X-ray

What does the "X" in X-rays stand for? Actually, it doesn't stand for anything. When Wilhelm Roentgen discovered the mysterious rays that could pass through flesh, he didn't know for sure what he'd found or what to call it. Just to be on the safe side, the New Jersey legislature briefly considered a bill forbidding X-rays in opera glasses.

Woodstock

The famous Woodstock concert didn't take place in Woodstock, New York. Instead, the three-day festival, held in 1969, was hosted more than 45 miles southwest of Woodstock on Max Yasgur's farm in Bethel, New York. So why was it called Woodstock? The concert was organized by Woodstock Ventures, a name that came from the event's originally-planned site.

Babies

When does a human embryo become a fetus? At the eighth week of pregnancy. When does it stop being a fetus? At birth, a point at which most couples prefer to think of the fetus as a baby.

Ligament? Tendon?

A sprain is an injury to a ligament while a strain affects a tendon or muscle. What's the difference between a ligament and a tendon? A ligament connects bone to bone while a tendon connects bone to muscle.

Electric Chair

Most people know that Thomas Edison supplied the first electric chair to be used as an instrument of capital punishment. But who was its first victim? Convicted axe-murderer William Kemmler was executed by electrocution on August 6, 1890, at Auburn State Prison in New York. Because of technical difficulties, the procedure had to be repeated in order to kill Kemmler, a process which took 8 minutes.

Motion Sickness

Andre-Jacques Garnerin made history with the world's first parachute descent in 1797. But he also made a mess. As Garnerin floated down from a hot air balloon, his parachute oscillated so wildly that Garnerin suffered from motion sickness and vomited on the cheering crowd below.

Spelling Bee

The national spelling bee contest was started by a coalition of newspapers in 1925 in order to encourage children to learn how to spell. But the national contest isn't always won by a resident of the United States. In 1998, for instance, Jody-Anne Maxwell took first place with the correct spelling of chiaroscurist. Maxwell was from Jamaica.

Stamps

America's first First Lady also became the first woman to be commemorated on a U.S. postage stamp. But not until long after her death. In 1901, Martha Washington appeared on the 8-cent stamp. She was pictured on the 2-cent prepaid postcard in 1918, on the 4-cent stamp in 1920 and on the 1-1/2-cent stamp in 1938.

Preexisting Conditions

In the United States, about four people die each year from roller-coaster related injuries. Almost half of these deaths affect people who had preexisting medical conditions that were made worse by the rough ride, and slightly more than 1 in 4 victims are employees.

Hiram Revels

Hiram Revels (1822-1901) of Mississippi entered Congress as the nation's first black senator on February 25, 1870. Jefferson Davis had resigned from the Senate in order to become president of the Confederacy. Revels finished out Davis's term. In 1875, Blanche K. Bruce, also of Mississippi, was the nation's second black senator. Who was the third? Edward Brooke, a Republican from Massachusetts. He took office in 1966.

Football Voodoo

The New Orleans Saints may be the only NFL team to have hired a voodoo priestess. The Superdome stadium had been built on the site of the old Girod Street Cemetery, and the team's consecutive miserable seasons called for desperate measures. Ava Kay Jones performed a pregame ritual, making offerings to the spirits with a boa constrictor wrapped around her neck. The Saints won the game, the team's first playoff win in 33 years.

Popular Wisdom

British scientist Francis Galton discovered the wisdom of the masses in 1906 while at a country fair. A contest there challenged people to guess the weight of an ox after it had been slaughtered and dressed. About 800 people tried their luck. Galton took all the guesses and found their average, expecting it to be wildly inaccurate. But it wasn't. The slaughtered ox weighed 1,198 pounds. The crowd had collectively guessed a weight of 1,197 pounds.

High School

A series of recent studies found that adults and children have different expectations for public high schools. For instance, 33 percent of professors of college freshmen and sophomores believed a diploma from a public high school guarantees basic skills in math and reading, and 32 percent of parents held this belief. But only 22 percent of public high school students believed a diploma guarantees these skills.

Capital Punishment

The ancient Romans favored capital punishment for serious crimes, creating a number of different methods for dealing with criminals: crucifixion, death by animal mutilation and burning being the most popular forms of punishment. But, as is the case today, white-collar criminals generally faced a more humane death. Decapitation was the execution of choice for nobility because it was quick.

Ben Franklin's Inventions

Benjamin Franklin never patented a single one of his inventions. The American statesman and inventor claimed that he already had plenty of wealth and that his inventions were for the benefit of the American people.

Liechtenstein's Flag

Liechtenstein added a yellow coronet to the top corner, hoist side, of its national flag after the 1936 Olympic Games, where it had been discovered that Haiti's flag was practically identical to that of the small European nation.

Dunce Caps

The dunce cap originated with John Duns Scotus, a 13th-century philosopher who believed that large, conical hats aided brainpower by funneling knowledge to the wearer.

Tattoo Removal

The number-one reason cited by people who want to remove their tattoos is that they've fallen out of love with the person whose name has been memorialized in ink on their body.

Tulips

Tulips are native to central Asia, and the tulips that eventually made their way to the Netherlands now grow in parts of Russia, around the Black Sea and the Crimea.

Luck to the Drinker

Mescal, better known as the alcoholic drink tequila, contains an agave worm at the bottom of the bottle when made in the traditional way. The worm, which is actually a butterfly larva, is found on the plant from which mescal is made. Traditionalists claim that the worm adds to the drink's flavor and color. But that's not all. It's also believed to bring good luck to the drinker.

Palindromos

A palindrome - a word or group of words spelled the same forward and backward - comes from the Greek word "palindromos," which means "running back again." Some examples of palindromes include the following: Do geese see God? Eva, can I stab bats in a cave? Was it a rat I saw? We panic in a pew.

Whistler's Mother

The painting known as "Whistler's Mother" is indeed a portrayal of the mother of James Abbott McNeill Whistler. But that's not the painting's real name. Whistler titled the piece "Arrangement in Gray and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother."

Kittenball

Kittenball was the name chosen by the Farragut Boat Club of Chicago in 1887 for a game that club members developed as a friendly version of baseball. The game officially became known as softball in 1926.

Cynical People

Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw had this to say about cynical people: "Do you know what a pessimist is? A man who thinks everybody is as nasty as himself and hates them for it."

Homage to New York

Experts often cite "Homage to New York" as the most famous auto-destructive work of art. Unfortunately, Swiss sculptor Jean Tinguely's work, designed to blow itself up, didn't actually work. Instead, the sculpture, which was intended to make fun of modern technological civilization, started a fire at the Museum of Modern Art.

The Greater Accomplishment

Although a Russian cosmonaut was the first man in space, many have said that feat failed to beat an even greater accomplishment by Russian flyers. On May 13, 1913, the world's first airplane toilet was tested on a Russian Vitiaz.