For the Record

Earmuffs

2012-02-14T09:54:00.000-07:00

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

2012-02-13T09:54:00.000-07:00

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

2012-02-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

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

2012-02-11T14:02:00.000-07:00

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

2012-02-10T14:01:00.000-07:00

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

2012-02-09T11:35:00.000-07:00

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

2012-02-08T12:35:00.000-07:00

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

2012-02-07T10:22:00.000-07:00

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

2012-02-06T10:22:00.000-07:00

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

2012-02-05T09:21:00.000-07:00

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

2012-02-04T10:21:00.000-07:00

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

2012-02-03T10:20:00.000-07:00

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

2012-02-02T10:05:00.000-07:00

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

2012-02-01T10:05:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-31T10:04:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-30T09:17:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-29T08:16:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-28T09:16:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-27T08:15:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-26T09:56:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-23T08:55:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-22T08:54:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-20T09:25:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-19T08:25:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-18T12:49:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-17T12:49:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-16T08:16:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-15T08:15:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-14T09:15:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-13T09:15:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-12T10:11:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-11T09:11:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-10T10:10:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-09T08:28:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-08T08:27:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-07T08:27:00.000-07:00

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?

2012-01-06T09:26:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-05T13:24:00.000-07:00

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.

King of Stamps

2012-01-03T14:23:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-02T09:31:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-01T09:31:00.000-07:00

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.

Coney Island

2011-12-31T09:31:00.000-07:00

In the heyday of Coney Island, sideshow stars included Indestructible Indio, Koko the Killer Clown, Zenobia the Bearded Lady, Ula the Painproof Rubber Girl and Helen Melon: "She needs four men to hug her and a boxcar to lug her."

Hitler's Watercolors

2011-12-30T09:30:00.000-07:00

A bidder paid $80,000 in 1998 for two landscape watercolors and a line drawing by Adolf Hitler. The works, however, had been valued at almost $150,000.

Lewis Howard Latimer

2011-12-29T09:42:00.000-07:00

Lewis Howard Latimer, the only African-American man working in Thomas Edison's lab, earned patents for an electric lamp in 1881 and a carbon light bulb filament in 1882.

Sinbad

2011-12-28T08:42:00.000-07:00

Sinbad the Sailor, a character whose story is told in "The Thousand and One Nights," is widely believed by readers to be an Arabian. But the merchant had set sail from Basra, which is now known as Iraq, making Sinbad an Iraqi.

Jumping Flea

2011-12-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

The name of the ukulele comes from the Hawaiian words "uku" (flea) and "lele" (jumping), but the instrument isn't Hawaiian. The instrument, which evolved from a small guitar called a machete, was called a cavanquinho when it was first brought to the islands by Portuguese sailors.

Oreo

2011-12-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

The world's best-selling cookie, the Oreo, was first sold in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1912. Nabisco now makes and sells about 6 billion Oreos each year, which means that sales of the cookie account for about $1 in every $10 spent on groceries in the United States.

Gandhi

2011-12-25T10:52:00.000-07:00

Mohandas Gandhi claimed that his technique of passive or peaceful resistance was inspired by the New Testament, the Bhagavad Gita and Leo Tolstoy's 1899 novel "Resurrection."

Talk Show

2011-12-24T10:52:00.000-07:00

A recent British study found that watching a talk show each day raises a person's intelligence quotient or IQ by an average of five points. Drinking coffee adds another two points. Drinking orange juice and listening to classical music, however, produces no significant improvement.

Hemingway

2011-12-23T08:34:00.000-07:00

Ernest Hemingway may have been a great writer, but editors hold that he wasn't much for spelling. For instance, Hemingway often included such words as "professessional" and "archiologist" in his finished manuscripts.

Postal System

2011-12-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

The Continental Congress set up a postal system in 1775 and appointed Benjamin Franklin as postmaster general. But the U.S. government didn't start issuing stamps until 1847, 22 years after setting up a national dead letter department.

Nuclear Security

2011-12-21T09:33:00.000-07:00

During the Cold War, the U.S. spent an average of $3.7 billion per year on its nuclear arms program. The Department of Energy now spends more than $10 billion per year on "nuclear security."

