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