One who eats bees is apivorous, while one who eats onions is cepivorous. An eater of seaweed is fucivorous, while a snake-eater is fumivorous. Lignivores eat wood. Oryzivores eat rice. Radicivores eat roots. Sanguivores drink blood

"Life on the Mississippi," written by Mark Twain, was the world's first submitted typewritten manuscript. Twain used a Remington machine.

The Spanish Inquisition...read more

Christopher Columbus may have discovered America, but Amerigo Vespucci generally receives credit for noticing that Columbus had stumbled upon a new continent. Contrary to popular belief, however, Vespucci didn't name the continent after himself. Instead, a little-known German mapmaker, Martin Waldseemuller, did it for him in 1507. You might say he put Amerigo on the map

British comedy writer...read more

The English political parties - Whigs and Tories - originally were known as the Country Party and the Court Party. But the members of each party coined nastier names for their political opponents. Tory, the name applied to the Court Party, is a word for an Irish plunderer. Whig, the name applied to the Country Party, is a word for a Scottish cattle rustler

The best-selling art poster in America is...read more

The "Mona Lisa," stolen from the Louvre in 1911, was returned in 1913. But some have questioned whether it was the original or a copy that was returned, and since then, five other versions of the painting have been credited as being the original

There are about 16,000 species of bees, and most of them live solitary lives. Only about 5 percent of all bees socialize in hives.

Although female...read more

The queen bee used to be called the king bee. But in the 1660s, Dutch scientist Jan Swammerdam found ovaries while dissecting a hive's big bee, making it clear that the king was actually a queen

The average baby cries about 2.2 hours each day while the average parent loses about 200 hours of sleep in the baby's first year.

A new mother blue whale produces up to 94 gallons of milk each day...read more

As part of the Stealthy Insect Sensor Project, Los Alamos scientists have trained bees to recognize explosives

In the 1960s, 90 percent of all U.S. children were out of diapers by age 2-1/2. But not even a quarter are toilet-trained by that age now. Up to 40 percent of all children today are still in diapers at age 4.

Both killer whale and bottle-nosed dolphin parents may go without sleep for up...read more

In 1994, NASA purchased six plastic owls at Walmart in order to protect the space shuttle from woodpeckers

Bees fly an average of 15 miles per hour, and their wings move at a rate of approximately 11,400 strokes per minute.

The tilapia mother knows how to deal with a threat. The female fish sucks her young into an oral cavity and keeps them there until the coast is clear.

A proper strike in bowling...read more

Though long rumored to be poisonous, poinsettias were determined by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in 1975 to not be harmful to humans

Around the world, there are more than a million industrial robots now in use. Nearly half of them are in Japan.

Biologists have found that maternal attention makes a difference. For instance, rats brought up by attentive mothers are more adventurous...read more

Female marmosets, elephants and bottle-nosed dolphins have all been observed assisting others of their species during labor

In a home with a new baby, researchers report that the mother kisses her baby twice as often as she kisses her husband.

The Mars robots "Spirit" and "Opportunity" have logged more than 13 miles, moving across the Martian landscape for more than 5 years...read more

When the "Titanic" went down on April 19, 1912, there were between 1,490 and 1,635 deaths. Only about 100 of those were women

Scientists have observed that among Iberian red deer, mothers produce milk with higher levels of protein for male calves.

Only one character appears unchanged in all six "Star Wars" movies: R2-D2.

Bowling balls come in weights of up to 16 pounds.

In...read more

Although the egret is only capable of raising two chicks, she generally has a third as backup. As soon as it is clear that the first two will survive, the mother egret lets them kill the third sibling

In the United States, almost 105 boys are born for every 100 girls. In China, 117 boys are born for every 100 girls.

Japan's NEC System Technologies and Mie University worked together to build...read more

Researchers have successfully trained rats to count as high as 45

Physicist Lise Meitner was nominated 13 times for the Nobel Prize for her development of the calculations that led to the discovery of nuclear fission. But she never won. Instead, Otto Hahn, her collaborator, took the prize in 1944.

Although it's widely believed that throwing rice at weddings causes birds to explode, the truth...read more

Thai food terms include the following: Tom (soup), Khao phad (fried rice), Neua (beef), Muu (pork), Kai (chicken), Plaa (fish), Phet (spicy or hot), Phat (stir-fried), Kuaytiaw (noodles), Yam (salad) and Khing (ginger)

Chewing gum, when swallowed, will stay in a person's digestive system for an average of about 20 hours.

Paul Greengard won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 2000 for his discoveries...read more

There are at least 200 euphemisms for death in the English language, including "to be in Abraham's bosom," "just add maggots" and a "Star Trek" favorite, "sleep with the Tribbles."

Almost every single one of the original Harlem Globetrotters was from Chicago, not New York. That's because the team was founded in Chicago in 1926. "Harlem" didn't...read more

The word "whiskey" comes from the Gaelic term "usquebaugh," which translates as "water of life."

Baseball may be America's favorite pastime, but it's certainly not the country's favorite spectator sport. In a 2004 survey, 10 percent of Americans reported that they most liked to watch baseball. Basketball was chosen as the top spectator sport by 14 percent...read more

Smallpox, which killed more than 100 million people in its day, first showed up as a mutation of cowpox, a disease commonly found in the auroch. What's an auroch? It's the ancient European animal from which today's domesticated cows are descended

The electricity required to operate all the exit signs in U.S. buildings costs about $1 billion per year.

In all cases of human death, the...read more

The Spanish city of Pamplona publishes safety guidelines each year for participants in the Running of the Bulls. Some quotations from the brochure include gems such as, "Do not stand still," or "making the run on a drunken spree is totally out of order." But potential participants should take special care, according to the guide, because "if you get up right in the path of...read more

A 19th-century railway expansion in Egypt resulted in so many unearthed mummies that they were used as fuel for locomotives.

The Greyhound bus line got its start in Hibbing, Minn. The town is even home to a museum, housing 11 retired buses. But there's no longer a Greyhound stop in Hibbing

The idea for best-selling game Trivial Pursuit was hatched by two Canadian reporters, Scott Abbott and...read more

Roman soldiers chewed garlic before battles in the hope that it might give them courage

Tobacco-related illnesses kill 17 Americans each year for every one American who is murdered.

In the United States, roughly 80 percent of all deaths occur in hospitals.

The word "scrabble," as in the board game, means "to grope frantically."

School buses are painted a shade known as National...read more

Not every pop band gets its name right the first time. For instance, Chicago got its start as Big Thing, and the Beach Boys were originally billed as Carl and the Passions. Polka Tulk eventually changed its name to the better-known Black Sabbath. Creedence Clearwater Revival started out as The Golliwogs.

In England, about 65 percent of all beer is consumed in pubs and other public places. But in...read more

Meteoroids don't become meteorites unless they hit the Earth.

Orange carrots may be the most common, but the vegetable also comes in white, yellow, red, green and purple

All U.S. presidents have had at least one sibling.

Citing "The Butter Battle Book" by Dr. Seuss as one of the most influential anti-arms-race books of the 1980s, experts point out that the rhyming and rhythmic challenge...read more

During Prohibition, President Warren Harding hosted liquor parties, and the Senate Library had a secret bar behind one of its walls. But not all were corrupt. Rep. Thomas Blanton tried to have the Washington Post prosecuted for printing George Washington's recipe for beer

The design and wording on U.S. wine labels is overseen by the American Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, an agency...read more

In the early 19th century, experts on the complete British home agreed that a household of husband and wife with three children and the money to support it should have a staff of 24: housekeeper, cook, lady's-maid, nurse, two housemaids, laundry maid, still-room maid, nursery-maid, kitchen maid, scullion, butler, valet, house-steward, coachman, two grooms, one assistant groom, two footmen, three...read more

Developed in 1914 by George Bunting, Noxzema was originally sold as Dr. Bunting's Sunburn Remedy.

Experts claim that the word "vampire," an Old Slavic verb meaning "to fly," probably entered the English language in the early 18th century. "The Vampyre," a short story published in 1819 by English Doctor John William Polidori made the creature a cultural icon

Of...read more

The kea, a bird native to New Zealand, has a particular affection for rubber. Stories abound in which the kea pecks away at the rubber of a vehicle's windshield wipers, though birds reportedly release their grip if the driver accelerates past 40 miles per hour

Television viewers remember Ray Charles's endorsement of Pepsi in a series of commercials first broadcast in 1989. What they may not...read more

For eggs to be called jumbo, a dozen of them must weigh more than 30 ounces. Extra large eggs must weigh at least 27 ounces, and large eggs must weigh at least 24 ounces per dozen. Other egg sizes include medium (more than 21 ounces), small (18) and peewee (15).

Florida has more billboards than does any other state, with Ohio and Michigan in second and third places. Alaska, Hawaii, Maine and Vermont...read more

WWAX, a radio station in Duluth, Minn., tried a 5-day experiment in which the typical talk and music formats were disbanded in favor of playing nothing but commercials. The station eventually gave up all commercials, all the time, and switched to an "easy listening" format

Lemons have a pH level of 2.3 to 2.6 while apples range from 3.0 to 3.3. Other foods and their pH levels are as follows...read more

Some of the animals that are specifically forbidden as food in the Bible's Old Testament include eagles, vultures, ravens, owls, swans, bats, weasels, mice, tortoises, ferrets, snails and moles.

In a study of 49 stadiums, it was found that 70 percent of the companies that named a stadium (like Taco Bell Arena) saw their stock price increase after the naming. Researchers theorize that the effect...read more

An entrepreneurial Canadian farmer, Frazier Mohawk, started selling advertising space on the sides of his Jersey heifers in 1984. Each cow placement cost $500 for a year's use.

The U.S. exports 326,000 tons of chicken feet to China each year

The average human visits the restroom six to eight times per day.

One horsepower is supposed to be the average rate at which a horse does work, but since...read more

The Australian thorny devil, a spiky ant-eating lizard, consumes an average of 2,000 ants per day

Historians have documented 5,000 lynchings of blacks in America from 1882 to 1968. Of those, Mississippi had the most (581), followed by Texas (493) and Georgia (431).

Instead of toilet paper, Nazi war criminal Hermann Goring only used handkerchiefs. He bought them in bulk.

Fiberglass is actually...read more

The spork, a combination spoon and three-pronged fork, was patented in 1970 by the American Van Brode Milling Company

The 1936 General Motors bus on which Rosa Parks made history when she refused to relinquish her seat was eventually sold at auction for $492,000.

In the 20th century, there were roughly 110 million war-related deaths.

On the night that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, he had...read more

In his book "Five Hundred Good Points of Husbandry," published in 1573, Thomas Tusser presents 10 characteristics of the perfect cheese: "Not like Gehazi, i.e. dead white, like a leper; not like Lot's wife, all salt; not like Argus, full of eyes; not like Tom Piper, 'hoven and puffed;' not like Crispin, leathery; not like Lazarus, poor; not like Esau, hairy; not like Mary...read more

The average person eats 60,000 pounds of food in a lifetime, the equivalent in weight of six elephants.

The Olympics were such an important part of ancient Greek culture that the first year in the Greek calendar coincided with the first-known Olympic games held in 776 B.C

With 2.3 million Americans in prison, the United States - a country with 5 percent of the world's population - has 25 percent...read more

Fatty food, frequently referred to as "comfort food," really does make the human body happy. That's because the body absorbs fats more slowly than it does carbohydrates, which makes people feel full longer. As long as the body feels full, it releases hormones that communicate contentment.

