Titanic

Philadelphia's Billy Carter, a first-class passenger of the "Titanic," brought along his 35-horsepower Renault motorcar, packed away in the ship's hold. Carter also brought 24 polo sticks, 60 shirts and 15 pairs of shoes for the voyage.

Nose

Sixteenth-century Dutch humanist Erasmus offered this advice for blowing the nose: "to blow your nose on your hat or clothing is rustic . . . nor is it much more polite to use your hand . . . . It is proper to wipe the nostrils with a handkerchief and to do this while turning away, if more honorable people are present."

Anthem

One of the world's best known tunes is Britain's anthem "God Save the Queen." That's because the same melody is used for patriotic songs in Germany, Russia, Sweden, Lichtenstein and the U.S.

Flea

Under ideal conditions, a flea might live for as long as a year. But the typical flea survives for only two or three months. And without a reliable host for food, the flea may die after only a few days.

Truman

While running for his first political office in 1922, Harry Truman went through Ku Klux Klan initiation rites to help his chances of winning the county election. But it's reported that he refused to join the organization when he learned of its agenda, earning himself fierce political enemies.

Insects

Not everyone agrees on how an insect sounds. English speakers describe the sound a bee makes as bzzz. But the Japanese say it bunbun, and Germans prefer summ summ. Korean speakers insist that bees sound more like boong-boong.

Cotton

Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin, got his start, forging nails during the Revolutionary War. After the war, however, England flooded the American market with nails, bringing prices to record lows. Whitney switched to making hatpins and enjoyed a near-monopoly in his section of Massachusetts.

Hollywood

Cecil B. De Mille put Hollywood on the map with a 90-minute western, "The Squaw Man," released in 1914. De Mille first planned to film the feature in Arizona, but that southwestern state's natural scenery didn't fit the script. So De Mille went on to Los Angeles at the suggestion of a friend and found what he was looking for in the recently annexed Hollywood.

Patron

St. Louis is the patron saint of barbers. Taxi-drivers are overseen by St. Fiacre while St. Jerome looks out for librarians. The patron saint for gravediggers? St. Anthony.

Carrots

Carrots are more nutritious cooked than when eaten raw. That's because each of the orange vegetables has tough cellular walls that prevent the human body from breaking down much more than 25 percent of the available beta carotene.

Zoo

The Philadelphia Zoo claims to be America's first such institution. It was chartered in 1859 but did not open to the public until 1874. Likewise, supporters of Chicago's Lincoln Park have insisted that it was the first. They point to the donation of a pair of swans in 1868 to back their claim. But Chicago had no director for its zoo until 1888. New York's Central Park Zoo is also in the running. That destination opened as a menagerie in 1864 and slowly transformed itself into a full-fledged zoo.

Garage

President William H. Taft converted the White House stables into a garage where he stored his four automobiles: two Pierce-Arrows, a Baker electric run-about car and a steamer from the White Sewing Machine Company.

Ants

The caterpillars of the Australian imperial blue are herded like cattle by ants. When tapped by an ant, the caterpillar excretes highly nutritious, sugary drops from a gland on its back. In exchange, the ants keep the caterpillars safe from parasitic flies and predatory wasps.

Hair

The International Association of Hair Restoration Surgery reports that male pattern baldness starts most commonly among men ages 40 to 50 and for male youth in their late teens.

Personals

Reading the personal ads? Here are some common abbreviations. SOH: sense of humor. PA: photograph appreciated. OHAC: own house and car. ANI: age not important. NLP: no losers please.

Barnum

The New York Sun ran a front-page obituary for showman P.T. Barnum on April 7, 1891. But Barnum, creator of the Greatest Show on Earth, wasn't dead. He had complained that the media only said nice things about a person who had already passed away. The newspaper proved Barnum wrong, running the piece early and giving him a chance to read his own memorial.

Crows

Augury often uses the counting of crows or magpies to predict the future. This practice is where we get the poem, "One for sorrow / Two for joy / Three for a letter / Four for a boy / Five for silver / Six for gold / Seven for a secret never to be told."

Holes

Most cheeses don't have holes. But French cheesemakers have developed a classification system for those that do. A cheese with tiny holes, such as the Tomme de Savoie, falls into the "Les yeux de perdrix" or partridge eyes category. Mimolette, a cheese with small holes, is categorized as "petit pois" or little peas. Medium-holed cheeses, such as Comt, are called "cerises" or cherries. Emmental, a cheese with the largest of holes, is called a "noix" or walnut cheese.

Astroturf

Indiana State University is home of the first outdoor stadium to install Astroturf. But it wasn't the first stadium to get the material. That honor goes to a Houston sports venue, where Monsanto's Chemgrass was installed two years earlier in 1965. The monofilament ribbon file product was named after that stadium - the AstroDome.

Water

The Amazon River discharges about 8 trillion gallons of water each day into the ocean. That's 60 times as much as the Nile and 11 times more than the mighty Mississippi.

Tornado

The United States had its largest tornado outbreak in April 1974. A total of 148 tornadoes hit 11 states and killed 315 people in just over 16 hours. More than 5,300 people were injured in the storms.

Fast Food

U.S. consumers spent $6 billion on fast food meals in 1970. By the year 2000, however, that number had grown to $110 billion, and it is now more than $130 billion, more than any other country in the world.

Holiday

Although the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, it had voted two days earlier to sever ties with England. In fact, John Adams claimed, in a letter to his wife, that July 2 would become the national holiday: "It will be celebrated by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other."

Philharmonic

The New York Philharmonic is the nation's oldest such orchestra. It was founded in 1842 by a group of musicians who wanted to bring to America the kind of quality music making that could be found in great European cities.

Caves

The first cave drawings discovered in modern times were found in Spain's Altamira caves in 1879. Archaeologists report that the dwellers of these underground caves used small stone lamps fueled with animal fat to light the walls and ceiling while creating their designs.

