In 1978, a poll showed that one French television program broadcast on August 14 was watched by no viewers at all. The show was an in-depth interview with an Armenian woman on her fortieth birthday. It covered how she met her husband, her illnesses, and her joy of living. According to the TV survey, 67 percent of viewers had watched a Napoleonic...Read more

Civil War General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson has two separate burial sites. His left arm, which was amputated after the battle of Chancellorsville, was buried on a nearby farm. A week later, Jackson died and was buried in Lexington, Virginia.

Sleeping Beauty's name was Princess Aurora. The prince who woke her with a kiss was Prince Philip.

Rattan palms found in the jungles of Southeast Asia have vinelike stems that trail along the jungle floor up to 250 feet in all directions.

In general, Italian brands of pasta are thicker than their American counterparts.

City squirrels will eat just about anything, and often, it's the junk food that people offer them that they prefer, like Cracker Jack peanuts. Many naturalists have concluded that a peanut diet is harmful to squirrels: it seems to result in a weakening of eyesight and a thinning of the animal's

There are an estimated 285,000 species of flowering plants on Earth compared to 148,000 for all other plants. Flowering plants are very important because they provide food for herbivores - plant-eating animals - and for humans.

Rev. Jesse Jackson, during an interview on NBC-TV's Meet the Press in June 1988, remarked, "There's nothing wrong with having a big ego. It's all right to have a Rolls Royce ego so long as you don't have a bicycle brain. If they coordinate, you can work it out pretty well."

During the mating season, male porcupines bristle their quills at each other and chatter their teeth in rage before attacking. All porcupines at this time become very vocal: grunting, whining, chattering, even barking and mewing at each other.

Small animals like bats and shrews consume up to one and one half times their body weight in food every day. For an adult male, this would be like eating 1,000 quarter-pound cheeseburgers a day, every day; or about 50 Thanksgiving dinners a day.

Rings have perpetuated the talismanic role of the diamond through the ages. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods, every ring that was set with a precious stone was not so much a piece of jewelry, but an amulet that conveyed the magical powers of the stone upon the wearer.

In Scotland, New Year's Eve is called hogmanay, and is an occasion when young people go about singing and seeking gifts.

People in Sweden, Japan, and Canada are more likely to know the population of the United States than are Americans.

Las Vegas means "the meadows" in Spanish. Ironically, the city in the desert was once abundant in water and vegetation.

Living creatures create tiny weather systems called microclimates in their nests and burrows. For instance, bees fan their wings at the hive entrance during hot weather. This makes a cooling draft blow through the hive.

Robert Mitchum was an actor's actor. He enjoyed his celebrity, but never took being a star very seriously. His movie career began during World War II, when the rugged, sleepy-eyed actor was fired from an aircraft plant because he threw a punch at his foreman. Acting in the movies, he figured, couldn't be any worse. Years later, he was arrested ...Read more

The largest painting measures 92,419 square feet and was completed by ID Cultur in Amsterdam, Netherlands on August 14, 1996.

The name of the game “cricket” is believed to have been derived in the late 1500s from the Middle French word criquet, meaning “goalpost.”

The Coast Guard Academy in July of 1976 was the first U.S. service academy to admit women.

Postmen in Victorian England were popularly called "robins." This was because their uniforms were red. The British Post Office grew out of the carrying of royal dispatches. Red was considered a royal color, so uniforms and letter-boxes were red. Christmas cards often showed a robin delivering