Japan has the oldest citizenry of any country in the world with a median age of 43.8. The next...read more

Colonel Harlan Sanders wasn't a real colonel. His highest military grade was private. But he had been named a colonel in the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels in 1935 by Governor Ruby Laffoon. Pope John Paul II was named a colonel in the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels in 1965.

On average, people in developed nations spend about 90 percent of the time indoors

Bestsellers definitely...read more

On British roads, drivers mow down an average of 273 hedgehogs each day.

In the ancient Greek Olympics, married women were forbidden from attending. Any who violated the decree faced being hurled off a nearby mountain

Although most people know only of the river Styx, the Greek underworld actually has five rivers: Acheron, the river of woe; Styx, the hated river; The Phlegethon or flaming river;...read more

Not everything tastes like chicken. For instance, flesh of the tapir is said to taste like beef, and puma is most often compared to veal in flavor. Armadillo meat is said to taste like rabbit and wombat like pork. Baby wasps supposedly taste like scrambled eggs, and kangaroo meat is often said to taste like venison

After King Henry VIII had his marriage to Anne of Cleves annulled, he paid her 4,000...read more

In the 17th century, certain orders of monks were forbidden from eating chocolate as it was feared that the food might be too stimulating

When Napoleon and his army invaded Russia in 1812, they did so as a means of defeating England. That's because Napoleon was slowly bankrupting England through a trade boycott, but Russia's Czar Alexander I refused to comply with Napoleon's Continental...read more

Vulture vomit, which contains one of the most unpleasant aromas in the animal world, is known to have killed dogs that have come in contact with it.

Although only 3 percent of world aircraft departures originate in Africa, nearly a third of fatal airliner accidents occur there, making the continent the most dangerous place to fly

At least four animals can't vomit: rats, rabbits, the house mouse...read more

Research on monkeys has found that the more dominant, high-ranking macaques were less likely to become hooked on cocaine. Scientists hypothesized that the dominant monkeys got a natural rush from being aggressive and domineering.

The average American male watches about 29 hours of television each week. The average American female watches 34 hours of television or almost 5 hours a day

The Great...read more

"Omnia dicta fortiori, si dicta Latina," or "everything sounds more impressive when said in Latin."

The suicide rate in U.S. cities with legalized gambling is, on average, twice as high as it is in cities without legalized gambling.

When Charles Lindbergh made his record-setting transatlantic flight in 1927, he carried with him five sandwiches and two canteens of water.

Macy's...read more

Female knot-tying weaverbirds look for neatness and will reject males that have built shoddy nests. A shunned male may take a nest apart and completely rebuild it in order to win the affections of the female.

J.M. Barrie, author of "Peter Pan," did not like the taste of Brussels sprouts but often ordered them at restaurants: "I cannot resist ordering them," Barrie is reported...read more

Charles Sherwood Stratton, better known as General Tom Thumb, was the star of P.T. Barnum's circus. He was 3 feet, 4 inches tall when he died.

At least 1 in 3 U.S. corporate executives reports spying on employees' e-mail.

In Great Britain, two-thirds of all meals eaten outside the home are curries, and London has more Indian restaurants than do Bombay and Delhi

Odds are that 68 percent...read more

Russia has more physicians per capita than does any other country in the world. The United States, however, has the most psychiatrists, psychologists and dentists

Of all North American corporate sponsorships, 67 percent goes to sports while only about 6 percent goes to the arts.

Although Prohibition was repealed on Dec. 5, 1933, the state of Mississippi didn't allow liquor sales until 1966...read more

A performer's body parts can be valuable assets. For instance, Jimmy Durante's nose was insured for $140,000, and Betty Grable's legs were insured for $250,000. But Fred Astaire beat them both with feet that were insured for $650,000.

Vice President Andrew Johnson may be the only vice president to have taken the oath of office while under the influence. The New York Herald-Tribune called...read more

Wisconsin has more bars per person than any other state in the nation. On a somewhat unrelated ranking, Wisconsin has the nation's second highest number of UFO sightings.

Bottle-nosed dolphins display their affection for each other by butting heads

The letter system for naming batteries, created by the American National Standards Institute, ranges from AAAA to G. But most consumers don't...read more

Black vultures may be stricter about monogamy than any other members of the animal kingdom. For instance, biologists have observed that when one vulture tries to fool around with a bird other than its partner, the offender is immediately attacked by every other vulture nearby

The state of New York requires 900 hours of training in order to become a licensed hair braider. But a New York emergency...read more

In a list of common office complaints from American workers, "office too cold" ranks number one. The number two complaint is "office too hot."

Of Texas's 254 counties, 46 are still completely dry, allowing no liquor or beer sales of any kind.

Erich Weiss, better known as Harry Houdini, died on Oct. 31, 1926, (Halloween) of acute appendicitis. He was 52 years old.

Male...read more

Wheat, which has been cultivated for more than 7,000 years in every continent except Antarctica, is the world's most widely grown plant.

President Calvin Coolidge was a man who knew what he wanted in life. For instance, Coolidge failed to properly propose to his future wife, Grace Goodhue. Instead, he simply told her, "I'm going to be married to you."

Medieval Times entertainment...read more

A university project to translate all of Elvis's songs into the ancient Sumerian language ran into trouble with the song "Blue Suede Shoes" as the Sumerians had no shoes, let alone any that were blue or suede. The problem was finally solved with the new title "Sandals of Sky Blue Leather."

Instead of the Big Mac, McDonald's franchises in India serve the mutton Maharaja...read more

More than 8,000 people are bitten by poisonous snakes each year in the U.S. The bites are rarely fatal, however. On average fewer than 10 snake-bite victims actually die.

The medical term for a hangover - veisalgia - combines the Norwegian term for "uneasiness following debauchery" with the Greek word for "pain."

McDonald's franchises in Korea offer a specialty pork Bulgogi...read more

The world's busiest McDonald's is Russia's Pushkin Square franchise

Americans spend more than $4 million in each day on goods produced by prison labor.

The term "the real McCoy" is attributed by historians to bootlegger Bill McCoy, who was known for the quality of his scotch.

Benjamin Franklin may have been a genius, but he was largely self-educated, attending school only...read more

At least 15 American presidents have been elected without a majority of the popular vote. The five most recent were George W. Bush with 47.9 percent of the vote, William J. Clinton (49.2 percent in 1996 and 43 percent in 1992), Richard M. Nixon (43.4 percent in 1968), John F. Kennedy (49.7 percent in 1960) and Harry S. Truman (49.6 percent in 1948).

Each box of Cracker Jack contains nine peanuts...read more

The original Cinderella wore "pantoufles en vair" or slippers made of white squirrel fur. But when Charles Perrault retold the story in his 1697 book, "Stories or Tales from Times Past, with Morals," he wrote that she wore "pantoufles en verre" or glass slippers. The mistake stuck

When running, the average jogger's heel comes in contact with the ground about 1,500...read more

President John Tyler, more than George Washington, probably should have been known as the Father of Our Country. After all, Tyler had 15 children, more than any other U.S. President.

The Statue of Liberty sits in New York Harbor, but it is within Jersey City's waters, making it a part of New Jersey, not of New York. But New York gained control of Bedloe Island and the statue in an 1834 compact...read more

The kilt, often believed to have originated in Scotland, actually came from Egypt's Old Kingdom (2700 - 2200 B.C.E.). The kilt was also worn on the island of Crete from 2500 to 1100 B.C.E. and in Persia during the sixth century B.C.E. Historians say the kilt most likely came to Scotland with the Romans

In the United States, there are at least 63 non-military federal agencies whose officers have...read more

The average high school sports coach is a 36-year-old white male with 12 years' coaching experience. Close to 70 percent have taken part in varsity athletics in college, and 97 percent participated in at least one varsity high school sport.

On any given night in America, 1.35 million children are homeless. Of those identified by the state education departments, 35 percent live in shelters, 34...read more

The town of Britt, Iowa, has become known nationally for its annual Hobo Convention, which features carnivals, a talent show, servings of mulligan stew and a hobo parade.

On a clear night and with an unobstructed view of the night sky, the careful observer should be able to count roughly 2,500 different stars without the use of a telescope or any other magnification device

Francis Scott Key, a...read more

The line "Who could ask for anything more?" was a popular one with the Gershwin Brothers, who used it in three of their songs: "I Got Rhythm," "I'm About to Be a Mother" and "Nice Work If You Can Get It."

New York City has more than 2,000 surveillance cameras monitoring the city's public spaces

The National Sporting Goods Association reports that...read more

The Council of Nicea first prohibited priests from marrying after ordination in 325 C.E. But priests who had already been married were allowed to stay married. It wasn't until 1920 that Pope Benedict XV prohibited all priests from marrying, though there continue to be some exceptions to the rule. For instance, a married Anglican priest who converts to Catholicism and becomes a Catholic priest...read more

A hogshead isn't a hog's head. Instead, the unit of measure is commonly used in the United States to denote a volume of 63 gallons.

About 168,000 new Bibles are sold, on average, each day in the United States. This is enough copies of the scriptures to give the entire population a new copy once each five years

The feet of a typical adult touch the floor an average of 7,000 times each day...read more

In order to communicate in dark waters, herring use a language known to scientists as FRT or Fast Repetitive Tick, which involves breaking wind. The fish produce high-frequency bursts of sound by releasing air from their rear ends. Biologists believe the fish can hear the bubbles, and they note that FRT is primarily used when high numbers of other fish are around

Fewer than half of all Americans...read more

Some historians have speculated that the original Mother Goose may have actually been Queen Bertha of France.

There are some 40,000 different kinds of spiders in the world, and most people report fearing spiders more than they fear death. Of all these spiders, however, only about 30 are actually poisonous to humans

Emily Post wrote the following in defining the source of all good manners: "Manners...read more

Americans consume about 75 acres of pizza every day.

Residents of Atlanta, Georgia, drive more miles per person than do residents in any other U.S. city

Chipmunks communicate with each other about food by urinating, and their system is so developed that they can easily identify the difference between spots where there is food and places where all the stored food has already been eaten.

Judith...read more

Elephant feet may act a bit like antennae as the stomping of one six-ton elephant can transmit vibrations through the earth for distances of up to 20 miles, much farther than can be accomplished with airborne sounds. In at least one instance, scientists have recorded seeing elephants running away from the slaughter of other elephants. The slaughter, however, was miles away, leading the researchers...read more

What's the difference between a sociopath and a psychopath? None. Both are labels used to describe those who have anti-social personality disorder. Back in 1835, the commonly accepted term for the disorder was moral insanity.

At least 1 in every 10 female drivers receives a traffic ticket in any given year. Roughly twice as many male drivers are ticketed in the same 12-month period

When two...read more

Louis Pasteur discovered in 1858 that garlic kills bacteria. Researchers have furthered Pasteur's findings with the discovery that eating garlic specifically inhibits bacterial growth in the stomach, an effect that may help lower the risk of stomach cancer

Biologists have observed the golden frog of Costa Rica and Panama making slow, circular movements with its limbs that seem to signal to other...read more

Mozart once admitted that when his pet starling sang his newest composition, "Piano Concerto in G Major" back to him, with the sharps changed to flats, it was an improvement on his work, so he incorporated the suggested changes

One billion seconds add up to 31.7 years while 1 billion days is more than 2.7 million years, and 1 billion miles per hour is 1.5 times the speed of light.

The...read more

The Brothers Grimm started a German dictionary, "Deutsche Wortherbuch," in 1854 that wasn't finished until 1971, making it the world's slowest-published book

The English word "hysterical" comes from the Greek word for nervous disorders of the uterus.