Caligula

The Roman Emperor Caligula commissioned a number of royal yachts, each more than 200 feet long. The boats included reception chambers, exercise rooms, baths, a grape arbor, and in at least one case, a brothel.

Safety

Warren G. Harding was the first U.S. president who knew how to drive a car when he entered the nation's top office. For the sake of the president's safety, however, the Secret Service did not allow Harding to drive while in office.

Love

When Alexander Graham Bell realized he had fallen in love with the young Mabel Hubbard, he wrote her a 17-page letter, expressing his feelings. But he did not ask her to marry him. She was too young. Mabel thought otherwise, and on her 18th birthday, she surprised Bell, telling him she had grown to love him more than anyone except for her mother. She added that they could be engaged as soon as he liked. The two were married 18 months later.

Babieca

One of Spain's national heroes, Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar (a.k.a. El Cid), affectionately named his horse babieca, which means dumbbell or idiot. According to legend, when Bivar chose this scraggly colt, his father called him a babieca. Bivar applied the term to his horse, claiming that it would be a reminder of his father's doubts.

Finley

When growing up, Samuel Finley Breese Morse, inventor of the electromagnetic telegraph, didn't go by his first name. His parents, Jedediah and Elizabeth, simply called their oldest child Finley.

Navigate

While at sea, a navigator, standing on deck at five feet above sea level, has a view of 2.5 nautical miles in all directions. The curvature of the earth is such, however, that if that same navigator is elevated 15 feet above sea level, the horizon will be 4.44 miles away.

Unmarried

When the Wright brothers made their first flight, Wilbur was 36 and his brother, Orville, 32. Neither was married, and they still lived at home with their 74-year-old father, Milton, and 29-year-old sister, Katharine. Working as a high school teacher, Katharine also was unmarried.

CFCs

Although CFCs have been banned in the United States, there are two exceptions to the rule: their use in asthma inhalers and in the making of methyl chloroform, which is used to clean O-ring seals in NASA's space shuttles.

Cortes

When Hernando Cortes began his conquest of Mexico, he rode a chestnut horse. But he soon replaced the mount with a black stallion named El Morzillo, meaning the Black One. When El Morzillo developed a limp, Cortes left him in the custody of a Mayan chief. The chief and his people renamed the horse Tziminchac, after the Mayan god of thunder and lightning, and housed the steed in their temple. When El Morzillo died, the Mayans carved a stone statue of him.

Coffee

In 17th-century Constantinople (now Istanbul), tradition required that the groom provide his bride with coffee and promise always to do so. A failure to supply his wife with the enervating drink was legal grounds for divorce.

Doorbell

Marion Donavan, inventor of the disposable diaper, also created the Turtling-a-ling. The brass turtle, with bells on its head and tail, simulated a doorbell. Donavan pitched the device as a means of cutting short an unwanted phone call by making it clear to the caller that other priorities demanded attention.

Horses

Historians record that Napoleon Bonaparte was not a good rider, so he needed especially stable horses in battle. He owned 60 or more white horses. Each of them was trained to stand steady - not to rear or shy - when guns were fired from nearby.

Membership

The National Geographic Society rarely removed its members in the organization's early years. But the society made an exception in 1932, striking Al Capone's name from the membership list when he entered federal prison. Capone continued to receive copies of "National Geographic" as a paying subscriber.

Chickens

Ornithologists report that chickens are capable of deception. If a rooster, for instance, judges that a hen has wandered too far, he will use a food call to get her attention, even when no food is present.

Margaritologia

The physician Malachias Geiger published a protection against the Black Death in his 1637 book, "Margaritologia." Geiger recommended baking pulverized pearls with antlers and cinnamon as well as other ingredients.

Everest

Norman G. Dyhrenfurth's well-equipped climb of Mt. Everest in 1963 required 1,000 porters and sherpas to carry the almost 30 tons of gear. Supplies included 12,000 cigarettes, 216 bottles of oxygen, waterproof diaries, seven movie cameras, and freeze-dried foods, including crab imperial, pork chops and chicken tetrazzini.

Man o' War

In his two-year racing career, the famous horse, Man o' War, earned prizes of $249,465. He raced 21 times and took second place in only one contest. He won all the rest.

Wild Ducks

Charles Darwin reported that wild ducks are monogamous, at least for a season. But such is not the case for their much-more promiscuous, domesticated relatives.

Tarsier

The tarsier, a primate found in southeastern Asia, has an eyeball that is larger and weighs more than its brain. While seizing its prey, the tarsier closes its eyes tightly to protect them from the victim's struggles.

Dresses

After Orville and Wilbur Wright had finished their first experiment with a homemade glider at Kitty Hawk, N.C., they left the machine behind. Local citizens didn't approve of the work, claiming that God didn't intend for man to fly. So they left the contraption to rot in the sand. But flight was one thing, and waste was another. Local resident Addie Tate used the glider's white sateen fabric to make dresses for her daughters.

Underground

Harriet Tubman personally freed at least 300 slaves by guiding them along the Underground Railroad. But Tubman's work didn't end there. During the Civil War, she served Union forces as a cook and as a spy.

Yacht

America's first luxury yacht, launched in 1816 from Salem, Mass., was named "Cleopatra's Barge." At the time, Salem had the highest per-capita income of any town in the country.

Hair and Nails

It has long been believed that a person's hair and nails continue to grow after death. But experts claim that, in reality, the skin of the deceased recedes, causing more of the hair and nails to be exposed.

Diet

About 20 percent of a robin's diet is made up of earthworms, and the red-breasted birds are quite adept at getting a meal. Ornithologists have observed robins that successfully captured earthworms at the rate of 20 per hour.

Boats

During the reign of England's King Charles II, the cost of a merchant vessel was about 8 per ton. A warship cost about 15 per ton. Construction of the king's yachts, however, required silk ceremonial flags, crimson damask, rich mahogany and other luxuries, which brought construction costs up to about 33 per ton.