Wright Crash

2011-12-20T09:33:00.000-07:00

Orville Wright made the first sustained flight at Kitty Hawk, remaining in the air for 12 seconds. Orville also was involved in the first major aircraft accident. A few minutes into a 1908 flight, a split propeller downed Orville's plane. His passenger, Army lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, was killed. Orville survived with a broken leg and four fractured ribs.

Vocabulary

2011-12-19T09:32:00.000-07:00

English contains more words than any of the world's other active languages. It has about 455,000 active words and 700,000 that are considered dead. The typical adult American knows about 20,000 word families, each containing an average of seven closely-related words.

Continent Crossing

2011-12-18T08:44:00.000-07:00

American explorers Lewis and Clark come in third for the continent-crossing record book. Vasco de Balboa was the first non-native person to cross North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Second place goes to William Mackenzie, who crossed Canada and then went up to the Arctic at least a decade before Jefferson commissioned Lewis and Clark to make their journey.

SPF

2011-12-17T07:43:00.000-07:00

SPF 15 rated sunscreen absorbs 93 percent of the sun's UV radiation. SPF 30 absorbs 97 percent. Water-resistant sun protection products must maintain their SPF level after the wearer has been in the water for 40 minutes. Waterproof products maintain their SPF level for up to 80 minutes in the water.

Bartlett's

2011-12-16T08:43:00.000-07:00

"Bartlett's Familiar Quotations" quotes 2,200 people. Of these, only 164 are women. But experts claim this is a huge improvement. The first edition, released in 1855, quoted only four women.

Adulthood

2011-12-15T07:42:00.000-07:00

Experts claim that until the creation of the printing press, adulthood was often equated with mastery of spoken language. This means that infancy ended at age 7 and adulthood started immediately after.

Hoover Dam

2011-12-14T13:34:00.000-07:00

Hoover Dam, located near Las Vegas, sends most of its power to Arizona and Southern California. Only about 24 percent of the electricity generated at the dam goes to the state of Nevada, and Nevada Power, the company that supplies electricity for Las Vegas, purchases only 4 percent of its energy from Hoover Dam.

Tourists

2011-12-13T13:34:00.000-07:00

The year 1989 was the first year in the history of the United States in which visitors to the country spent more money ($43 billion) than did American travelers outside U.S. borders ($42.6 billion).

Divorce

2011-12-12T13:34:00.000-07:00

Dr. Michael Svarer's study of 7,000 Western marriages found that the most likely time for divorce is about two years into a marriage. The good news is that after 14 years together, only one in 100 couples seeks a split.

Sundials

2011-12-11T10:52:00.000-07:00

Because ancient cultures used sundials to tell the time, many have wondered how they kept track of the hours after dark. The answer is that before the creation of mechanical clocks, many of these cultures used water clocks, similar in operation to sandglasses.

Prime Minister

2011-12-10T11:51:00.000-07:00

Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the world's first woman prime minister when she was appointed the prime minister of Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka) in 1960. The first woman democratically elected as head of state was Vigdis Finnbogadottir, elected president of Iceland in 1980.

Ping Pong

2011-12-09T09:16:00.000-07:00

Table tennis, invented by James Gibb in the late 1880s, originally was played with balls made from champagne corks and paddles constructed from cigar-box lids.

Atlas

2011-12-08T08:15:00.000-07:00

Atlas doesn't hold the world on his shoulders. Instead, the Greek poet Hesiud writes that Zeus condemned the Titan to bear "the great pillar that holds apart the earth and the heaven, a load not easy to be borne."

Wilt Chamberlain

2011-12-07T09:15:00.000-07:00

The Philadelphia Warriors Wilt Chamberlain was the first NBA player to score more than 3,000 points in a single season with 3,033 points in the 1960-1961 season. But Wilt the Stilt wasn't satisfied with his record. In the next season, Chamberlain topped the 4,000 point mark with a total of 4,029 points in the 1961-1962 season.