A bird-watcher, observing a male northern mockingbird over the course of a year, heard it mimic the sound of 25 other...read more

Episcopal can easily be rearranged to spell Pepsi Cola, though denominational leaders and the beverage maker have yet to capitalize on the coincidence.

When a physician speaks of "plasma," he is referring to the fluid part of blood, lymph or milk, not the materials suspended in that fluid. A physicist, however, speaking of plasma, refers to a roughly equal collection of negatively charged...read more

Rome's Emperor Constantine abolished gladiatorial contests in A.D. 325. But the fights must have continued because Honorius banished them again in the fifth century.

Although it's called a sea, the Caspian Sea is actually a salt lake. That's because a sea is a body of water that is connected to an ocean. The Caspian Sea, the largest inland body of water in the world, is surrounded by...read more

Gouging was a popular frontier sport in the Ohio River Valley around 1800. Competitors let each thumbnail grow extra long in preparation for the contest in which the object was to gouge out the opponent's eye.

Senior citizens do more grocery shopping on Fridays than on any other day of the week. The portion of America's population that is under age 35 mostly buys its groceries on Saturdays

Nutritionists...read more

At the first recorded baseball game on June 19, 1846, at the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey, the New York Club defeated the Knickerbockers 23-1. New York Club pitcher James White Davis was also fined 6 cents for swearing at the umpire.

Left-handed children reach puberty an average of 4 to 5 months later than their right-handed peers. They also tend to measure about a half-inch shorter and...read more

Workers in New York's Times Square pick up an average of 2 tons of trash each day.

All Scrabble games produced in the U.S. contain letter tiles that are made in China

The following foods are not kosher (clean or fit to eat, according to the Old Testament dietary code): birds of prey, reptiles, any animal except those that both chew the cud and have cloven hooves (no pork, horse or camel), seafood...read more

Both the 1953 and 1997 movies titled "Titanic" have a band playing "Nearer, My God, to Thee" as the ship finally sinks. But Harold Bride, the ship's surviving wireless operator, reported that the band had actually been playing the Episcopalian hymn "Autumn."

The Jocotoco antpitta, a bird found in southern Ecuador, barks like a dog

Offal literally means "off...read more

Researchers have found that female birds tend to learn faster than their male counterparts. For instance, a female cardinal was able to learn a selection of music in one-third the time it took a male to master the same songs

Some Italian pastas are as follows: cannelle (pipes), cannelloni (large pipes, usually filled), farfalle (butterflies), gnocchi (small dumplings or lumps), orecchiette (little...read more

Pizza Hut may have sent the first pizza into space, but the first food consumed in outer space was pureed applesauce. U.S. astronaut John Glenn did the honors in 1962

While a gourmet is a connoisseur of fine food and wine, a gourmand is "one who is excessively fond of eating and drinking."

Ty Cobb has the world record for stealing home, doing so a total of 46 times during his 22-year...read more

The World Canine Freestyle Organization, a group devoted to dancing with dogs, has about 8,000 people on its mailing list

The United States has had only six honorary citizens in its history: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill received honorary citizenship in 1963; Holocaust hero Raoul Wallenberg (1981); Pennsylvania founders William Penn and his wife, Hannah (1984); Mother Teresa (1996); and...read more

The American sausage is known as a banger in England, and America's lima bean is a broad bean across the Atlantic. Other American foods and their English names include the following: zucchini (courgette), baked potato (jacket potato), jello (jelly), papaya (paw paw), cocktail (snifter) and juice (squash).

Scientists report that blind mole rats communicate with each other by drumming their heads...read more

Prairie dogs have a single sharp note to signal, "hawk overhead," and repeated calling by a group as a "coyote alert." The small mammals also use a mix of long notes and barks to tell others that there is a "human approaching." But the communication between prairie dogs isn't all about danger. For instance, Arizona scientists recorded a special call used by the communicative...read more

Although the fine diner might carve a roast, other meats require other cutting terms. For instance, the true gourmet would thigh a pigeon, chine a salmon, culpon a trout, tranch a sturgeon, tame a crab, barb a lobster, wing a partridge, frusche a chicken, rear a goose or break a deer

In English-language crossword puzzles, the most popular major prophet is Isaiah, followed in frequency of appearance...read more

On television's "The Simpsons," Homer Simpson's favorite phrase, "Mmm," has been used in response to the following: doughnuts, money, the Land of Chocolate, invisible Cola, free goo, caramel, organized crime, unprocessed fish sticks, a foot long chili dog and hog fat

No U.S. poet laureate served longer than Joseph Auslander, who filled the honorary position from 1937 to...read more

The Red Cross reports the following as the most common reasons people give for not donating blood: I don't like needles; I'm afraid to give blood; I'm too busy; No one every asked me; I'm afraid I'll get AIDS; My blood isn't the right type; I don't have any blood to spare; I don't want to feel week afterward; and They won't want my blood.

Studies find that half...read more

Many remember the legend of William Tell, the great hero of Switzerland, who obeyed the command of a cruel governor and shot an apple off his son's head with his crossbow. Tell later shot the governor as well. His son's name was Walter.

Statisticians have found that of the astrological signs of people in automobile accidents, Aries ranks number one

Hinduism has four basic goals for mankind...read more

Greek historian Herodotus identified what may have been the source of taking scalps when he wrote in the fifth century B.C.E. of the Scythians, a nomadic tribe of southern Russia that used the practice against their enemies

Since 1983, the Catholic Church has cut in half the number of miracles typically required to become a saint from four to two.

The average fur coat requires the fur of 35 to...read more

Although it's commonly believed that Adam and Eve ate an apple in the Garden of Eden, the truth is that nobody knows for sure what fruit they ate. The only fruit known to have grown in the garden is the fig as both Adam and Eve covered their nakedness with fig leaves

Nicolas Copernicus' claim that the Earth revolves around the Sun certainly seemed revolutionary when first published in 1543...read more

What's the difference between burglary and robbery? In a burglary, the theftinvolvesentry of a building. Robbery simply requires force or the threat of force.

In 1785, Marie Antoinette convinced France's King Louis XVI to declare that all handkerchiefs be square

The United Kingdom has 4,285,000 closed circuit television cameras, one for every 14 citizens, making the British the most watched...read more

To date, no left-handed competitor has ever won the world horseshoe pitching title.

Dr. Michael Svarer's study of 7,000 Western marriages found that the most likely time for divorce is about two years into a marriage. The good news is that after 14 years together, only one in 100 couples seeks a split.

In the week following Princess Diana's death, 11,200 tons of flowers and other gifts...read more

Experts claim that until the creation of the printing press, adulthood was often equated with mastery of spoken language. This means that infancy ended at age 7 and adulthood started immediately after.

Men who live alone in America spend almost twice as much on entertainment as do women

"Bartlett's Familiar Quotations" quotes 2,200 people. Of these, only 164 are women. But experts...read more

Ernest Hemingway may have been a great writer, but editors hold that he wasn't much for spelling. For instance, Hemingway often included such words as "professessional" and "archiologist" in his finished manuscripts.

English contains more words than any of the world's other active languages. It has about 455,000 active words and 700,000 that are considered dead. The typical...read more

A recent British study found that watching a talk show each day raises a person's intelligence quotient or IQ by an average of five points. Drinking coffee adds another two points. Drinking orange juice and listening to classical music, however, produces no significant improvement

Experts believe that the tomato probably first grew wild in what is now the South American country of Peru.

Mohandas...read more

Catgut strings, such as those used for tennis racquets, aren't made from cats. Instead, the strings are usually made from sheep intestines although the intestines of horses or donkeys are sometimes used instead

The modern tomato's genus and species is Lycopersicon esculentum, which translates to "edible wolf peach."

Experts claim that Homer's "Odyssey" employs the...read more

Of all veterans admitted to VA hospitals, about 25 percent are homeless.

The name of the ukulele comes from the Hawaiian words "uku" (flea) and "lele" (jumping), but the instrument isn't Hawaiian. The instrument, which evolved from a small guitar called a machete, was called a cavanquinho when it was first brought to the islands by Portuguese sailors

Tomatoes were first...read more

A bidder paid $80,000 in 1998 for two landscape watercolors and a line drawing by Adolf Hitler. The works, however, had been valued at almost $150,000

In the heyday of Coney Island, sideshow stars included Indestructible Indio, Koko the Killer Clown, Zenobia the Bearded Lady, Ula the Painproof Rubber Girl and Helen Melon: "She needs four men to hug her and a boxcar to lug her."

Of William...read more

The most popular stamp ever issued by the U.S. Postal Service was the 1993 portrait of Elvis, which sold more than 124 million. The next bestselling celebrity commemorative is of Marilyn Monroe. It sold 46.3 million stamps, making it the sixth most popular of all U.S. stamps ever made. Bugs Bunny's commemorative stamp sold 45.3 million

New Haven, Connecticut, was home to the country's first...read more

Around three Barbie dolls are sold every second of every day. Barbie has had close to 50 pets, including 21 dogs, 14 horses, 3 ponies, 6 cats, a parrot, a chimp, a panda and a zebra.

John Callcott Horsley caused controversy with his design of the first-known Christmas card in 1843 because it depicted a small child drinking wine

In Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First?" dialogue...read more

An American musical giant once declared of rock 'n' roll, "It's phony and false, written and played for the most part by cretinous goons." Who said it? Frank Sinatra, and he was talking about Elvis Presley. Just a few years later, Sinatra paid Presley to sing on a TV special

William Harley completed his first power-cycle in 1903 with the help of brothers Arthur and Walter Davidson...read more

A Frisbee thrown perfectly should spin at a rate of six revolutions per second. Researchers also conclude that successful Frisbee flight depends on the front being 10 degrees higher than the back when the Frisbee is thrown

That Native-American population in Canada has grown by only about 22 percent since 1500. In the United States, the number of Native-Americans has dropped by 76 percent in the same...read more

Emmanuel Leutze's painting of George "Washington Crossing the Delaware" doesn't actually show then-future president Washington on the Delaware. It's the Rhine. Leutze, working in Dusseldorf, used the nearby river as his model rather than travel to America to get a view of the Delaware

The U.S. government estimates that its assorted intelligence agencies spent an estimated $20...read more

When John Lennon and Paul McCartney first formed a band in the 1950s to play "skiffle" music in Liverpool clubs, they called themselves the Quarrymen. The band was later known by a variety of names, including Johnny and the Moondogs, the Moonshiners and Long John and the Silver Beatles. By 1960, the band was known as the Beatles, a name that finally stuck

In 1500, only about 21 percent...read more

In Arkansas, the town of Yellville holds an annual Turkey Drop in which 17 live turkeys are dropped out of a low-flying plane in hopes that they will slowly descend into the streets. Unfortunately, many of the birds are killed or injured each year. But the town of Yellville's plans to protect the birds by using frozen turkeys attached to parachutes turned into an even larger disaster as one destroyed...read more

Since 1940, intelligence quotient (IQ) scores have risen by an average of 19 points

L. Frank Baum may have written "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," but he didn't have ruby slippers in his story. Instead, Dorothy wears silver shoes. Hollywood screenwriter Noel Langley changed them to ruby red for the script that became MGM's classic 1939 movie.

