The amethyst gets its name from the Greek amethystos, which means "remedy for drunkeness."

Nero and Henry VIII were both relatively good rulers when they assumed power, but both became bloodstained tyrants. Each killed a philosopher who had been a good influence: Nero compelled Seneca to commit suicide and Henry ordered Thomas Moore beheaded.

Burger King® uses approximately 500,000 pounds of bacon every month in its restaurants.

Olympic badminton rules say that the shuttlecock has to have exactly 16 feathers. The best shuttles are made from the feathers from the left wing of a goose.

California is the second-largest cheesemaking state after Wisconsin. It is the leader in producing Hispanic-style cheeses such as Monterey Jack.

Frankincense is a sweet smelling gum resin derived from certain Boswellia trees which, at the time of Christ, grew in Arabia, India, and Ethiopia. Tradition says that it was presented to the Christ Child by Balthasar, the black king from Ethiopia or Saba. The frankincense trade was at its height during the days of the Roman Empire. At that time ...Read more

Jim Morrison found the name "The Doors" for his rock band in the title of Aldous Huxley's book "The Doors of Perception, which extolls the use of hallucinogenic drugs.

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, an iconic photograph taken on February 23, 1945 by Joe Rosenthal, depicts five United States Marines and a U.S. Navy corpsman raising the Flag of the United States atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. The photograph was instantly popular, being reprinted in hundreds of publications. ...Read more

The lungfish can live out of water in a state of suspended animation for three years.

Oscar-winning director James Cameron (Titanic) was a risk-taker even when a boy. He organized his playmates in building a functional catapult that threw boulders large enough to make impact craters. He and his buddies also created a miniature diving vessel to send mice to the bottom of the

Its name derives from the Dutch word koekje which means little cake, and arrived in the English language via the Scots language, rather than directly from the Dutch. In Scottish English the word denotes a small scone-like cake or bun, often filled with cream. Cookies were first made from little pieces of cake batter that were cooked separately ...Read more

While, certainly, the vote on July 2 was the decisive act, July 4 is the date on the Declaration itself. Jefferson's stirring prose, as edited by the Congress, was first adopted by the vote of the 4th. It was also the first day Philadelphians heard the official news of independence from the Continental Congress, as opposed to rumors in the ...Read more

There really are such thing as "cooties." Though most people believe that "cooties" is just a nonsense word used by children to describe unpleasant insects, cooties are in fact a kind of body lice.

The Netherlands are the lowest country in the world. It is estimated that 40 percent of the land is below sea level.

The loop on a belt that holds the loose end is called a "keeper."

A ball of glass will bounce higher than a ball of rubber. A ball of solid steel will bounce higher than one made entirely of glass.

Honeybees navigate using the sun as a compass, even when it is hidden behind clouds - they find it via the polarization of ultraviolet light from areas of blue sky.

The average house wife walks 10 miles a day around the house doing her chores. In addition, she walks nearly 4 miles and spends 25 hours a year making beds.

There are fifteen nations that gave women the right to vote before the United States did in 1920. The earliest were New Zealand, in 1893, Australia, in 1902, and Finland, in 1906.

A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continually from the bottom of the glass to the top.