William Tell

2011-12-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

Many remember the legend of William Tell, the great hero of Switzerland, who obeyed the command of a cruel governor and shot an apple off his son's head with his crossbow. Tell later shot the governor as well. His son's name was Walter.

Blood

2011-12-05T11:41:00.000-07:00

The Red Cross reports the following as the most common reasons people give for not donating blood: I don't like needles; I'm afraid to give blood; I'm too busy; No one every asked me; I'm afraid I'll get AIDS; My blood isn't the right type; I don't have any blood to spare; I don't want to feel week afterward; and They won't want my blood.

Super Bowl

2011-12-04T11:40:00.000-07:00

Football beats out politics every time. Take the 1996 presidential election, for instance. Nearly 43 million more people watched the Super Bowl than voted in that year's election.

Xmas

2011-12-03T11:40:00.000-07:00

The X in Xmas wasn't put there by secular humanists. Instead, experts hold that the practice most likely was started by the Church in 16th-century religious publications. That's because the Greek letter "x" or "chi" is the first letter of the Greek word for Christ.

Towels

2011-12-02T11:39:00.000-07:00

Studies find that half of all male hotel guests steal items from their rooms. But the experts claim that at least two-thirds of female guests do the same. The Holiday Inn chain alone reports that it loses more than 1,500 towels a day.

Shell Oil

2011-12-01T11:48:00.000-07:00

Shell Oil got its start in the mid-1800s as a novelty shop run by Marcus Samuel. The London retailer found success selling boxes of seashells, many of which were imported. But the business really grew when Samuel found he could profitably export kerosene.

Poet Laureate

2011-11-30T10:47:00.000-07:00

No U.S. poet laureate served longer than Joseph Auslander, who filled the honorary position from 1937 to 1941. The second-longest serving poet laureate, Robert Pinsky, filled the post from 1997 to 2000.

Mmm

2011-11-29T11:47:00.000-07:00

On television's "The Simpsons," Homer Simpson's favorite phrase, "Mmm," has been used in response to the following: doughnuts, money, the Land of Chocolate, invisible Cola, free goo, caramel, organized crime, unprocessed fish sticks, a foot long chili dog and hog fat.

The Id

2011-11-28T09:20:00.000-07:00

Sigmund Freud first referred to the unconscious mind as "es," the indefinite pronoun "it" in German. But translators believed the English word "it" was too vague, which made Freud's idea sound unscientific, so they changed it to "id."

Tupperware

2011-11-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

The first piece of Tupperware, a bathroom cup, was created by Earl D. Tupper in 1942. It was introduced to department stores in 1945. Tupper later created the home party in order to increase sales of his popular plastic products.

Cutting

2011-11-26T08:19:00.000-07:00

Although the fine diner might carve a roast, other meats require other cutting terms. For instance, the true gourmet would thigh a pigeon, chine a salmon, culpon a trout, tranch a sturgeon, tame a crab, barb a lobster, wing a partridge, frusche a chicken, rear a goose or break a deer.

Panama Hats

2011-11-25T08:19:00.000-07:00

Panama hats are so named because the popular headgear was frequently shipped from Panama during the 19th century. But the hats, woven from the leaves of the Carludovica palmate tree, are actually made in Ecuador.

Other

2011-11-24T08:19:00.000-07:00

In the 1990 U.S. Census, almost 10 million respondents reported their race as "other." In follow-up questionnaires, 59 percent of those same respondents reported being white.

Washington's Birthday

2011-11-23T09:19:00.000-07:00

For the first 19 years of his life, George Washington celebrated his birthday on February 11. But when the British Parliament replaced the Julian calendar with the Gregorian calendar in 1752, Washington moved the annual observation of his birthday 11 days later to February 22.

Edith Roosevelt

2011-11-22T09:18:00.000-07:00

A lifelong Republican, Edith Roosevelt, who hated making public statements, broke her ban on public speaking in order to speak out against her cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and in support of his opponent, Herbert Hoover.