The military weapon, the bazooka, is...read more

Experts estimate that 91 percent of Americans eat turkey at Thanksgiving each year, and the American bird provided the first meal that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin ate on the moon

The Tower of London isn't actually a tower. But it does have towers. The walled fortress contains the Beauchamp Tower, the Bell Tower, the Bloody Tower, the Malmsey Tower, the Wakefield Tower and the White Tower....read more

Actor John Barrymore is said by experts to hold the record for most kisses in a single film. In the 1926 film, "Don Juan," Barrymore kissed Mary Astor and Estelle Taylor a combined 127 times

In 1999, Pizza Hut negotiated the advertising deal of the century when it arranged for an ad on a Russian space rocket. The bargain, which made Pizza Hut the first to put a pizza in space, only cost...read more

The Pope hasn't always been perfect. Pope Pius IX pushed the doctrine of papal infallibility at the First Vatican Council. The doctrine, which states that the pope is infallible in matters of faith and morals, was made official in 1870

Before he was in politics, British Prime Minister Tony Blair spent two years of his life as the lead singer for the rock band Ugly Rumors.

The average American...read more

"Kavela," Finland's national epic, devotes 200 verses to the origin of the world and 400 verses to the origin of beer

The average British family spends almost five times as much money on alcohol as it does on children's clothes.

In the Bible's Old Testament, at least 22 books are named after men, but only two are named for women: Ruth and Esther.

Because the word "Islam"...read more

In Paris, it is reported that about 650 people break bones or are hospitalized each year after slipping on dog feces

The Dead Sea, which is seven to eight times saltier than any ocean, isn't actually dead. The inland body of water hosts brine shrimp as well as at least a few salt-tolerant microorganisms.

The average person sleeps for a combined 220,000 hours in a lifetime or about 25 years...read more

When Tonto referred to the Lone Ranger as "Kemo Sabe," the title was intended to mean "faithful friend." In the Apache tongue, however, it actually means "white shirt," and the Navaho version translates as "soggy shrub."

Narcolepsy, a condition that causes sufferers to fall asleep at any moment and usually without advance warning, affects two out of every...read more

Presidents born in log cabins include Andrew Jackson, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln and James Garfield. Jimmy Carter was the first U.S. president to have been born in a hospital

The average sneeze can disperse up to 10 million germs at rates of up to 103 miles per hour.

The television show "Saturday Night Live" got its start as "The Albert Brooks...read more

Harvard University was named for a young Puritan minister, John Harvard. But Harvard didn't found Harvard. The minister died two years after the school had been started, leaving half his estate and his collection of 400 books to the university. The General Court of Massachusetts renamed the school in honor of Harvard's donation

Americans consume a total of roughly 275 million pounds of honey...read more

Scientists have found that female mice that remain virgins live longer than their maternal peers

Americans drink 3-1/2 cups of coffee, on average, each day. The total comes to 2-1/2 billion pounds of coffee consumed each year in the United States or about 20 percent of the world's total coffee harvest.

Famous advertising animals include Charlie, the Starkist tuna; Dinky, the Taco Bell Chihuahua;...read more

Of all the patron saints, George may be the busiest as he has been assigned as the patron of England, Portugal, Germany, Genoa, Venice and Aragon as well as of soldiers, farmers and boy scouts. On the other hand, Saint Dunstan may have some free time as he is responsible only for blacksmiths and lighthouse keepers

When Rorschach inkblots are shown on television or in the movies, they're nothing...read more

Before he came to live with Charlie Brown, Snoopy lived on a beagle farm with his siblings: Andy, Marbles, Rover, Olaf, Spike, Belle and Molly

A recent study of habits among British workers found that employees in the United Kingdom spend about 49 minutes each day managing their e-mail and only 25 minutes a day playing with their children.

Only six men signed both the Declaration of Independence...read more

Roughly 23 percent of American children say their greatest wish for their parents is that they would make more money. Only 11 percent say they wish their parents would "spend more time with me."

Glass is often described as an amorphous solid because it appears to be solid but lacks crystalline structure.

President George Washington wore dentures that were carved from ivory. The upper...read more

Kittenball was the name chosen by the Farragut Boat Club of Chicago in 1887 for a game that club members developed as a friendly version of baseball. The game officially became known as softball in 1926

Roughly 1 in 3 American high school students owns a promotional item from a cigarette company.

The painting known as "Whistler's Mother" is indeed a portrayal of the mother of James...read more

Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw had this to say about cynics: "Do you know what a pessimist is? A man who thinks everybody is as nasty as himself and hates them for it."

When the swallows return to Capistrano each year, they are usually outnumbered by tourists who have come to watch them.

Although a Russian cosmonaut was the first man in space, many have said that feat failed to...read more

Mescal, better known as the alcoholic drink tequila, contains an agave worm at the bottom of the bottle when made in the traditional way. The worm, which is actually a butterfly larva, is found on the plant from which mescal is made. Traditionalists claim that the worm adds to the drink's flavor and color. But that's not all. It's also believed to bring good luck to the drinker

In the...read more

The dunce cap originated with John Duns Scotus, a 13th-century philosopher who believed that large, conical hats aided brainpower by funneling knowledge to the wearer

The number of U.S. students killed in or near schools was cut in half from 1992 to 1998.

The first brothels in Europe, sanctioned by the leader Solon in Athens about 600 B.C., were operated as nonprofits, charging men only 1 cent...read more

History's first personal ad ran in the July 19, 1695, issue of "Collection for the Improvement of Husbandry and Trade." It read as follows: "A Gentleman about 30 Years of Age, that says he has a Very Good Estate, would willingly Match Himself to some young Gentlewoman that has a fortune of 3,000 pounds or thereabouts, And he will make Settlement to Content."

Traditional education...read more

In the United States, Canada and Greece, almost half of all killings occur between friends. Most often, the offender and victim are both male and have been drinking

A series of recent studies found that adults and children have different expectations for public high schools. For instance, 33 percent of professors of college freshmen and sophomores believed a diploma from a public high school guarantees...read more

The New Orleans Saints may be the only NFL team to have hired a voodoo priestess. The Superdome stadium had been built on the site of the old Girod Street Cemetery, and the team's consecutive miserable seasons called for desperate measures. Ava Kay Jones performed a pregame ritual, making offerings to the spirits with a boa constrictor wrapped around her neck. The Saints won the game, the team's...read more

Andre-Jacques Garnerin made history with the world's first parachute descent in 1797. But he also made a mess. As Garnerin floated down from a hot air balloon, his parachute oscillated so wildly that Garnerin suffered from motion sickness and vomited on the cheering crowd below

America's first First Lady also became the first woman to be commemorated on a U.S. postage stamp. But not until...read more

Most people know that Thomas Edison supplied the first electric chair to be used as an instrument of capital punishment. But who was its first victim? Convicted axe-murderer William Kemmler was executed by electrocution on August 6, 1890, at Auburn State Prison in New York. Because of technical difficulties, the procedure had to be repeated in order to kill Kemmler, a process which took 8 minutes

First...read more

The famous Woodstock concert didn't take place in Woodstock, New York. Instead, the three-day festival, held in 1969, was hosted more than 45 miles southwest of Woodstock on Max Yasgur's farm in Bethel, New York. So why was it called Woodstock? The concert was organized by Woodstock Ventures, a name that came from the event's originally-planned site

The modern marathon found its start...read more

The aromatic essence must account for 15 to 30 percent of the total mix in order for a scent to be called perfume. In eau de parfum, the scent itself accounts for 8 to 15 percent. Eau de toilette contains 4 to 8 percent aromatic essence, and eau de cologne (often just called cologne) contains 3 to 5 percent. That's why the fragrance in women's perfume may last for up to six hours while the...read more

Cleopatra may have been Egypt's queen, but she wasn't Egyptian. Instead, the eldest daughter of Ptolemy XIII was part Macedonian, part Greek and part Iranian

In the late 1800s, big league baseball pitchers were better than they are today. At least that's what the statistics say. In the 1885 season, for instance, Hugh Daily, a one-armed pitcher for Boston, stacked up 483 strikeouts. But...read more

In 394 A.D., Rome's Emperor Theodosius brought an end to the Olympics. He declared that the games had become too commercialized and as a result, corrupt

Clarence Birdseye got his idea for the world's first commercially-frozen food products while on U.S. government surveys of fish and wildlife in Labrador in 1912 and 1915. Birdseye wrote that he "saw natives catching fish in fifty below...read more

In a 1995 Snack Food Association poll, 37 percent of Americans identified Abraham Lincoln as the president who "best personified pretzel logs," and 25 percent of Americans picked Ronald Reagan as the president "who best personified cool ranch tortilla chips."

Lord Stanley, the Canadian governor-general, donated the Stanley Cup, the oldest trophy in professional sports. But Stanley...read more

The Stanley Cup, professional hockey's highest honor, has only been stolen once. A Montreal Canadiens fan couldn't stand to see the cup in Chicago Stadium, so he swiped the trophy with hopes of taking it back to its proper home in Canada

The move of businesses away from city centers and into the suburbs started in 1928 in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. That's because the town was the site of...read more

Some have claimed that the Inuit language has at least 40 words for snow. Here are just a few: aniugaviniq (hard, frozen snow), apigiannagaut (the first snowfall of the fall), katakartanaq (snow with a crust that gives way under the feet), kinirtaq (compact, damp snow), mannguq (melting snow), masak (wet, falling snow) and matsaaq (half-melted snow)

Until the election of President George W. Bush...read more

Anne, the eldest daughter of England's Queen Elizabeth II was the first British princess to become an Olympic contestant. She entered equestrian events in the Montreal games of 1976. She was also the first Olympic competitor to have the chromosome test (to prove gender) waived

A recent study found that only about 2 percent of Americans believe that U.S. senators have "very high ethical standards...read more

Great Britain became the United Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707, when England, Scotland and Wales were united by the Act of Union. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was formed in 1801, and in 1945, the country changed its name once again to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Of all Americans of English ancestry, about 28 percent are college graduates. Americans...read more

Since 1977, at least 234 state and federal court opinions have included a reference to Elvis Presley

In a study at Aston University in Birmingham, researcher Robert Matthews had more than 1,000 children drop a total of 9,821 buttered slices of toast. The toast landed butter side down a total of 6,101 times, disproving Sod's Law, which states that if a piece of toast falls on the floor, it always...read more

Contrary to popular belief, Marco Polo couldn't have brought pasta to Italy from China. Why not? Probably, experts say, because Italy already had pasta. In fact, Marco Polo wrote in his journal that the people of China ate vermicelli and lasagna noodles, indicating that Italians had plenty of experience with pastas

Istanbul was once Constantinople, but that wasn't its original name. The largest...read more

Frederic Chopin often claimed that his composition "Waltz No. 3 in F" was inspired by a cat that walked across his piano

The state of Illinois is both east and west of the Mississippi River. That's because a flood in 1881 rerouted the river, leaving a portion of Illinois' Randolph County west of the Mississippi.

A 1996 study found that every $1 million spent on high school graduation...read more

One of the world's best-known tunes is Britain's anthem "God Save the Queen." That's because the same melody is used for patriotic songs in Germany, Russia, Sweden, Lichtenstein and the U.S

Poets who have died by drowning include the following: Percy Bysshe Shelley died in a mysterious boating accident, Hart Crane leapt from the deck of a cruise ship, and 8th-century Chinese...read more

The Mayans had a civil calendar or Haab that used 18 months of 20 days with a 5-day period at the end of each year, called Uayeb. The South American culture also had a divinatory calendar or Tzolkin, which had days numbered 1 to 13 and also named days in a cycle of 20 names. The sequence started over every 260 days and synchronized with the Haab every 52 Haab years, a time at which the Mayans believed...read more

German immigrants to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, brought with them to America an old tradition in which badgers predict the weather. As it turns out, however, in Punxsutawney, groundhogs are easier to find

First Lady Caroline Harrison (1832-1892) occupied herself while living in the White House by producing souvenir china for tourists. She even designed a line of china for the Harrison administration...read more

When Caroline Harrison died, her husband, President Benjamin Harrison, married her niece, Mary. His children were less than pleased

Because of pollution controls on automobiles, the average lawnmower pollutes as much in an hour as a car does in 350 miles of travel.

