CROWS PREFER CUSTOM NESTING MATERIALS

When making a nest, the common crow prefers maroon-colored grapevine bark to all other materials.

Space flight was attempted as early as the 16th century when a Chinese bureaucrat, Wan Hu, attached 47 black powder rockets to the base of a specially-built chair. After the smoke from the exploding rockets had wafted away, Wan Hu and his chair had disappeared, never to be seen again.

From 1700 to 1900, about 1 billion people died from tuberculosis.

Ancient Romans considered pearls the frozen tears of the gods. Greeks, on the other hand, held that pearls were the result of lightning strikes at sea. Other peoples believed that the jewels were solidified rain or dewdrops that had been captured by clams.

In 1976, the average American consumed 55 pounds of fats and oils, 300 cans or bottles of soda, 200 sticks of chewing gum, more than 20 pounds of ice cream, 18 pounds of candy, five pounds of potato chips, 63 dozen doughnuts and at least 50 pounds of cookies and cakes.

At least 60 percent of Saudi Arabia’s population lives along the shores of the Red Sea and in the coastal region.

In the 19th century, well-known place-names such as New York, New Jersey and New England were hyphenated.