Play It Again

2011-11-21T12:43:00.000-07:00

Humphry Bogart is widely believed to have said, "Play it again, Sam," or something like it in the movie "Casablanca." The truth, however, is that he didn't. Ingrid Bergman comes the closest with her own line in the film: "Play it, Sam."

Groundhogs

2011-11-20T12:41:00.000-07:00

Researchers found that over a 60-year period in which groundhogs were used to predict the weather, the North American mammals were right only 28 percent of the time.

Evolution

2011-11-19T11:03:00.000-07:00

The first comprehensive theory of evolution couldn't possibly have been created by Charles Darwin. Why not? Because he'd only just been born. French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck formulated his theory on evolution in 1809, roughly 50 years before Darwin published his own book "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection."

Family Photos

2011-11-18T12:03:00.000-07:00

In America's family photos, Mom is in the picture more than three times as often as is Dad. On a weekly radio quiz program, one contestant suggested this may be because Dad is usually the family member taking the picture. If true, this would explain why even the family dog is featured 25 percent more often than is Dad.

Souvenirs

2011-11-17T12:03:00.000-07:00

First Lady Caroline Harrison (1832-1892) occupied herself while living in the White House by producing souvenir china for tourists. She even designed a line of china for the Harrison administration that was used for serving food at state functions.

Badger Forecast

2011-11-16T12:02:00.000-07:00

German immigrants to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, brought with them to America an old tradition in which badgers predict the weather. As it turns out, however, in Punxsutawney, groundhogs are easier to find.

Paparazzi

2011-11-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

Paparazzi are the hordes of aggressive photographers that closely follow every celebrity move. But the Italian word used to describe these journalists actually means mosquitoes.

Mayan Calendar

2011-11-14T09:19:00.000-07:00

The Mayans had a civil calendar or Haab that used 18 months of 20 days with a 5-day period at the end of each year, called Uayeb. The South American culture also had a divinatory calendar or Tzolkin, which had days numbered 1 to 13 and also named days in a cycle of 20 names. The sequence started over every 260 days and synchronized with the Haab every 52 Haab years, a time at which the Mayans believed the world might end. The master Mayan calendar, which purportedly counts down from the beginning of the world, is set to finally reach zero in December 2012.

The Commandments

2011-11-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

As usual, Hollywood didn't get it quite right. In "The Ten Commandments," starring Charlton Heston, Moses goes up Mount Sinai twice. In the biblical book of Exodus, however, Moses climbs Mount Sinai at least seven times.

Tourism

2011-11-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

France remains the world's most popular tourist destination with a little more than 10 percent of the world's travelers each year. The country of Spain is the second most popular travel spot.

Queen Victoria

2011-11-11T12:54:00.000-07:00

A total of eight geographic locations have been named for Queen Victoria: Victoria, Australia; Victoria, British Columbia, Canada; Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River at the borders of Zambia and Zimbabwe; Victoria Island (off northern Canada); Lake Victoria in Africa; Victoria Land, a row of mountains in Antarctica; Victoria Nile in Uganda; and Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada.

Istanbul

2011-11-10T11:53:00.000-07:00

Istanbul was once Constantinople, but that wasn't its original name. The largest city in Turkey was originally called Byzantium but was renamed in 330 C.E. when Roman emperor Constantine I made it the capital of his empire. The Ottoman Turks renamed it again in 1453.

Pasta

2011-11-09T11:53:00.000-07:00

Contrary to popular belief, Marco Polo couldn't have brought pasta to Italy from China. Why not? Probably, experts say, because Italy already had pasta. In fact, Marco Polo wrote in his journal that the people of China ate vermicelli and lasagna noodles, indicating that Italians had plenty of experience with pastas.

Carrots

2011-11-08T12:45:00.000-07:00

A serving of 2-1/2 ounces of carrots contains the entire recommended daily intake of Vitamin A. For the recommended daily intake of Vitamin C, 2-1/2 ounces of green peppers will do the trick.

Asia

2011-11-07T12:44:00.000-07:00

Asia most likely gets its name from the Assyrian word "asu," meaning "sunrise" or "east." The word originally applied to the east coast of the Aegean Sea and gradually came to stand for the entire continent.