Pauline

Pauline, the last cow to live on White House grounds, moved to the neighborhood of 19th and B streets in 1911. But she retained special privileges at the president's home, visiting there each morning to graze the White House lawn. She was returned home each day at twilight.

Popular

According to the Gallup Poll, the five U.S. presidents most popular during their presidency were John F. Kennedy with a median approval rating of 70.1 percent, Dwight Eisenhower (65), George Bush Sr. (61), Lyndon B. Johnson (55) and Bill Clinton (55).

Zero

Zero was first used by the Babylonians as a place-holder (to distinguish 36 from 306 or 360). In its mathematical sense, the concept of zero was first developed in India during the fifth century.

Five Boys

The world's first chocolate bar, known as Five Boys, was created in 1847 by British company Fry and Sons by mixing cocoa butter with chocolate and sugar. Another British company, Cadbury Brothers, introduced its own bar in 1849. The first American chocolate bar was introduced by Hershey's in 1905.

Shaq

At age 12, future basketball great Shaquille O'Neal was already 5 feet 10 inches and wearing a 10-1/2-size shoe. Today, he stands 7 feet 1 inch tall and has size-22 feet.

Necco

NECCO's classic Valentine's Day candy hearts stay edible for about five years. Another surprise is that each color is supposed to be a different flavor: pink (cherry), yellow (banana), orange (orange), green (lemon), purple (grape) and white (wintergreen).

College

Of all the U.S. presidents, nine never attended college: George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Grover Cleveland and Harry S Truman.

Wallpaper

Playwright Oscar Wilde, whose full name was Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde, was dying while lodged in what has been described as a garishly decorated hotel room. His last words were, "Either this wallpaper goes - or I do."

Mosquitoes

Canadian researchers in the Arctic bared their arms, legs and torsos in order to measure the bites of swarming, newly-hatched mosquitoes. The mosquitoes attacked each researcher at the rate of about 9,000 bites per minute.

911

The world's first 911 call originated in Haleyville, Alabama. The call was placed from the mayor's office by state Rep. Rankin Fite and answered at the police station by U.S. Rep. Tom Bevill as part of a successful attempt by the Alabama Telephone Company to beat AT&T in its efforts to install the nation's first 911 system.

Term

The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution allows a U.S. president to serve up to 10 years in office by competing two years of the term of his predecessor and then being elected to two full terms.

Metal

Michel Lotito set a world record by eating about two pounds of ground-up metal every day since 1959, totaling 18 bicycles, a cash register, a coffin, 15 shopping carts and an entire airplane. The record is considered unbreakable because "Guinness World Records" won't allow challengers, claiming the practice is a health risk.

Priest

Galileo's father sent him to a Jesuit monastery to study medicine. While there, Galileo became a monk. His father promptly had Galileo withdrawn, making him a defrocked priest for life.

Chocolates

The first heart-shaped box of chocolates was made by Richard Cadbury in 1861 or 1868. (Early accounts vary.) It featured a picture of his daughter holding a kitten.

Spam

SPAM was introduced to the world in 1937. By July 2002, Hormel Foods had produced more than 6 billion cans of the processed meat. Residents of Hawaii eat an average four cans per person each year, more than any other place on Earth.

Fish

American Humane Society guidelines require that fish used in the film industry may not be out of water for more than 30 seconds at a time, and to avoid undue stress, they cannot be used more than three times in one day. The society recommends the use of already-dead fish or animatronics whenever possible.

Anabolic

One of the first therapeutic uses of anabolic steroids was in Germany, during World War II. Nazis used the synthesized testosterone to treat concentration-camp victims of chronic wasting.

Bridegroom

Etymologists claim that the word bridegroom first got its start as the Old English brydguma. Bryd became bride. Guma, a poetic word for man, became gome. But by the 16th century, nobody remembered what gome meant, so they replaced it with the term for a servant-male: groom.

Clorox

Opened in 1913, the Electro-Alkaline Company of Oakland, Calif., was America's first commercial scale liquid bleach factory. But an engineer for one of the company's equipment suppliers suggested that the bleach needed a snappier name. That engineer, Abel M. Hamblet, designed a diamond-shaped logo and combined the names for the product's two active ingredients, chlorine and sodium hydroxide, coining the brand-name Clorox.

Letter Z

In the English language, the letter Z shows up only once, on average, in every 1,000 letters. On the other hand, the letter E would be used about 130 times in that same passage while the letter T would appear 93 times.

Paris Exposition

Although 55 United States' athletes took part in the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris, most of them did not know they were competing in the Olympics until they won. That's because the proper name of the event only appeared on the medals. Even the official program identified the "world's amateur track and field championships" as part of the Paris Exposition.

Cordless

When Henry W. Seely invented the first electric iron in 1882, he was a little bit ahead of his time. The country's first power station didn't start generating electricity until three months after the debut of Seely's invention. Just one year later, Seely did it again, inventing a working, cordless electric iron in 1883.

Cryptography

Louis XIV is often called the most powerful of France's many kings. But most of that credit is due to a secret weapon: intelligence. Louis XIV employed a mathematician, Antoine Rossignol, who was skilled in the art of cryptography and could read the secret messages of all the world's kings and nobles.

Beast

In the late 1980s television show, "Beauty and the Beast," Ron Perlman spent nearly five hours each day, getting made up for his role as Vincent, the beast. The series ended about a dozen episodes into its third season.

Brain

In 1824, when Lord Byron died in Greece, the attending physician removed and measured Byron's brain. Its weight of "about six medicinal pounds" made it one of the largest human brains on record and at least 25 percent larger than the average.

Valley Forge

During the winter of 1777-78, the American forces at Valley Forge suffered from cold weather, a lack of provisions and the threat of mutiny. Many soldiers simply deserted rather than continue to endure such hardship. On average, 8 to 10 men left the Continental Army each day.