Experts estimate that roughly 10 meteorites the size of a tennis ball hit the Earth's surface each week.

Researchers found that...read more

Veterinarians in Moscow, Russia, report that 3 out ever 100 of the city's pets are addicted to some form of hard liquor. In fact, a 2003 study found that the deaths of 15 of the city's dogs were the result of owners offering their pets sips of vodka

When Theodore Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to lunch at the White House, First Lady Edith Roosevelt probably didn't approve. The...read more

Rats can tread water for up to three days, survive without water for longer than can a camel and have an 80 percent survival rate when dropped from a height of 50 feet

A lifelong Republican, Edith Roosevelt, who hated making public statements, broke her ban on public speaking in order to speak out against her cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and in support of his opponent, Herbert Hoover.

Roughly...read more

Experts confirm that men sweat almost twice as much as do women

Florence Kling Harding hadn't intended to let her husband, Warren, run for president. But a soothsayer changed her mind. Madame Marcia, already known for telling Edith Wilson that she would become first lady, predicted the same for Florence. In response, the future first lady decided to let her husband try for the nation's highest...read more

University College in Cardiff, Wales, found in a study that rats prefer Mozart to rock music. Another study at Cambridge University found that 87.5 percent of rats prefer cheese to a Mars bar

Because of its location relative to the state of Virginia, West Virginia probably should have been called Northwest Virginia.

The first natural-born citizen to be elected president of the United States was...read more

The United States may have been the first nation to land a man on the moon, but the Soviet Union got there first. Luna 2 crash-landed on the moon in 1959, and in February 1966, the Soviet Union soft-landed Luna 9. America's answer, Surveyor 1, soft-landed on the moon in June of that same year

Gladys Gooding may be the only woman in history to have played for both the New York Rangers (hockey)...read more

Aimee Semple McPherson, founder of the Church of the Foursquare Gospel, requested that a telephone be installed in her casket. She passed away in 1944

The Florentine painter Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi (1444-1510) is better known by his nickname Botticelli, which means "little barrel," most likely a reference to his girth.

Although the pelvis is commonly believed to be a large bone...read more

Experts report that robberies are most likely in the months of August and December and least likely in the months of February and April

The first on-screen kiss in a Bollywood film was the 1978 "Love Sublime" with the first embrace ever seen in an Indian movie. The inclusion of the kiss was so controversial that at least one government minister called for public protests of the film.

Charles...read more

Elvis Presley recorded and released a concert album in October 1974 that reached number 30 on Billboard's Hot LP Chart. But the record didn't have a single song. That's because "Having Fun with Elvis on Stage" consisted entirely of dialogue taken from the King's previous concerts

At least two major film-producing countries have banned kissing in the movies: Turkey and Iran...read more

In 1652, Oliver Cromwell - known for his de facto dictatorship of England after the Puritans deposed King Charles I - made public kissing illegal on Sundays

President Woodrow Wilson's dreamed-of League of Nations was established at Geneva in 1920, the same year that Wilson won the Nobel Peace Prize. But Wilson's country never joined the League as the U.S. Senate refused to ratify the Treaty...read more

The alligator's snout is rounded while the crocodile's comes to a point. Easy enough to tell the difference. Or is it? Contrary to popular belief, the animal that appears on the Izod Lacoste polo shirts is not an alligator. It's a crocodile

The California Department of Education reported in 1940 that the top problems in local schools included talking, chewing gum, making noise, running...read more

Houseflies may not have actual suction cups on their feet, but the flying insects do have hairy pads called pulvilli. The pads are coated with a sticky substance that allows for flies to walk along smooth surfaces such as windows and mirrors.

President Theodore Roosevelt instituted the Bureau of Investigation in 1908 because he believed the federal government should be able to enforce federal law...read more

Three dogs have their own stars on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. Everybody knows about Lassie and Rin Tin Tin, but who is that third dog? Trained in Germany as an attack dog, Etzel von Oringer changed his name (to Strongheart) and his vocation (to the movies) when he came to America. His first hit film was "The Silent Call" (1921). In later movies with sound, Strongheart, who had an aversion...read more

Tuesday derives its name from the Germanic god of war, Tiu. Wednesday is named for Woden (also known as Odin in Norse mythology). Thursday gives honor to Thor, the Norse god of thunder. Friday is named for the Norse goddess of love and fertility, Freya. Saturday takes its name from Saturni, the ancient Roman god of agriculture

Residents of Washington, D.C., may be close to power, but they don't...read more

The oldest letter in the English alphabet is "O," which was first used by the Egyptians in about 3,000 B.C. The newest letters are "J" and "V." The letter "J" was first distinguished from the letter "I" in the 1600s, and "V" was most likely separated from "U" during the Renaissance

Historians point to Jonathan Walker as the last...read more

In the manufacture of M&M's, the colors are regulated as a result of heavy consumer testing so that a bag of plain M&M's will contain 24 percent blue candies, 20 percent orange, 16 percent green, 13 percent red, 14 percent yellow and 3 percent of brown. Peanut M&M's, however, have a slightly different mix of colors: blue (23), orange (23), green (15), red (12), yellow (15) and brown (12)

The...read more

In a number of places in America, public kissing was long considered a crime. In 1656 in Boston, for instance, Captain Kimble was placed in the stocks for kissing his wife in public on the Sabbath, and to this day, it remains illegal in Indiana for a mustached man to "habitually kiss human beings."

The shortest boxing match on record, held in Lewiston, Maine, in 1946, ended in 10.5 seconds...read more

The Australian epic "Greenskeeping," released in 1992, is the only movie ever made about lawn bowling

The expression "the hair of the dog that bit you" comes from the traditional belief that the antidote for a dog bite should include some hair from the guilty canine.

In Great Britain, MI5 is the home-based counterintelligence service while MI6 is Britain's Secret Service...read more

Hollywood puts out roughly 10 films each year that focus on sports. So what's the most popular sport of all? In the movies, it's boxing. The second most filmed sport is horse racing. What about baseball? It's in fifth place behind football and auto racing

Experts claim that when it comes to the crime of shoplifting, female perpetrators outnumber men by four or five to one.

A recent...read more

Star Trek fans know that William Shatner started the 1966 science-fiction television series as James R. Kirk. In the pilot's third episode, his middle initial was changed from "R" to "T," and his middle name was finally given as Tiberius in a 1974 episode, "Bem," of an animated Star Trek series

Colorblindness occurs in 5 to 8 percent of men but only 0.5 percent of...read more

Of all hibernating animals, the barrow ground squirrel sleeps the longest, staying in its underground nest for nine months out of every year

The song most "covered" by musicians continues to be the Beatles 1965 hit "Yesterday." Within 12 years of its release, the song had been re-recorded by more than 1,200 artists.

In order of frequency, the most used letters of the alphabet...read more

The flag of the Philippines is flown with the blue portion on top during times of peace. The flag is inverted so that the red portion can be flown on top during times of war

Before "nice" was used to describe a kind person, it often denoted somebody foolish. That's because the English word for an agreeable person comes from the Latin "nescius," which means ignorant.

The...read more

Only one state capital has no McDonald's franchise: Montpelier, Vermont

In Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, Frankenstein is not the monster. Instead, he's the doctor, Victor Frankenstein, a student of natural psychology. The creature, brought to life by Frankenstein, is named Adam.

Australia exports more wool than does any other country. But Australia is only second in the world when it comes...read more

Experts claim that the term "best man" comes from a time in Scottish history in which a bridegroom simply kidnapped the woman he wanted for his bride. In order to get away with the deed, the groom enlisted a number of friends, the toughest and bravest of which was his best man

Folks in Sedona, Arizona, are serious about color coordination. For example, Sedona is the site of the only McDonald's...read more

During the Eisenhower Administration, White House gardeners actively considered some kind of fence to keep out squirrels, hordes of which were interfering with the president's daily putting practice

The abbreviation e.g. stands for the Latin "exempli gratia" or "for the sake of example." The abbreviation i.e., however, is short for the Latin "id est," which means...read more

Napalm was not used for the first time in the Vietnam War. The jellied combination of naphthenic acid and palmitic acid was dropped by U.S. Air Force bombers on Tokyo during World War II. The 1945 drop of nearly 2,000 tons of napalm bombs killed at least 83,000 people and injured more than 40,000. Up to a million Tokyo residents were left homeless as a result of the air raid

The famous 1881 gunfight...read more

Although "Dixie" was commonly sung by Civil War soldiers, the song wasn't really the official anthem of the Confederacy. That honor goes to a tune called "God Save the South."

French philosopher Voltaire finally struck gold in a 1728 French lottery. A friend of Voltaire's noticed that, through a government mistake, the prize money was significantly larger than the price...read more

Poets who have died by drowning include the following: Percy Bysshe Shelley died in a mysterious boating accident, Hart Crane leapt from the deck of a cruise ship, and 8th-century Chinese poet Li Po drowned while trying to embrace the reflection of the moon in the Yangtze River. Experts report that Li Po most likely was drunk

One of the world's best-known tunes is Britain's anthem "God...read more

At the celebration of the New Year in Germany, it's believed that eating carp is such good luck that some people place the fish's scales in their wallets for financial good fortune

The youngest artist in history to record a number one album was Stevie Wonder at age 13 with "Little Stevie Wonder - The Twelve Year Old Genius."

Humble pie, as in the expression "to eat humble...read more

The National Endowment for the Arts and the Recording Industry of America listed the following songs as the best to come out of the 20th century: "Over the Rainbow" by Judy Garland, "White Christmas" (Bing Crosby), "This Land Is Your Land" (Woodie Guthrie), "Respect" (Aretha Franklin), "American Pie" (Don McLean), "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy"...read more

Although many Americans know that buffalo never roamed the plains of the Midwest - those were bison, not buffalo - most have difficulty explaining the difference. Buffalo have 26 ribs and joined horns. Bison have 28 ribs and separate upturned horns

Before she died, American poet Emily Dickinson was offered a glass of water and responded with these, her last words: "Oh, is that all there is?"...read more

The United States, contrary to popular belief, is not a democracy. Instead, the country's government is a republic. What's the difference? In a democracy, the people meet and exercise the government in person. In a republic, the government is exercised by the people's agents or representatives

In the chivalric code, first outlined by Leon Gautier in his book "Chivalry, the Everyday...read more

The word "ain't" is termed colloquial in most dictionaries and commonly corrected by English teachers as an unacceptable contraction of the words "am not" or "are not." But the word has been around for more than 300 years, and experts report that there's no clear reason as to why it is now considered wrong

Experts estimate that New York's Empire State Building...read more

Although the handshake is considered the world's universal greeting, some countries require a bit more. For instance, in Belgium, it is polite to offer three kisses, alternating cheeks, and in China, a slight bow is appropriate. In Greece, the traditional handshake is usually followed by an embrace or a kiss. In Tahiti, shaking hands is all that's required, but the newest person to enter a...read more

The United States of America actually only has 46 states. Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Kentucky are commonwealths. In all respects other than name, however, a commonwealth and a state are legally the same. Technically, the name commonwealth refers to the fact that the government of those places has been organized "for the common good of the people."

