CABLE CARS PREVENT ACCIDENTS

Andrew Smith Hallidie created San Francisco’s cable cars after witnessing a horrible accident. A team of horses had trouble keeping its footing while pulling a streetcar up a particularly steep slope. The weight of the vehicle, combined with wet cobblestones, dragged the five horses to their deaths. Hallidie immediately started work on his idea and by 1873 — only four years later — San Francisco had its first cable car.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported in 2003 that roughly 12 percent of the nation’s population is foreign born. These residents are most likely to live in the South and least likely to live in the Midwest.

A national boat graphics firm has been compiling lists of the most popular boat names since 1991. Last year, the most-requested name was “Aquaholic,” followed by “Island Time” and “Hakuna Matata.”

If you were to spell out numbers, you wouldn’t find the letter “A” until you reached 1,000.

When DuPont introduced its Kevlar fabric in the 1970s — now commonly used in bulletproof vests — the company intended the invention as a replacement for steel belting in vehicle tires.

The average honey bee makes about 1-1/2 teaspoons of honey in a lifetime of work. But the average American consumes more than 1.3 pounds each year.