Precious Metal?

Pure aluminum was once so rare that it was considered a precious metal. Scientists say that’s because aluminum, the most abundant metal in the earth’s crust, is never found free in nature. It’s usually found in combination with other elements such as potassium and sulfur or oxygen.

Therapeutic Paper

Toilet paper didn’t always come in rolls. When Joseph Gayetty invented “Therapeutic Paper” in 1857, he sold it in packs of 500 flat sheets, each with his name printed on the top.

Age in Office

The average age of American vice presidents, on taking office, is 54. John C. Breckinridge, second-in-command to James Buchanan, was the youngest at 36. The oldest, Alben W. Barkley, was Harry S. Truman’s 71-year-old running mate.

Tobacco Cessation

Created in Austria in 1927, the PEZ peppermint candy was marketed as an alternative to smoking. The hygienic dispenser first appeared in 1948, and heads were added to the containers in 1952 in order to make the candy more attractive to children.

Vacation Destination

The National Museum of Roller Skating, organized in 1980, resides in Lincoln, Neb. And while you’re in town, might as well take time to visit the International Quilt Study Center or the Lester F. Larsen Tractor Test and Power Museum.

Inner Beauty

Egyptian vultures prove that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Females of the species often choose, as their mate, the male with the brightest yellow face. Unfortunately, this color comes from carotenoid, a yellow pigment found in the vulture’s fecal matter. Males who eat the most poop get the most girls.

Pound of Change

How much is a pound worth? Since 1965, a pound of dimes has been equal to $20 in change. The same is true for a pound of quarters.

Under the Gun

United States policemen operate more than 125,000 radar guns, and the average motorist can expect to be monitored at least 1,000 times in a lifetime of driving.

Chips Are for Perfectionists

Neurologist Alan Hirsch discovered that your personality may determine the kind of snacks you like. His study found, for instance, that perfectionists tend to like tortilla chips. Introverts prefer crackers.

Fast Fish

Tuna are capable of short bursts of speed, up to 50 miles per hour, and some of these fish are known to migrate more than 5,000 miles in less than a year.

Killing Statues

Archaeologists, working in Egypt, have discovered upright statues in sealed tombs. But the figures often have broken noses. Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs claim that the statue serves as an eternal home for the soul. So archaeologists theorize that enemies of the deceased may have intentionally smashed the nose in order to “kill” the statue and end the life of the soul it contained.

Image Is Everything

The Marlboro cigarette, made by Phillip Morris had a less-than-manly motto: “Mild as May.” Until Don Tennant came along, that is. Tennant, already well-known for his creation of Frosted Flakes’ Tony the Tiger, created the Marlboro Man. Sales of the cigarette increased 5,000 times in the eight months following introduction of the rugged, cowboy mascot. Image is everything.

Crispy or Original?

KFC sells the equivalent of 736 million chickens each year.

Broken Hearts

Lost love doesn’t just damage the heart. Among Hamadryas baboons, if a male loses his harem, his mane’s silvery sheen turns to brown.

Not Too Tall

NASA selected seven astronauts for its first manned space flight in 1961, and none was taller than 5 feet 11 inches tall. That’s because limited cabin space in the Mercury capsule left no room for taller men.

Bigfoot Lives

If Bigfoot exists, he probably lives on the West Coast. Sightings have been reported in every state, but Washington leads the nation with 316 appearances reported to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization. California is second with 292, and Oregon has 163 reported appearances. Meanwhile, Delaware, Rhode Island and Connecticut sit at the bottom of the list with a total of six sightings between them.

Ear-y

When Van Gogh’s paintings were featured in 1935 by the New York City Museum of Modern Art, crowds flocked to the exhibit. But they showed much more interest in a piece of beef than they did in any of the masterpieces. American artist and prankster Hugh Troy had placed a piece of meat in a lined, velvet box and smuggled it into the museum. It carried this inscription: “This is the ear which Vincent van Gogh cut off and sent to his mistress, a French prostitute, Dec. 24, 1888.” And it attracted the largest crowds.

Escape the Rat Race

Looking to escape the rat race? Try Loving County, Texas. It’s the least-populated county in the country. In 2000, it had fewer than 70 people living on its slightly-more-than 670 square miles of land.

Cows Are Hot

A cow’s average body temperature is 101.5 degrees.

Living Dangerously

Experts claim that most urban squirrels never make it to their first birthday. But the shortened life span isn’t the result of disease, poor nutrition or predators. Blame it on the automobile.

America, the Beautiful

America, the beautiful, almost became known for its halcyon skies. But Katharine Lee Bates, writer of the patriotic hymn, revised her description to “spacious.”

Mike the Headless Chicken

Chickens aren’t the brainiest creatures on the planet as one Colorado family discovered. Their Wyandotte rooster, Mike, continued to preen, strut and eat for almost 18 months after losing his head on the butcher block. “Miracle Mike” toured the country with a two-headed calf and their promoter until his death in 1947. But his memory lives on. Fruita, Colorado, Mike’s hometown, continues to hold an annual “Mike the Headless Chicken Day.”

Cost-Effective

With a goal of landing a man on the moon, the Apollo program was the country’s most expensive project in the 1960s. Second on that list is the IBM 360, which Fortune magazine called a “$5 billion gamble.” But the risk paid off as IBM reportedly made more than $100 billion in sales of the mainframe computer.

No Onions, Please

The Burger King Whopper, when first introduced in 1957, sold for 37 cents and quickly became the best-selling sandwich in America. Company officials say the most popular way to order the burger is with this request: “Hold the onions.”

Sweet and Sour

Lemons contain more sugar than strawberries.

Driver Not Included

The first Saab automobile, introduced after World War II, was designed and hand built by 17 aeronautical engineers. Only one of them had a driver’s license.

Presidential Pets

Pauline Wayne, a cow, was the last farm animal to live at the White House. The presidential barn was torn down in 1910, and First Lady Helen Taft sent Pauline to a local farm. Pauline’s predecessors included Tad Lincoln’s pet turkey, Jack, and the Roosevelt family pig, Maude.

Short Argument

Inch by inch, life’s a cinch. Or is it really that easy? That was the problem facing the United States and Great Britain in 1959. Couldn’t agree on how much easiness is in a life. Americans argued for an inch that measured 2.540005 centimeters. On the other side of the Atlantic, the inch came in at only 2.53998 centimeters. So the two countries compromised on the 2.54-centimeter inch. Fortunately, they already agreed on centimeters.