Hurricane

When measured in terms of energy, the condensation heat released by a hurricane in one day could provide heat and light to U.S. homes and businesses for almost six months.

Olympics

The Olympics have been canceled five times as a result of war: 1916 Summer Olympics (Berlin, Germany), 1940 Winter Olympics (Sapporo, Japan), 1940 Summer Olympics (Tokyo, Japan), 1944 Winter Olympics (Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy) and the 1944 Summer Olympics (London, England).

Garfield

Garfield, a popular comic-strip cat, once claimed that his favorite movie was "Old Yeller." Why a film about a dog? Garfield claimed it was because of the motion picture's "happy ending."

Surstromming

Those who've experienced the Swedish dish Surstromming claim it's an acquired taste. Small fresh-caught herrings are placed in wooden vats with a solution of brine. The heads and intestines are removed after 48 hours. The barrels are left in the summer heat for 8 to 12 weeks while the fish decompose. Although the resulting "delicacy" smells quite bad, there are those who claim it is a gastronomic treat.

Flyer

Each of the Apollo 11 astronauts had a PPK bag (personal preference kit) for their 1969 moon landing. In his PPK, Neil Armstrong is reported to have included a piece of wood from the propeller of the Wright Brothers 1903 Flyer.

Delicacy

Gusitanitos di maguey or caterpillar pretzels are a delicacy in Mexico. The caterpillars of skipper butterflies, which live on the maguey cactus, are toasted or fried and eaten with mescal. They are even available canned.

Interstate

Any road built under the Federal Aid Highway Act is considered an Interstate, even if it doesn't cross a state line. That's how Hawaii happens to have three Interstate highways - H1, H2 and H3 - all on Oahu.

Blind

Jay Forry, the only syndicated movie reviewer who is blind, gives films a rating on the following scale: A (so good, blind people like it), B (I'm glad I could hear it.), C (I had one eye open.), D (It's good I couldn't see it.) and F (Blindness is a blessing.)

Silverstein

Shel Silverstein may be known as a talented children's author, but he also drew cartoons for "Playboy" and wrote the lyrics to the Johnny Cash hit "A Boy Named Sue."

Anthem

Algeria's national anthem opens with the words, "We swear by the lightning that destroys, / By the streams of generous blood being shed." Luxembourg's state song, however, takes a different tone, starting as follows: "Where slow you see the Alzette flow, / The Sura play wild pranks."

Time

Although it is only slightly smaller in landmass than the United States, the country of China has elected to have only one time zone. The U.S., however, has nine standard time zones.

Talmud

Known for his often bizarre compositions for piano, Charles-Valentin Morhange Alkan (1813-1888) was killed when he accidentally pulled a bookcase over on himself while reaching for a copy of the Talmud.

Budgerigars

Female budgerigars feed their young in a strict order, never favoring one child over another. But male budgerigars are a softer touch, consistently giving more food to those offspring that make the loudest and most persistent noise.

Kisses

German psychology professor Onur Gunturkun found in his study of public kisses that people are twice as likely to tilt their heads to the right when kissing than to the left.

Dracula

Vlad III of Walachia, better known as the inspiration for Bram Stoker's "Dracula," had a unique plan for ridding his kingdom of poverty. He is said to have invited beggars to a feast at his castle. Once everyone was inside, Vlad had the castle burned to the ground.

Conductor

French conductor Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687), a favorite of King Louis XIV, conducted ensembles by pounding the floor with a large pointed cane. But while conducting a Te Deum for the king, Lully accidentally struck his own foot. The ensuing wound developed gangrene, followed by blood poisoning, resulting in Lully's premature death.

Father

The Japanese cardinal fish may appear to be a loving father. After all, he cares for his offspring by keeping them safely in his mouth until they are mature enough to be released. But if the male sees a female that is more attractive than his current mate, he will begin courting her immediately. Not wanting to be seen as "attached," he will eat his children.

Alphabet

Irish playwright and Nobel laureate George Bernard Shaw left a large share of his estate to the creation of a new English alphabet. He felt the Latin alphabet was "hopelessly inadequate" and hoped to replace it with one that contained somewhere between 40 and 50 characters.

Yukon

In 1955, the company that makes Quaker Oats paid $1,000 for a 7.7-hectare piece of land in the Canadian Yukon, divided it into 21 million, 1-inch pieces and offered deeds to those pieces in 21 million boxes of puffed wheat and rice. The Canadian government seized the land in 1965 for failure to pay $32.20 in taxes.

Glaciers

The Columbia Icefield, found between Mount Columbia and Mount Athabasca in Canada, is the largest icefield south of the Arctic Circle. It includes about 30 glaciers.

Left-Handed

Left-handed people live just as long as their right-handed peers. But life isn't always as good for lefties. Studies have found that southpaws have higher rates of depression, drug abuse, allergies and schizophrenia. The news isn't all bad, however, as lefties have an advantage in sports such as fencing, tennis and baseball, and they also tend to have higher IQs.

Two Parts

The Bible used by Christian Protestants has seven books that are divided into two parts: Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Corinthians, Thessalonians, Timothy and Peter.

Corned Beef

Corned beef may seem a relatively safe meal, but in 1997 alone, 4,824 Britons sought medical care for injuries sustained while attempting to open cans of corned beef.

Work

A study of Canadian insects considered the lifespan of worker bees, finding that those bees that made lots of trips to forage for food, died significantly younger than did those lazier bees that stayed at home. Apparently, the saying, "Hard work never killed anyone," doesn't always hold true.

Disney Propaganda

Although known for his animated, full-length features, Walt Disney also produced a number of propaganda movies during World War II as well as "Hollywood on Trial," a documentary about the government's investigation into alleged Communist infiltration of show business.