There are at least two...read more

Perfume hasn't always been used for attraction. The Greeks, for instance, wore rose petals about their necks in order to ward off hangovers, and the Romans often put on perfume before entering battle

The first national organization for purebred cats, the Cat Fancier's Association of America, was founded in 1906.

A 2003 study published in Cornell Law Review found that fewer than 1 in 3 death...read more

The nation of Nepal takes its name from the Tibetan word for "wool market."

William Henry Bragg and William Lawrence Bragg received Nobel recognition in 1915 for their work on X-ray crystallography, making them the only father and son to ever share a Nobel prize.

Prisoners on Death Row are most likely to ask for French fries as part of their last meal. The second most popularly requested...read more

Although best remembered for their fairy tales, the Brothers Grimm - Jacob and Wilhelm - were librarians and linguists. The two traveled Germany, listening to and recording traditional peasant stories. The Grimm's most important find was Frau Katherina Viehmannin, also known as Gammer Grethel. Viehmannin repeated stories like "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "The Frog Prince"...read more

With more than 2 billion households around the world, Santa Claus would have to travel at a steady rate of 8 million meters per second in order to reach every chimney in 24 hours or less.

Life insurance companies have found that the older you are, the longer you'll live. For instance, Americans who live to see their 75th birthday have an average life expectancy of about 86 years or more than...read more

South Dakota's Black Hills aren't. That's because, geographically speaking, hills are any rise of less than 1,000 feet. Just about anything higher than that is a mountain. The Black Hills rise from 2,000 to 4,000 feet above the surrounding area, with Harney Peak reaching 7,242 feet above sea level, higher than any of the Appalachian or Ozark mountains.

In Greece, it's St. Basil who...read more

Ever heard that the Earl of Sandwich invented the food in which sliced meats and cheeses are encased in two pieces of bread? It's not true. Historians report that the first sandwich was most likely created by Rabbi Hillel between 70 B.C. and 10 A.D. Hillel combined fruits, nuts, honey and bitter herbs and sandwiched them between two pieces of matzah or unleavened bread.

The plural word "dwarves"...read more

A group of widows is called an ambush while more than one messenger is called a diligence. Multiple shopkeepers are called a haggle, and an assemblage of devils is referred to as a pandemonium. More than one bachelor makes a parcel. More than one thief makes a skulk.

Although a geek used to be a carnival performer who bites the heads off live chickens or snakes, the contemporary use of the word...read more

In J.K. Rowling's initial Harry Potter novel, the student's first Hogwarts School banquet includes roast beef, chicken, pork, lamb chops, sausages, bacon, steak, boiled and baked potatoes, French fries, Yorkshire Pudding, peas, carrots, mint humbugs, ice cream, apple pie, treacle tart, chocolate clairs, jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, jello and rice pudding

In Latin, the country name...read more

The jacket known as a tuxedo is named for an Algonquin Indian chief, P'tauk-Seet (with a silent P), whose name means "wolf."

Hong Kong's name comes from the Cantonese "heung gong," which means "fragrant harbor" or "spice harbor."

The Bangles sang of "Manic Monday," while the Rolling Stones intoned "Ruby Tuesday." Simon and Garfunkel...read more

Other than the female representations of Justice and Liberty, only four women have ever appeared on U.S. currency. Martha Washington was featured on the face of the 1886 and 1891 $1 silver certificates and on the reverse of the 1896 silver certificate. Pocahontas' likeness appears on the back of the 1875 $20 bill. Women's suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony is on the 1979 $1 coin, and in 2000...read more

The first American cast iron plow was patented by Charles Newbold in 1797. But farmers were slow to adopt the device because many believed it would poison the soil or encourage weeds. Thomas Jefferson's experimental farm helped allay farmers' fears and led to the widespread use of the new invention

Oklahoma's name comes from the combination of two Choctaw words, "ukla" or person...read more

America's best-selling poet isn't American. In fact, he's not even alive. Translations of Sufi poetry by Jalal ad-Din ar-Rumi (1207-1273) sold more copies in the United States during the 1980s and 1990s than did the collected poems of any other single author. Ar-Rumi said this of love: "This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to...read more

From the 1870s to the 1940s when their population was at its peak, American hobos were usually men who traveled and looked for work. Tramps, on the other hand, traveled but didn't look for work, and bums survived by begging or stealing. Proper bums didn't travel.

The average American eats about a pound of meat every two days

In 1896, 1900 and 1908, U.S. voters had a choice of voting for...read more

In Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," each of the dwarfs is identified by the color of the hat he wears: Bashful (green), Doc (mustard), Dopey (purple), Grumpy (brown), Happy (orange), Sleepy (also green) and Sneezy (tan)

Charged with creating an English dictionary, Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) set to work. But unlike today's tomes, Johnson's edition revealed a bit of...read more

Although billed as "The Three Stooges," the slapstick comedy group actually had six members. Larry Fine (1902-1975), Moe Howard (1897-1975) and Shemp Howard (1895-1955) were the original performers. Curly Howard (1903-1952) stepped in when Shemp temporarily went solo. Joe Besser (1907-1989) and Curly-Joe DeRita (1909-1993) were drafted to fill in the gaps when Shemp and Curly died in the...read more

Before he was president, Franklin D. Roosevelt dropped out of law school, complaining that it was interfering with his social life. No problem. He still managed to pass the New York State Bar Examination

On-the-job accidents occur across the nation at the rate of about one every 18 seconds. But work is safer than home. Accidents in the home take place at roughly twice the rate with one household...read more

Cockroaches are amazingly hardy. For instance, the troublesome insects can be frozen for two days and still live. They can go three months without food or live a week without a head. It has also been proven that the bugs can hold their breath for up to 40 minutes, navigate perfectly if deaf and blind and live through a thermonuclear explosion.

Both apple juice and apple cider, in their unadulterated...read more

Statisticians know that more American babies are born in August (9.2 percent) and October (9 percent) than in any other months

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that a cyclist involved in a motor vehicle collision will suffer, on average, 1.4 days in the hospital, 1.4 days in bed at home, 4.3 days missed from school and 23.6 days of pain and discomfort.

New York state...read more

Some ancient Latin insults include the following: Caudex! (Blockhead!), Quid gurgustium! (What a dump!), Garrula lingua! (Bigmouth!), Stulte! (Stupid) and the worst of all, Es barbarus! (You're a barbarian!).

A Gallup poll finds that washing dishes is the most-hated household task. Cleaning the bathroom is in second place, and ironing takes third

That National Weather Service reports that of...read more

American novelist Herman Melville may have stolen his idea for a white whale named Moby Dick. It seems that Melville's famous novel, which first appeared in 1851, closely fit Jeremiah Reynold's 1839 story of Captain Nathaniel Palmer's battle with a huge, albino beast he called Mocha Dick.

Grape tomatoes, which are smaller and sweeter than their cherry tomato kin, first appeared in supermarkets...read more

Taphophobia - the fear of being buried alive - used to be a common concern. Even George Washington ordered of his burial that his body should not "be put into a vault less than two days after I am dead."

The average weight of an adult human's skin is about nine pounds.

All snowflakes fall into one of six basic types: plates, stars, dendrites, columnar, needles and capped columns...read more

The Canadian beaver may be large as far as rodents go, but it's not the largest such animal. That honor goes to the capybara, also known as the carpincho or water hog. This South American native has been known to reach lengths of more than 4 feet and weigh up to 174 pounds

Humans have anywhere from two to four million eccrine sweat glands on the body's surface.

When appointed to the U.S...read more

Adolf Hitler failed the entrance examination to the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, Austria, two years in a row. In the meantime, Hitler supported himself by making posters for shopkeepers, painting picture postcards and by taking odd jobs, shoveling snow, carrying suitcases at the Vienna train station and as a day laborer on construction projects.

Crabs of the species Neptunus pelagines are pretty...read more

Cheop's Great Pyramid - also known as Khufu - rises 481 feet, and its construction consumed about 2.3 million stones that weigh an average of 2.5 tons each. But it's not the world's largest pyramid. Until recently, that honor was commonly conferred on Mexico's Quetzalcoatl Pyramid, which stands a mere 181 feet high, but is about 26 percent larger than Khufu in total volume. But archeologists...read more

Not all smiths are blacksmiths. Blacksmiths traditionally worked with iron while whitesmiths worked with tin.

Yellow, a color usually used to get attention (think highlighters and post-it notes), speeds up human metabolism

While the Asiatic elephant endures a pregnancy of 608 days, the American opossum bears its young only 12 to 13 days after conception.

Contrary to popular belief, England's...read more

Experts on the psychology of color claim that orange is often used in packaging to make an expensive product appear more affordable

Shoppers beware. Chickens described as free-range don't necessarily run free or live on the range. Experts claim that the term means only that the chickens have access to the outdoors. Many of these birds are coop-dwellers.

Racing pigeons commonly fly at rates...read more

The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher

Actor John Rice smacked vaudeville comedienne Mae Irwin on the lips in Thomas Edison's studio for an 1896 feature called "The Kiss." The short film, called "absolutely disgusting" by one reviewer, was the first-known movie smooch.

The world's first auto death was caused in 1895 when the horseless carriage demonstrated...read more

Nepetalactone, the secret ingredient that makes cats go crazy for catnip, is known to repel cockroaches and the mosquitoes that carry yellow fever

Experts claim that the only muscles in the human body that don't shiver are those that control the eyes.

A group of cats is formally known as a clutter or a chowder of cats. Bears gather in sleuths or sloths.

British soldier Richard Shuckburg is...read more

Thomas Jefferson's work on the Declaration of Independence came pretty close to plagiarism, according to some historians. For instance, the line claiming that people have a natural right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" mirrors John Locke's assertion that people have a natural right to "life, liberty, and property."

Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis is the...read more

Goldfish have sharp hearing and good memories. In experiments, the colorful fish have been trained to come for feeding when a bell is rung and to take food from people's hands

New York City has thrown only one ticker-tape parade for an Olympic athlete. Jesse Owens earned the celebration after triumphing at the Berlin Olympics in 1936.

John Locke, writer of "Two Treatises on Civil Government...read more

Historically, ghosts have been considered such a problem in Iceland that there used to be a law that allowed people to summon a ghost to trial if it had been unfairly tormenting them

Florentine writer and diplomat Niccolo Machiavelli didn't seem to think much of marriage. In one of his plays, for instance, a devil chooses to return to the fires of hell rather than spend time with his wife.

Italy's...read more

Samuel Clemens - known to readers as Mark Twain - believed that his fictionalized history "Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc" would be remembered by history and critics alike as his greatest literary accomplishment. He was wrong.

Experts mark 1960 as the year that air conditioners finally become inexpensive enough for the mass market. Interestingly enough, the 1960s was also the first...read more

American consumers spent $6 billion on fast food in 1970. In 2001, the amount of fast food meals eaten in a year had risen exponentially. How much did Americans spend on fast food that year? $110 billion - more money than was spent on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos and recorded music - combined

Hummingbirds, which need insects to round out their diet, often steal their prey off of spider...read more

Although hummingbirds derive their English name from the sound they make in flight, Spanish-speaking countries focus on the bird's love of flowers, naming it the chupaflor (flower-sucker) or picaflor (flower-pecker). In Portuguese-speaking Brazil, the diminutive birds are known as beija-flor or kiss-flower.

