Dr. John Gorrie of Appalachicola, Florida, invented mechanical refrigeration in 1851. He patented his device on May 6, 1851. There is a statue which honors this "Father of Modern Day Air Conditioning" in the Statuary Hall of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

White mustard seeds are used to make yellow mustard; the color comes from turmeric. Spicy mustards are concocted from brown mustard seeds.

In the year 1886, Herman Hollerith had the idea of using punched cards to keep and transport information, a technology used up to the late 1970s. This device was originally constructed to allow the 1890 census to be tabulated. In 1896, the Tabulating Machine Company was founded by Hollerith. Twenty-eight years later in 1924, after several take-...Read more

The Agulhas current in the western Indian Ocean is the fastest ocean current in the world. Even so, its speed is only 6 miles per hour.

A mile on the ocean and a mile on land are not the same distance. On the ocean, a nautical mile measures 6,080 feet. A land or statute mile is 5,280 feet.

Gardenias and orange blossoms both smell terrific, but when placed together in the same bouquet, they will neutralize each other's odor and there will be no smell at all.

In the game of craps, the slang term "Little Phoebe" refers to a roll of 5 on the dice.

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

Over 180 million Cadbury's Creme Eggs are sold between January and Easter each year — that's more than three Creme Eggs for every man, woman, and child in the U.S.

1918, Walt Disney was 16 -- too young for the military. When he heard that the Red Cross Ambulance Corps would accept 17-year-olds, he lied about his age, joined, and began training. He almost missed his chance when he came down with influenza in an epidemic that killed about 20 million people worldwide. The war ended. But the Ambulance Corps ...Read more

North Dakota is the nation's top sunflower grower, producing 50 percent of the U.S. crop. Germany uses kernels heavily in making bread and is the largest export market for U.S.-produced sunflower kernels, accounting for more than half of all kernel exports. Spain is the largest export market for

A chest X-ray is comprised of 90,000 to 130,000 electron volts.

Mary was the second daughter and fifth child of Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. A stillborn sister and three short-lived brothers, including the prince Henry, had preceded her. Through her mother, she was a granddaughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, famous for driving the Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula, ...Read more

Not as we think of it. Humans produce sound by expelling air through the larynx. The vocal cords within the larynx open and close as necessary to separate the stream of air into discrete pockets of air. These pockets are shaped by the throat, tongue, and lips into the desired sound. Cetacean sound production differs markedly from this mechanism....Read more

The story of the Child Jesus born in a manger is fascinating to the little girls of Japan, for they love anything having to do with babies. In the scene of the Nativity they become familiar for the first time with a cradle, for Japanese babies never sleep in cradles.

St. Francis, founder of the Franciscan religious order in 1209, was a layman born rich. When he embarked on a career of charity, his father disowned him.

In 1829, when Mrs. Lydia Child wrote The Frugal Housewife, hair care was a lot different from what it is now. New England rum was considered to be excellent for cleaning the hair and keeping it healthy; brandy was supposed to strengthen the roots.

In the 1850s, Ohio was the nationa (tm)s largest wine producer. Although its remaining 3,000 acres of vineyards are but a fraction of what they once were, Ohio remains the largest wine producer in the Midwest.

During the 1920s, Felix enjoyed sudden, enormous popularity in international popular culture. He got his own comic strip (drawn by Otto Messmer), and his image soon adorned all sorts of merchandise. Jazz singers such as Paul Whiteman sang about him. Nevertheless, the success was short-lived. The arrival of talking cartoons, particularly those of...Read more

In the United States, a barrel of beer contains 31 gallons, which is the equivalent of 13.8 cases of 12-ounce bottles or cans. Depending on the glass type and shape used to serve the beer, a barrel will yield about 200 12-ounce servings.