Nests

Bald eagles return to their nests year after year and are constantly adding to it. The largest such nest on record was 9-1/2 feet wide and 20 feet high. It weighed more than two tons.

Vitamin C

Ascorbic acid, commonly known as vitamin C, was first named ignose by the scientist who discovered what he thought was a sugar. But when a journal editor refused to accept ignose, which he considered a name that made no sense, the compound was renamed Godnose.

Animal Smarts

An Oregon State University survey of zoologists, animal science faculty and students ranked the following animals by intelligence: 1) dog, 2) pig, 3) horse, 4) cat, 5) cow, 6) sheep, 7) chicken and 8) turkey.

Bowling

In 2003, 21,514 bowling injuries required emergency room visits. Most of those involved a bowling ball dropped on the foot or bowlers who got their fingers caught between two bowling balls in the bowling ball return.

Parakeet

The green and yellow Carolina parakeet was hunted to extinction by U.S. farmers because of the crop destruction it caused. The last Carolina parakeet, a male named Incas, died in the Cincinnati Zoo on February 21, 1918, less than four years after the world's last passenger pigeon, Martha, passed away at the same zoo.

Peanut Butter

The fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth is known by the name arachibutyrophobia. The more general fear of choking or being smothered is pnigophobia.

Octopus

Biologists believe that an Indonesian octopus that wraps itself into a ball and rolls along the ocean floor is pretending to be a coconut, swept along by the current.

Parrot Kisses

White-fronted parrots may be the only species besides humans that kiss. The male and female lock their beaks and touch their tongues together. If both parties are satisfied, the male takes the bold next step of regurgitating his food for his girlfriend in order to prove his love.

Sticks

Stick insects blend in by appearing to be twigs. But their camouflage doesn't end there. The insects also lay eggs that look and smell like seeds, which protects them from predators.

Rightsizing

"Rightsizing," a euphemism for laying off employees, was first used by IBM when it laid off 35,000 employees in the early 1990s. Other terms for massive firings include reengineering, outsourcing and managing down.

Dog Smarts

In a survey of 199 American and Canadian Kennel Club obedience judges; border collies, poodles and German shepherds were rated the most intelligent dog breeds. The least intelligent breeds included Afghan hounds, basenjis and bulldogs.

Stalin's Last Love

When Ekaterina, Joseph Stalin's wife, died in 1907, Russia's future dictator said he would never feel love for another person. Proving his point, Stalin later had the members of Ekaterina's family shot.

Termite Mound

The largest-known termite mound was found in Australia. It was 100 feet in diameter at the base and 20 feet high. An African mound with a smaller base of 10 feet stood taller at a finished height of 42 feet.

American IQ

The average American IQ (intelligence quotient) of 98 ties it for 17th place in the international standings with Australia, Denmark, France and Norway. Hong Kong is in first place with an average of 107, while South Korea, Singapore and Japan take places 2, 3 and 4.

LSD-25

A powerful muscle contractor, the fungus Claviceps purpurea can control bleeding, speed up childbirth and induce abortion. It's also the source of the hallucinogenic LSD-25. But extreme caution must be used as doses larger than the microscopic produce ergotamine poisoning, better known as St. Anthony's Fire. Victims of the often-fatal disease suffer convulsions accompanied by a burning sensation in the limbs, which turn black and fall off.

Hydrophobia

Historians note that Prussian emperor Frederick the Great may have suffered from hydrophobia, the fear of water, as he refused to take baths and had his coffee made with champagne rather than water.

Hashbrowns

The Waffle House restaurant chain serves hashbrowns seven different ways: chunked with ham, covered with cheese, diced with tomatoes, peppered with jalapenos, scattered on the grill, smothered in onions, topped with chili.

Citric Acid

Until the 1920s, Italy held a virtual monopoly on the production of citric acid, accounting for 90 percent of the world's total production with low-grade lemons. When American chemists discovered that a common black mold, Aspergillus niger, secreted citric acid, they broke Italy's hold on the market by producing enough cheap citric acid to bring prices down from a dollar a pound to only about 25 cents.

Einstein

The average male brain weighs 3.08 pounds. The average female brain weighs 2.85 pounds. But size doesn't matter. Einstein's brain weighed only 2.71 pounds.

Purple

Before 1969, the American Express card was purple. It was changed to green that year to reflect the color of U.S. money, although today's cards are available in a variety of colors.

Sheep

Australia has more than 94 million sheep and only about 20 million humans. Other places with more sheep than people include Sudan, New Zealand, Turkmenistan, Mongolia, Uruguay, Ireland, Iceland and Namibia.

Bowling Scores

Only 198 perfect-300 games were rolled in bowling alleys in 1952. In 1970, the total was up to 854 perfect games. But by 2003, that number had shot up to 48,810 in spite of the fact that there are fewer bowling alleys today. Are bowlers getting better? Probably not. Experts say the increase is most likely the result of a lane-oiling method called the "house shot" in which a heavier coat of shine is applied to the center of the lane, with the sides left thinner to form "dry boards."

Fiberglass Fish

The largest fiberglass structure in the world can be found in Hayward, Wisconsin, at the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame. The model of a leaping muskie is half a city block long and 4-1/2 stories high. About 20 visitors can fit into an observation deck inside the fish's mouth.

Confederacy

Of the states that left the Union to form the Confederate States of America, South Carolina was the first to do so on December 20, 1860. Mississippi followed suit 20 days later, and by June, a total of 11 states had joined the confederacy. The other states, in order of secession, include the following: Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Vampire

Experts claim that the word "vampire," an Old Slavic verb meaning "to fly," probably entered the English language in the early 18th century. "The Vampyre," a short story published in 1819 by English Doctor John William Polidori made the creature a cultural icon.

Tootsie Rolls

The "Tootsie" of Tootsie Rolls was formally known as Clara Hirschfield. Her father, Leo Hirschfield, gave her the nickname Tootsie, the same name he gave to the candy he invented, which entered the American market in 1896.