A traditional saying claims that when the katydids start singing, frost is six weeks...read more

The bobcat has a voice much bigger than its body and has been described by English novelist William Thackeray as having "a shriek and a yell like the devil's in hell." What Thackeray failed to realize is that this frightening sound is the bobcat's love song, which it uses to attract a mate

About one in eight workers in the United States has been employed at a McDonald's at least...read more

Writers of fables are called fabulists. The best-known include Aesop of ancient Greece and the French writer Jean de La Fontaine whose work includes the story of a tiny mouse that came to the rescue of a fierce lion.

Bellevue, a hospital on New York City's East Side, is North America's oldest general hospital. Original plans for the hospital date back to 1736. At the time, the building was...read more

Experts claim that quicksand has a greater density than the human body. Because of this, they counsel that relaxation is the best means of survival should you step into a pit filled with quicksand. This technique will eventually allow you to float to the top just as you would in a body of water

Although England's Magna Carta is often held as an important step toward democracy in the Western World...read more

The funny bone isn't a bone. It's a nerve - the ulnar nerve which runs down the length of the arm. Because the human arm generally has little fat at the back of the elbow, the ulnar nerve is poorly protected in that spot, and if hit, it presses against the humerus, which causes a strong tingling sensation

Service Corporation International, based in Houston, Tex., is the world's largest...read more

The Magazine Publishers Association reports that the average magazine sits around the house for more than 6 months before being thrown out

Sir Isaac Newton - best known for his three Laws of Motion and the creation of calculus - actually wrote more about theology than about mathematics or physics.

According to statistical surveys, the average American now eats about three hamburgers and four orders...read more

When the McDonalds brothers opened their California restaurant with the "Speedee Service System," they employed only young men. That's because the brothers, Richard and Maurice, were convinced that female workers would attract teenage boys to the restaurant. The brothers feared that teenage boys might scare off other customers, and McDonald's was always intended to be a family eatery

The...read more

By age 74, Colonel Sanders was a household name. But the man behind the success of Kentucky Fried Chicken hadn't always been into food. Harland Sanders left school at age 12 and found work as a farm hand, a mule tender and a railway fireman. Sanders also worked as a lawyer (though he never had a law degree), and he delivered babies (though he never earned a medical degree). Sanders also sold insurance...read more

DuPont's nonstick Teflon won't stick to anything except itself, so how do they get it to stick to the pan? Here's the secret. The metal surface of the pan is roughened and a primer is applied. Teflon is embedded in the primer. Additional layers of Teflon are added on top of that.

The satin bowerbird has been praised by ornithologists for its ability to use tools. The male of the species...read more

U.S. consumption of ice cream is highest in the months of June and July, which makes sense since July is National Ice Cream Month. And more of that ice cream is consumed in New England than in the South. The average Southerner eats 12 quarts of ice cream each year. The average New Englander consumes 23 quarts annually

Arkansas or "south wind" was a name the Ohio Valley Indians used when...read more

Hypermnesia, the opposite of amnesia, involves remembering everything (instead of forgetting). One of the most famous such cases involved a Russian patient who had trouble recognizing people. That's because a person smiling appeared to be a completely different person to him than that same person frowning. He could not integrate variations of a single object

The praying mantis has no central...read more

Historians claim that Prohibition made the martini popular. That's because, before alcohol was outlawed, Americans preferred whiskey to other hard drinks. But good whiskey requires skill while just about anyone with a bathtub in the woods can make gin

The praying mantis is the one insect that can turn its head completely around.

Although it's often preached that staying healthy means three...read more

When a male Photinus firefly signals for a female, he has no way of knowing whether the answer he sees comes from her or from an impostor. That's because the Photuris female, a different but related species, will send out a fake signal in order to lure in Photinus males, which she quickly devours

England's Winston Churchill may have been an eminent statesman, but not everyone approved of...read more

Captain William Lynch (1742-1820) is the man who created what has become known as lynching. Along with his neighbors in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, Lynch vowed on Sept. 22, 1780, that "if they (bands of thieves) will not desist from their evil practices, we will inflict such corporal punishment on him or them, as to us shall seem adequate to the crime committed or the damage sustained."...read more

Male Salticidae spiders (a.k.a. jumping spiders) poke their front legs into the air, raise their abdomens and shuffle quickly from side to side in a dance that has a hypnotic effect on females of the species. That's why the male must be careful to get his steps right. A failure to hypnotize his future mate usually means that he will end up as her next meal

More Canadian tourists visit the United...read more

In 1880, close to 40 percent of all Americans lived on farms. By 1950, only 15 percent of the population did so. But the numbers kept dropping, and by 1990, Americans who lived on farms accounted for only 2 percent of the nation's total population

Authorities on the workings of the human brain claim that the level of mastery achieved by a world-class expert has the same requirement no matter...read more

Pythagoras, the father of geometry, had a number of disciples. They were called mathematikoi. Members of this special group believed that numbers held the key to everything: music, poetry, philosophy and the laws governing the workings of the universe. They were also vegetarians

The state of Connecticut takes its name from the Indian word "Quinnehtukqut," which means "beside the long...read more

In ancient Greek theaters, the orchestra or "dancing place" referred to an area in front of the stage where the chorus - about a dozen masked and dancing men - sang choral odes. A modern symphony orchestra is likely to have more members - about 100 strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion - but less dancing

In a recent European study, 10 percent of mothers reported that their children were...read more

Work can be bad for sleep. At least that's the result of a study on American's sleeping habits. It found that men with regular employment only get 54 hours of sleep each week while women on the job average 55 hours of sleep in the same time period. Unemployed women, however, sleep for 57 hours each week, and unemployed men get 60 hours of shut-eye in a typical week.

The state of Illinois...read more

Although the Qur'an asserts that Muslim men can marry four wives at most, it seems that prophets are an exception. Muhammad, for instance, had seven wives during his lifetime

The tribal name of the Ayuxwa was spelled Ioway by the English and means "this is the place" or "beautiful land." When it was made the name of a state, the spelling was shortened to Iowa.

President...read more

Only one U.S. vice president never served in office. William R. King, the running mate of Franklin Pierce, was ill from tuberculosis and in Cuba when Pierce was elected. King took the oath of office in Cuba before returning to the United States. But he died days later at his Alabama estate without ever having served a day in office

Although Buddha is often pictured with a big laugh and an even bigger...read more

Mr. Ed may be the most famous talking horse, but he's certainly not the first. That honor goes to the Greek horse, Xanthus, who was sired by Zephyrus, the West Wind, and who served Achilles in Homer's "Illiad."

President James A. Garfield, the country's 20th president, was also an ordained minister in the Church of the Disciples of Christ.

A typical barber gives 12 to 17...read more

Among honeybees, a drone's life is short but sweet. This male is fed by worker bees and does no work at all. He rests in the hive, and even his waste is cleaned up for him by female workers. When the day has warmed up, the drone flies out of the hive and seeks out a virgin queen. If he catches a queen, then he dies after mating. If he fails, then he returns to a life of leisure in the hive. But...read more

The first celebration of Thanksgiving didn't include turkey on the menu. Instead, the Pilgrims feasted for three days on venison, duck, goose, seafood, eels, white bread, corn bread, leeks, watercress, wild plums, dried berries and wine

Kentucky's name is derived from the Iroquois "ken-tah-ten," which means "land of tomorrow."

Experts claim that the worst-quality beer...read more

The Rand Corporation reports that enlistees in the U.S. Army marry on average five years earlier than do their civilian counterparts

Bright-colored manakins - little birds found in the Amazon - are believed to bring good fortune to lovers. Young men in the region often carry the skin of a male mannakin when they go courting, or they may bury a dead male bird beneath the doorstep of a new home in...read more

Lenin's embalmed corpse has been on display in Moscow's Red Square almost continuously since 1924. While alive, the Communist leader had at least two interesting hobbies: riding bicycles and sharpening pencils. That's right. Lenin's brother said that Lenin sharpened pencils with "a sort of special tenderness."

Montreal Expos player Greg Harris used a six-finger glove. That's...read more

Disney fans know Micky Mouse's dog, Pluto. Fewer are familiar with Donald Duck's canine friend, Bolivar, who first appeared in cartoons in 1938.

Mongol political and military leader Genghis Khan was born clutching a clot of blood, which was taken as a sign of good luck.

Before mating, a pair of scorpions will grip each other's pincers and dance. These performances may last for as little...read more

The editors of an infamous Bible from 1631 - known as the Wicked Bible - omitted the word "not" in Exodus 20:14, which resulted in a commandment that "Thou shalt commit adultery." The editors were fined 300 pounds for their error

During William Henry Harrison's run for president, he handed out free hard cider to voters. The giveaway worked, and Harrison entered office in 1841...read more

Leroy "Satchel" Paige - the first Negro League player to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame -printed the following six rules to a happy life on the back of his autograph cards: 1) Avoid fried meats which angry up the blood; 2) If your stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts; 3) Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move; 4) Go very lightly...read more

When The New York Times spoke out against the proposed Statue of Liberty in 1876, arguing against spending money on a "bronze female," sculptor Auguste Bartholdi suggested in a letter to the editor that the statue might be a better fit in Philadelphia, where his work was appreciated. It was a wake-up call for New Yorkers. Parke Godwin, editor of the New York Post, joined other prominent...read more

German composer Ludwig van Beethoven believed that integrity and food are related: "Anyone who tells a lie," he said, "has not a pure heart, and cannot make good soup."

Social researchers report that 19 percent of today's American meals are eaten in the car.

Recent estimates place the number of vegetarians in the U.S. at about 10 million.

Male dance flies attract females...read more

Experts have hypothesized that the classic game of Rock, Paper, Scissors may have started with Roman soldiers who used signals for Water, Fire, Wood. Water extinguishes fire, which burns wood, which floats on water

Legend has it that fondue was the creation of a 16th century truce between Protestants and Catholics in Switzerland. When the two groups met for a meal celebrating the agreement, one brought...read more

Although Gandhi is remembered by many for the work he did at the head of India's independence movement, he wasn't perfect. Historians report that Gandhi was a rebellious teen who took up smoking, petty theft, secret atheism and - most shocking of all for a member of a Vaishnava family - meat eating

The term "duck," technically, applies to females only. The male is a drake.

South...read more

In a worldwide happiness survey, residents in the United States placed 13th overall with a happiness index of 84 percent. The 10 happiest countries included Iceland (94 percent), Netherlands (91), Sweden (91), Denmark (91), Australia (90), Switzerland (89), Ireland (89), Norway (88), Venezuela (87) and the United Kingdom (87)

Humans aren't the only creatures on earth to weave with silk. Green...read more

Peter Bales was famous in 16th-century Britain for his microscopic writing. Among other accomplishments, Bales produced a Bible the size of a walnut

Even with up to eight pairs of eyes, many spiders are virtually blind, relying on their sensitivity to small vibrations as an important way of finding out what is happening around them.

The Great Chicago Fire made history even though a fire in Peshtiga...read more

The inch originally represented the breadth of a man's thumb at the base of the nail. Over the years, in an attempt to standardize the measure, scientists have also set the inch equal to the length of three grains of barley or of 12 poppy seeds

At 0.0003 millimeters in diameter, a spider's silk filament is only a tenth as thick as threads produced by silkworm moths.

