The title Mona Lisa stems from the Giorgio Vasari biography of Leonardo da Vinci, published 31 years after Leonardo's death. In it, he identified the sitter as Lisa, the wife of wealthy Florentine businessman Francesco del Giocondo. "Mona" is a common Italian contraction of "madonna," meaning "my lady," the equivalent of the English "Madam," so ...Read more

To assure full flavor, chill wine appropriately. Observe the 20-minute rule: Pull whites out of the refrigerator 20 minutes before serving; put reds in 20 minutes before serving.

After Helen Keller graduated magna cum laude from Radcliffe College in 1904, she began writing about blindness, a subject taboo in women's magazines because so many cases were related to venereal disease.

It was Swiss chemist Jacques Edwin Brandenberger who invented cellophane, back in 1908.

Medical experts warn that compulsive exercising can be just as bad for a person as no exercise at all. The human body needs 24 hours without exercise about once a week in order to cleanse itself of lactic acid and other waste products of strenuous activity.

The Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled that the prosecution must throw its files wide open to the defense if the accused is suffering from amnesia.

A cat keeps purring, no matter if it is inhaling or exhaling, a baffling accomplishment.

Before settling on the name of Tiny Tim for his character in "A Christmas Carol," three other alliterative names were considered by Charles Dickens. They were Little Larry, Puny Pete, and Small Sam.

An average toilet uses 5 to 7 gallons of water every time it is flushed. A single leaky toilet can waste more than 50 gallons a day, amounting to 18,000 gallons a year.

A simple, moderately severe sunburn damages the blood vessels to such an extent that it takes four to fifteen months for them to return to their normal condition.

Don't use the on/off switch on your personal computer any more than necessary. There's a surge of electricity every time the switch is turned on. For fragile computer chips, it's much like starting the day by jumping into an icy pool. To prolong the life of your home computer, turn it on when you arrive home from work and turn it off again when ...Read more

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.