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.