A number of cities around...read more

The original tarantula spider, Lycosa tarantula, does not have a very poisonous bite. In fact, experts claim that a bite from this large, hair-covered arachnid is little worse than a wasp sting. The true danger is a much smaller species, Latrodectus, a tiny black spider with red spots on its abdomen. Both spiders are common in the southern Italian town of Taranto. But the larger of the two often appears...read more

Because the Mayan Indians believed crossed eyes were particularly beautiful, they often induced the condition by hanging objects between a baby's eyes

The Tegenaria or house-spider is so fond of the warmth and relative dryness of human dwellings that it is found nowhere else. A spider found running around in an empty bathtub is most likely a male of the species, simply trying to find a mate....read more

In botany, a berry is any fruit that is derived from a single ovary and that has a fleshy wall. This means that pumpkins and tomatoes are berries, but raspberries, blackberries and strawberries are not. Strictly speaking, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries are aggregate fruits

Male wolf spiders can tell from the smell of a female spider's silk whether she is ready to mate. It's an...read more

The victim of a practical joke in France is called a fish. In Scotland, he's a cuckoo

Azteca ants live in stands of Cordia trees found in the Amazon rain forest. Natives refer to these patches as "devil's gardens" because nothing else can grow there. That's because the ants soon find any seedling that germinates and manages to put out a leaf in the grove of Cordia trees. The...read more

A jumping spider from Borneo, Myrmarachne, disguises itself as an insect by waving two of its eight legs in front of its head in the same way that ants wave their antennae

Each of the Bronte sisters published under gender-neutral pseudonyms. Charlotte went by Currer Bell. Emily used the penname of Ellis Bell. Anne published as Acton Bell.

Although married, legendary playwright George Bernard Shaw...read more

Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein and Queen Victoria all married a first cousin. But experts say that's OK. They point to studies that show the risk of a genetic defect in offspring is only 1 to 3 percent higher in these marriages than in marriages of previously unrelated people. Besides that, the practice isn't nearly as rare as believed. For instance, 1 in every 5 marriages around the world...read more

The "Kama Sutra," an ancient Indian text, advises men who want to marry a virgin to try throwing a mixture of vajnasunhi powder and monkey dung over her head

Among colonies of higher termites, the founding queen grows up to 5-1/2 inches long - over 100 times her original size - producing several thousand eggs a day.

The 22-mile Man vs. Horse Race, run in Wales since 1979, was won by a...read more

In the British Isles, Halloween isn't celebrated with carved pumpkins. Instead, the English make their jack-o'-lanterns from turnips

One family of termites, the Globotermes, has no specialized soldiers. Instead, ordinary workers take on the responsibility of defense by acting as suicide bombers. These termites will explode when confronted with an enemy, covering potential attackers with the...read more

The French town of Trie-sur-Baise is known for its annual pig squealing competition or La Pourcailhade. Competitors gather on the second Sunday of August and mimic the sounds that pigs make in a variety of real-life situations such as eating, giving birth and facing the butcher

In hives of honeybees, a female worker starts her life removing waste products and dead workers from the combs. After that...read more

After age 20, the average adult loses about 50,000 brain cells a day. Fortunately, the typical human brain has about 100 billion neurons or nerve cells, so a single day's loss isn't even a drop in the bucket

Experts on bees report that colonies seem to be fairly democratic when it comes to choosing a new home. While the bees are swarming, several workers leave the swarm to search for a suitable...read more

Colonies of Asian honey bees, Apis dorsata, may contain hundreds of thousands of the insects, so the bees have developed a number of practices that keep the social organization running smoothly. For example, bees departing from the colony take off upwards. But they always approach from below. This helps to prevent aerial collisions

Isaac Vivien Alexander Richards is famous for being the only man...read more

The U.S. gold depository in Fort Knox, Kentucky, holds nearly 150 million ounces of gold worth about $130 billion. The building, built of granite, steel and concrete in 1936, has a vault door that weighs more than 20 tons

Dinoponera gigantean or the "giant terrible-ant" is found in the forests of Brazil and the Guyanas. A single sting can incapacitate a human for up to 24 hours with severe...read more

The Tour de France has four different, special jerseys. The yellow jersey, introduced in 1919, is for the overall fastest time. The green jersey, which first appeared in 1953, is for the rider with the most points. In 1975, two other jerseys were introduced. The white and red polka-dot jersey goes to the best climber, and the best young rider - 25 years old or younger - wears the white jersey

Before...read more

In the Middle East, a diyah was for many years the traditional payment made to an injured party. For instance, the long-held value of a human life was 100 female camels. The loss of one eye or foot was 50 she-camels. A loss of a tooth, on the other hand, was only worth five

Notre Dame's football coach Knute Rockne died in a plane crash in 1931. In the following year, Studebaker released its Rockne...read more

A biathlon features the combined sports of skiing and shooting. A standard triathlon requires contestants to swim 3.8 kilometers, cycle 180 kilometers and run 42.195 kilometers. The tetrathlon commonly includes the sports of riding, shooting, swimming and running, while a quadrathlon usually involves running, swimming, cycling and canoeing

Only one team and coach have been in the Super Bowl in four...read more

The South American country of Venezuela was named after Venice when explorers spotted coastal houses on stilts, which reminded them of the Italian city

The Heisman Trophy is named for famed football coach John Heisman. But Heisman wasn't just a coach for the successful Georgia Tech program. In the off-season, Heisman worked as a Shakespearean actor, an identity that was hard to shake. For example...read more

Baskin-Robbins actually has more than 1,000 ice cream flavors, so why advertise just 31? It's because no month has more than 31 days, which allows the ice cream company to offer a new flavor for every day of the month

In the history of Major League Baseball, there has only been one team to have three catchers each hit more than 20 home runs in the same season. It was the 1961 New York Yankees...read more

Among scorpion flies, females are only attracted to males that offer tasty morsels of food. But not all male scorpion flies like to hunt, so to save time and energy, some of them have developed a better way. These males will pretend to be females in order to steal food from other unsuspecting males. After all, female scorpion flies don't care where the food came from; they only care about how...read more

America has always had its conspiracy theorists. After President Abraham Lincoln's assassination by John Wilkes Booth, there were at least six popular theories as to what had really happened, including the following: 1) Vice President Andrew Johnson assisted Booth in planning the assassination; 2) powerful international bankers opposed Lincoln's policies and hired Booth; 3) the Roman Catholic...read more

Because grasslands are so efficient at storing carbon in the form of soil humus, ecologists claim that if 16 million acres of corn were converted into managed pastures, these new grasslands would remove 14 billion pounds of carbon from the atmosphere every year - roughly the equivalent of taking four million cars off the road

The sagebrush cricket attracts a mate by singing, which he accomplishes...read more

In America, only 14.5 percent of men are 6 feet or taller. But 58 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are at least that tall, and according to at least one study, every additional inch in the business world translates to an extra $789 each year in salary

Male Amazon milk frogs may be nature's most masterful manipulators. The female lays her eggs in a tree hole filled with water, and the male stays to...read more

Male frogs often outnumber females at breeding sites. The golden mantellas, Mantella aurantiaca, solve this problem by trying to flip other males over onto their backs. The male that remains upright gets the girl

Vera Anderson had always dreamed of traveling the world. But severe health problems kept her homebound for most of her adult life. Shortly before her death in 2001, Anderson requested that...read more

About two-thirds of all Americans eat ice cream at least once a month and live within two miles of a public park

The tiny Cuban frog lays only a single egg. The wood frog lays from 2,000 to 3,000 in one clutch. The bullfrog can deposit as many as 30,000 eggs at one time.

A species of weasel that lives in the north, Mustela erminea, changes its name with the color of its fur. In winter, when the...read more

Australian cyclists report that flies cease to be a problem at speeds of 15 kilometers per hour and higher

The Mexican burrowing toad, Rhinophrynus dorsalis, lays its eggs in the partially flooded nests of leaf-cutting ants. The ants deposit their refuse in these flooded areas. The developing tadpoles eat the refuse.

The U.S. Postal Service first announced on February 24, 2000, that cremated remains...read more

The bee hummingbird, the smallest of all birds, is only 2-1/2 inches long and weighs only about one-fifteenth of an ounce or less than a ping-pong ball

Because most of the volume of ordinary matter is empty space, scientists agree that if all the empty space could be squeezed out of atoms in the human body, then the entire human race could fit into the space occupied by a single sugar cube.

As...read more

The white-bellied woodstar hummingbird flaps its wings at a rate of 79 wingbeats per second. A gnat's wing, however, vibrates 500 times per second

Atoms are so small that it would take at least 10 million of them, laid end to end, to equal the width of the period at the end of this sentence.

Long legs allow many species of frogs to leap 20 times the length of their bodies.

A birthday party...read more

The appointment of Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels in 1913 meant the end of rum for American sailors. Daniels prohibited alcohol aboard all naval vessels, a prohibition that still stands. With one exception. If a ship is at sea for 45 consecutive days, the captain may authorize a special ration of two cans of beer per crew member

Alpha particles expelled from atoms of radioactive radium travel...read more

A gold-plated 33 rpm recording of the musical "Camelot" was left on the moon on July 20, 1969, in honor of President John F. Kennedy, who fell in love with the Broadway musical

A typical window is only about 95 percent transparent, reflecting 5 percent of the light that hits its glass surface.

Scientists have found that strawberry poison frogs lose their toxicity if fed a diet of crickets...read more

From 1954 to 2004 more baseball players were awarded Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year award than were athletes in any other sport. They included Johnny Podres (1955), Stan Musial (1957), Sandy Koufax (1965), Carl Yastrzemski (1967), Tom Seaver (1969), Pete Rose (1975), Willie Stargell (1979), Dale Murphy (1987), Orel Hershiser (1988), Cal Ripken Jr. (1995), Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa...read more

Only one sports team in history is known to have performed for an audience of one. The Harlem Globetrotters played a basketball game for Pope Pius XI in December 1931

Einstein theorized that time slows down as speed increases, which would make it possible for particles traveling faster than light to actually go back in time. In fact, it's been estimated that the 1988 crew of the Soviet Salyut...read more

Contrary to popular belief, the seasons aren't equal in length. Spring lasts for 92 days and 19 hours. Summer ends after a period of 93 days and 15 hours. Autumn is shorter at 89 days and 20 hours. Winter is the shortest of all with a length of only 89 days

Captain Matthew Webb, the first man to successfully swim solo across the English Channel, fortified himself with beef-tea, beer, coffee,...read more

The Australian brown tree frog gives off a powerful stench that repels biting flies and helps to protect the frog from the water python

In the 5th century BC, the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras speculated that the sun was "a red-hot ball of iron not much bigger than Greece."

The golden poison frog, also called the poison dart or poison arrow frog, can produce enough toxin to kill 10 men...read more

A man named Eugene Schieffelin believed that all of the birds mentioned in William Shakespeare's plays should be brought to New York. Starlings are mentioned in the play "Henry IV," so on March, 6, 1890, Schieffelin walked to Central Park, where he released 80 European starlings from small wooden crates. He added 40 more birds in April 1891. Ecologists estimate that these starlings,...read more

The West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada, is the largest mall in North America and the fifth-largest in the world. It covers more than 5.2 million square feet, employs over 23,000 people and has more than 80 restaurants, an amusement park, a water park, an ice arena, submarines, a replica of the Santa Maria, a lagoon, an aquarium, a miniature golf course, 26 movie theaters, a hotel and a casino

A...read more

There are several organizations around the world that honor Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional creation, the detective Sherlock Holmes. The largest such organization, however, isn't in England, where both Holmes and Doyle lived. Instead, it's in Japan where the Sherlock Holmes Club has about 1,200 members

Historians report that America's first sparrows may have been introduced by...read more