Baby Koala

A baby koala's first solid meal is often its mother's feces. The droppings contain microbes that help immunize the young koala against disease and that also aid in digestion.

Kevorkian

The Dr. Kevorkian is a cocktail, served over ice, that contains 1 ounce amaretto, 1 ounce Southern Comfort whiskey, 1 ounce Jack Daniels whiskey, 1 ounce gin, 1 ounce vodka and 8 ounces of orange juice.

Ideal Home

In the early 19th century, experts on the complete British home agreed that a household of husband and wife with three children and the money to support it should have a staff of 24: housekeeper, cook, lady's-maid, nurse, two housemaids, laundry maid, still-room maid, nursery-maid, kitchen maid, scullion, butler, valet, house-steward, coachman, two grooms, one assistant groom, two footmen, three gardeners and a laborer.

Angora

Angora wool doesn't come from sheep. Instead, Angora is harvested from domesticated rabbits. The rabbits are sheared every three months, and each one is expected to produce about 12 ounces of white, black, blue or fawn wool each year.

Franklin's Coin

Before Benjamin Franklin's image was put on the half-dollar coin in 1948, U.S. Mint director Nellie Ross had considered putting him on the penny to honor his maxim, "A penny saved is a penny earned."

Wine Labels

The design and wording on U.S. wine labels is overseen by the American Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, an agency that also oversees government work to reduce the criminal use of firearms.

Prohibition President

During Prohibition, President Warren Harding hosted liquor parties, and the Senate Library had a secret bar behind one of its walls. But not all were corrupt. Rep. Thomas Blanton tried to have the Washington Post prosecuted for printing George Washington's recipe for beer.

Cent

Governor Morris, assistant to Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris, suggested in 1782 that the "cent" be the name of America's smallest coin. At the time, Morris recommended that the cent be equal to 1/1440 of a dollar and that the lowest silver coin contain 100 of these units. The suggestion was ignored, but the name was kept.

The 10 Percent

Brown University's "Digest of Addiction Theory and Application" reported in 2000 that 10 percent of America's heaviest beer drinkers are responsible for drinking 43 percent of all beer consumed nationally.

Butter Battle

Citing "The Butter Battle Book" by Dr. Seuss as one of the most influential anti-arms-race books of the 1980s, experts point out that the rhyming and rhythmic challenge to Ronald Reagan's policies remained for six months on the New York Times Best Sellers list - for adults.

The Golliwogs

Not every pop band gets its name right the first time. For instance, Chicago got its start as Big Thing, and the Beach Boys were originally billed as Carl and the Passions. Polka Tulk eventually changed its name to the better-known Black Sabbath. Creedence Clearwater Revival started out as The Golliwogs.

Debt

The English word "debt" comes from the old French "dette" and was spelled without the letter "b" until the thirteenth century in which scholars inserted the letter in order to make it appear that the word had come directly from the Latin "debita" or "owed."

Consumption

In England, about 65 percent of all beer is consumed in pubs and other public places. But in the United States, only 26 percent of beer consumption takes place outside the home.

Presidential Nicknames

Many U.S. presidents have had popular nicknames. For instance, George Washington was often referred to as the Sword of the Revolution, and John Adams is known to historians as Old Sink or Swim. Other presidential monikers are as follows: Old Granny (W.H. Harrison), Purse (Franklin Pierce), Sir Veto (Andrew Johnson), His Fraudulency (Rutherford B. Hayes), and Coiner of Weasel Words (Woodrow Wilson).

Prairie Dogs

Prairie dogs have a single sharp note to signal, "hawk overhead," and repeated calling by a group as a "coyote alert." The small mammals also use a mix of long notes and barks to tell others that there is a "human approaching." But the communication between prairie dogs isn't all about danger. For instance, Arizona scientists recorded a special call used by the communicative creatures that signaled when cows were in the vicinity. In another case, the prairie dogs created a new call to describe a wooden object that scientists dragged across the desert near the colony.

Fertility Rate

Statisticians report that in order to maintain the world's current population, women must produce an average of 2.1 children apiece. The fertility rate in the U.S. is 2.06 children per woman. That compares to a rate of 1.91 in the United Kingdom, 1.21 in Japan, 1.41 in Germany and 1.39 in Italy.

Honorary Citizens

The United States has had only six honorary citizens in its history: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill received honorary citizenship in 1963; Holocaust hero Raoul Wallenberg (1981); Pennsylvania founders William Penn and his wife, Hannah (1984); Mother Teresa (1996); and the French supporter of the American Revolution, the Marquis de Lafayette (2002).

Lottery Pick

The odds of predicting the correct order of six balls chosen out of 50 in a lottery game are 15,890,700 to one. So most would think Maureen Wilcox would be ecstatic for having correctly picked the winning numbers twice in January 1998. But she wasn't. That's because Wilcox correctly picked the winning numbers for a Rhode Island draw, but she had picked them in the Massachusetts lottery. Later, when she picked the winning numbers for the Massachusetts lottery, it just so happened that she had done so with a Rhode Island ticket. End result: no winnings for Wilcox.

Miss Manners

Judith Martin, better known as Miss Manners, didn't always see proper behavior as a boon to society: "We are all born charming, fresh and spontaneous, and must be civilized before we are fit to participate in society."

Chipmunk Food

Chipmunks communicate with each other about food by urinating, and their system is so developed that they can easily identify the difference between spots where there is food and places where all the stored food has already been eaten.

Colosseum

Rome's Colosseum, which could hold 40,000 to 50,000 spectators, was often the site of gladiator and mock naval battles. But contrary to popular belief, Christians weren't thrown to the lions in the Colosseum. That kind of show was saved for the Circus Maximus, which could accommodate much larger crowds of between 250,000 and 350,000 spectators.

