The only Englishman to become Pope was Nicholas Breakspear, who was Adrian IV from 1154 to 1159.

From bridges to rebar, rust is everywhere. According to a recent study, the annual cost of metallic corrosion in the U.S. is approximately $300 billion. The report, by the Specialty Steel Industry of North America, Washington, D.C., estimated that about one-third of that cost could be avoided through broader application of corrosion-resistant ...Read more

No -- the Beverly Hillbillies' Clampetts hail from southern Missouri. However, The cast of the fellow CBS show had some connection with the characters in Petticoat Junction, when Cousin Pearl contacted Granny to deliver Betty Jo Bradley's baby. The name "Hooterville" is actually first used in episode No. 6 of The Beverly Hillbillies by ...Read more

Since its earliest times, alchemy has been closely connected to astrology - which, in the Islamic world and Europe, generally meant the traditional Babylonian-Greek school of astrology. Alchemical systems often postulated that each of the seven planets known to the ancients "ruled" or was associated with a certain metal. See the separate article...Read more

In the past few years, doctors have identified more than 100 sleep disorders, but the one most people suffer from is simply not taking the time to get enough sleep.

Part of the Frito Bandito campaign had a song that featured these lyrics, sung to the tune of "Cielito Lindo":

Aye, yii, yii, yiiii,
I am dee Frito Bandito.
I love Frito's Corn Chips,
I love dem I do.
I love Frito's Corn Chips,
I take dem from you.
(

The first portable calculator placed on sale by Texas Instruments weighed only 2-1/2 pounds and cost a mere $150. (1972)

A poll taken shows that between 74 and 94 percent of workers in the United States and Canada take 5 to 15 minutes daily for a morning coffee break. The coffee break in the workplace did not become common until the early 1940s.

The paddlefish, a living fossil, has existed virtually unchanged in the Mississippi River for 230 million years, although it now weighs no more than one-third of its ancient weight. The only other part of the world in which the paddlefish is found is China.

Oilbirds have a sonar sense shared among known birds only in Southeast Asia's swiftlets (although very common among bats). The oilbird is a cave dweller, and it bounces its echoing clicks from rock walls to help navigate in the dark vaults where they nest by the hundreds.

Not in Australia -- When Burger King decided to expand its operations into Australia, it found that its business name was already trademarked by a man running a small takeaway food shop. Consequently, the first Australian franchise of the Burger King Corporation, established in Perth in 1971, was branded Hungry Jack's, echoing the name and ...Read more

TV’s popular cartoon duo Rocky and Bullwinkle represented a number of General Mills cereals from 1959 to 1970: Cheerios, Cocoa Puffs, Jets, and Trix.

The Adelie penguin bears the name of French explorer Dumont d'Urville's beloved wife.

It's probably not a good idea. Acorns are poisonous to humans, and, if eaten, will cause kidney damage.

Ideal Toy Company was the first company to mass produce teddy bears.

Although the United States has just 5 percent of the world's population, it has most of the world's lawyers at 70 percent. The American Bar Association has estimated that by 2000, the U.S. will have one million lawyers.

During midsummer, the radical leaves of the compass plant invariably point precisely north and south.

James Madison, 5 feet, 4 inches tall, was the shortest president of the United States. Abraham Lincoln was the tallest at 6 feet, 4 inches.

Seals can withstand water pressure of up to 850 pounds per square inch.

In the U.S. and France, a septillion is represented by the number 1 followed by 24 zeroes; in Great Britain and Germany, it is the number 1 followed by 42 zeroes.