanese electronics. But the company was founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi on September 23, 1889. Long before they ever touched a microchip, Nintendo was a small business in Kyoto that manufactured Hanafuda, or traditional Japanese playing cards.
To anchor that in time: when Nintendo first opened its doors to sell cards, the Eiffel Tower had just been completed in Paris, and Vincent van Gogh had just painted The Starry Night.