General Sherman

The General Sherman Tree, one of the world's largest plants, is a giant sequoia that measures 272 feet tall and more than 100 feet in circumference. It is at least 2,700 years old.

Gershwin

The line "Who could ask for anything more?" was a popular one with the Gershwin Brothers, who used it in three of their songs: "I Got Rhythm," "I'm About to Be a Mother" and "Nice Work If You Can Get It."

Drunk Driving

Legal experts point to the case of Stuart MacNamara as possibly the worst-ever drunk-driving offense. MacNamara of Swansea, South Wales, was caught driving in 2001 with double the legal level of alcohol in his blood. He had just run a red light while making a call on his cell phone. Even worse, MacNamara only had one arm, and it was the one holding the phone.

National Song

Francis Scott Key, a lawyer, wrote the "Star-Spangled Banner" after being detained by the British in 1814. Shortly after his release, Key distributed the lyrics throughout Baltimore. But the song didn't become the national anthem until Herbert Hoover officially proclaimed it the nation's song on March 3, 1931.

Hobo Convention

The town of Britt, Iowa, has become known nationally for its annual Hobo Convention, which features carnivals, a talent show, servings of mulligan stew and a hobo parade.

Counting Stars

On a clear night and with an unobstructed view of the night sky, the careful observer should be able to count roughly 2,500 different stars without the use of a telescope or any other magnification device.

PAM

The letters PAM, as in the cooking spray, stand for Product of Arthur Meyerhoff. Along with his partner, Leon Rubin, Meyerhoff first marketed the product on local Chicago TV cooking shows.

Fertility

A study of 3,000 women by the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna found that those born in the months of June, July or August were, on average, less fertile than those born in other months.

Earmuffs

Chester Greenwood, inventor of the earmuffs, is celebrated each year in Farmington, Maine. The Chester Greenwood Day includes old-time vaudeville shows, invention displays and a parade.

Kilt

The kilt, often believed to have originated in Scotland, actually came from Egypt's Old Kingdom (2700 - 2200 B.C.E.). The kilt was also worn on the island of Crete from 2500 to 1100 B.C.E. and in Persia during the sixth century B.C.E. Historians say the kilt most likely came to Scotland with the Romans.

Running Times

At age 10, the average boy doesn't run much faster than the average girl. The girl completes a 50-yard dash in 8.9 seconds while 10-year-old-males run the same distance in 8.6 seconds. But by age 17, the difference is larger with females running the same distance in 8.2 seconds while males complete the 50-yard dash in an average of 6.7 seconds.

Liberty

The Statue of Liberty sits in New York Harbor, but it is within Jersey City's waters, making it a part of New Jersey, not of New York. But New York gained control of Bedloe Island and the statue in an 1834 compact with the state of New Jersey.

Nation's Father

President John Tyler, more than George Washington, probably should have been known as the Father of Our Country. After all, Tyler had 15 children, more than any other U.S. President.

Jogging

When running, the average jogger's heel comes in contact with the ground about 1,500 times per mile or 10,000 times per hour. As a result, running for one hour adds up, resulting in the runner contacting the ground with 4.5 million cumulative foot-pounds of force.

Squirrel Slippers

The original Cinderella wore "pantoufles en vair" or slippers made of white squirrel fur. But when Charles Perrault retold the story in his 1697 book, "Stories or Tales from Times Past, with Morals," he wrote that she wore "pantoufles en verre" or glass slippers. The mistake stuck.

Snake Bites

More than 8,000 people are bitten by poisonous snakes each year in the U.S. The bites are rarely fatal, however. On average fewer than 10 snake-bite victims actually die.

Darwin's Frogs

Male Darwin's frogs swallow the eggs laid by the female. The eggs grow in the male's vocal pouch before hopping out of his mouth once they have fully developed.

OPEC

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) formed in 1960 to unify member countries' petroleum policies and prices. The founding members were Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

Ed Sullivan

When Ed Sullivan booked The Beatles to appear on his variety television show, he hadn't heard them perform, but he had seen the screaming crowd waiting to greet them at Heathrow Airport.

Bulgogi Burger

McDonald's franchises in Korea offer a specialty pork Bulgogi Burger. In Japan, customers can order a Teriyaki McBurger. Switzerland is home to the Swiss Vegi Mac.

Pigeon Eggs

Female pigeons cannot lay eggs if alone. They must be able to see another pigeon in order for their ovaries to function. If there are no other pigeons, a mirror will work just as well.

NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) first formed in 1949 during the Soviet blockade of Berlin. The organization's original members include Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Sumerian Elvis

A university project to translate all of Elvis's songs into the ancient Sumerian language ran into trouble with the song "Blue Suede Shoes" as the Sumerians had no shoes, let alone any that were blue or suede. The problem was finally solved with the new title "Sandals of Sky Blue Leather."

Deadly Sins

The seven deadly sins set forth by scholastic theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas are anger, covetousness, envy, gluttony, lust, pride and sloth. The seven virtues are faith, hope, love, prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance.

Olive Oil

Although much of the world's olive oil is bottled in Italy, more of it actually comes from Spain than from any other country. Italy ranks second in the world for olive oil production, followed by the country of Greece.

Foreign-born

In the 20th century, two U.S. Supreme Court justices were foreign-born. Justice David J. Brewer (1889-1910) was born in what is now Turkey to missionary parents, and Justice Felix Frankfurter (1939-1962) came to the United States from Vienna, Austria, at the age of 12.

Harvard

Harvard University was named for a young Puritan minister, John Harvard. But Harvard didn't found Harvard. The minister died two years after the school had been started, leaving half his estate and his collection of 400 books to the university. The General Court of Massachusetts renamed the school in honor of Harvard's donation.

U.S. Coins

The phrase "In God We Trust" was first put on U.S. coins by Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase in 1864. Chase intended for the new motto to serve as a morale-booster for soldiers in the Civil War.

Alcohol

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the following cities spend more per household on alcohol than anywhere else in the country: Miami; Anchorage; San Diego; Seattle; Boston; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; Baltimore; Milwaukee; and Dallas-Fort Worth.

Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy, a condition that causes sufferers to fall asleep at any moment and usually without advance warning, affects two out of every 10,000 people in America. In Japan, however, 16 out of every 10,000 people are narcoleptic.

Kemo Sabe

When Tonto referred to the Lone Ranger as "Kemo Sabe," the title was intended to mean "faithful friend." In the Apache tongue, however, it actually means "white shirt," and the Navajo version translates as "soggy shrub."

Pyrex

By the time that Corning introduced Pyrex glass to the world, the company had already boiled and fried more than nine tons of potatoes in order to make sure the revolutionary new cookware really worked as promised.

Day Care

Weekly day care for children is most expensive in the cities of Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.; Anchorage, Alaska; Manchester, N.H.; and Washington, D.C. Day care is least expensive in Ogden, Utah; Mobile, Ala.; Jackson, Miss.; Huntington, W. Va.; and Columbia, S.C.

Cinderella

The story of Cinderella has been made into more movies than has any other tale, resulting in at least 60 film productions throughout the world. The first movie about Cinderella was made in 1898.

Dead Sea

The Dead Sea, which is seven to eight times saltier than any ocean, isn't actually dead. The inland body of water hosts brine shrimp as well as at least a few salt-tolerant microorganisms.

Jouhikko

A rare instrument known as the jouhikko was revived for the musical version of "The Lord of the Rings" in 2006. The instrument has three horsehair strings over a sound box. It is bowed with one hand like a violin while the performer's other hand lifts the strings rather than pressing them against frets as is the case with other stringed instruments. Musicians who can actually play the jouhikko describe its sound as "very liquid."

Turkey Drop

In Arkansas, the town of Yellville holds an annual Turkey Drop in which live turkeys are dropped out of a low-flying plane in hopes that they will slowly descend into the streets. Unfortunately, many of the birds are killed or injured each year. But the town of Yellville's plans to protect the birds by using frozen turkeys attached to parachutes one year turned into an even larger disaster as one destroyed the roof of a car and another smashed through a front porch.

Sphinx

In Egypt, a sphinx generally has a man's head and a lion's body. But in ancient Greece, the sphinx more commonly had the head and chest of a woman, the body of a lion and wings.

Pompeii

Residents of ancient Pompeii weren't killed by lava when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 C.E. Instead, an estimated 2,000 people were killed by fumes from the volcano and then covered by about 20 feet of ash.

Happy Birthday

Published in 1893 as "Good Morning to All," the tune, written by sisters Mildred and Patty Hill, went on to become the most-sung song in America. Over time, of course, the name and the lyrics changed. Today we know it as "Happy Birthday."

Frisbee

A Frisbee thrown perfectly should spin at a rate of six revolutions per second. Researchers also conclude that successful Frisbee flight depends on the front being 10 degrees higher than the back when the Frisbee is thrown,

Rock 'n' Roll

An American musical giant once declared of rock 'n' roll, "It's phony and false, written and played for the most part by cretinous goons." Who said it? Frank Sinatra, and he was talking about Elvis Presley. Just a few years later, Sinatra paid Presley to sing on a TV special.

Perry Mason

Erle Stanley Gardner, known for his creation of Perry Mason, also worked as a lawyer. Gardner was known for defending poor Chinese and Mexicans as a California lawyer. He also founded the Court of Last Resort in the 1940s in order to help people who had been unjustly imprisoned.

William Harley

William Harley completed his first power-cycle in 1903 with the help of brothers Arthur and Walter Davidson. But the machine couldn't make it up Milwaukee's modest hills without help from its rider, so the boys started work, designing a larger engine. The rest is history.

Candy

Ogden Nash wrote the ditty, "Candy is dandy / But liquor is quicker," in 1931. He updated the piece in 1968: "Candy is dandy / But liquor is quicker. / Pot is not."

Herring

Most fans of herring know that a kipper is a split and smoked herring. A bloater is a whole smoked herring. A buckler is a hot smoked herring with the guts removed.

Barbie

Around three Barbie dolls are sold every second of every day. Barbie has had close to 50 pets, including 21 dogs, 14 horses, 3 ponies, 6 cats, a parrot, a chimp, a panda and a zebra.

Who's on First?

In Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First?" dialogue, there is no right fielder. Following are the players' names and their positions: Who (first base), What (second base), I Don't Know (third base), Why (left field), Because (center field), Tomorrow (pitcher), Today (catcher) and I Don't Give a Darn (shortstop).

Cigarettes

Around the world, about 15 billion cigarettes are sold every day, which amounts to about 10 million per minute. The World Health Organization estimates that cigarettes contribute to 10 percent of all deaths.

Directory

New Haven, Connecticut, was home to the country's first telephone directory. Published in 1878, the phone book had only about 50 names. The country's second such directory was published in San Francisco the same year with more than 170 listings.

King of Stamps

The most popular stamp ever issued by the U.S. Postal Service was the 1993 portrait of Elvis, which sold more than 124 million. The next bestselling celebrity commemorative is of Marilyn Monroe. It sold 46.3 million stamps, making it the sixth most popular of all U.S. stamps ever made. Bugs Bunny's commemorative stamp sold 45.3 million.

U.S.S. Chesapeake

When the "U.S.S. Chesapeake" was fighting a British ship off Boston Harbor in 1813, the captain's famous last words were, "Don't give up the ship!" The line has gone down in history, but the facts have been conveniently forgotten. That's because the crew did in fact give up the ship. They surrendered, and the "Chesapeake" was towed away.

Sonnets

Of William Shakespeare's 154 sonnets, the first 126 are addressed to a young male friend. Sonnets 127 to 152 are written to a "dark lady." The last two sonnets are adaptations of a Greek epigram and don't fit into either previous category.