Because of its use as a staple of U.S. Navy messes since the mid-nineteenth century, the humble white bean was christened "navy bean."

A convenient source of protein that required no refrigeration, 100 million pounds of Spam were shipped to Allied troops during World War II. Russian president Nikita Kruschev is quoted as saying, “Without Spam, we wouldn’t have been able to feed our army.” The emblematic hard-times food has

George Washington left no direct descendant. Though his wife Martha had four children by a previous marriage, Washington never sired a child to continue his family line.

It was Swiss chemist Jacques Edwin Brandenberger who invented cellophane, back in 1908.

After his death, Alexander the Great's remains were preserved in a huge crock of honey. Among the ancient Egyptians, it was common practice to bury the dead in this manner.

The females of many species of moths are wingless. To compensate for this, their bodies are always larger and heavier than those of their male counterparts.

North Carolina is the home of the Wright Brothers' National Monument and Visitor Center, near Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills. The center contains a recently refurbished replica of the original Wright Flyer as well as other "First Flight" memorabilia. The center commemorates one of America's historic moments. A nearby sand dune supports the ...Read more

John Adams, credited by Thomas Jefferson as the unofficial, tireless whip of the independence-minded, wrote his wife Abigail on July 3, "The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding

Halley's comet, one of the most famous ever known, returns to Earth every 76 years, and has been observed and recorded for more than 3,000 years.

When Princess Maria Theresa of Spain was betrothed to Louis XIV of France in 1615, she gave her fiancé an engagement gift of chocolate, packaged in an elegantly ornate chest. Their marriage was symbolic of the marriage of chocolate in the Spanish-Franco culture.

Before he catapulted to fame, Bob Dylan was paid $50 in 1960 for playing the harmonica on a Harry Belafonte album.

Praying mantids are one of the few insects that can turn their heads. They have excellent vision, and hunt insects (and sometimes small vertebrates) by stealth and a rapid striking attack. No mantis is poisonous.

There are more than 7,000 varieties of apples grown in the world. The apples from one tree can fill 20 boxes every year. Each box weighs an average 42 pounds.

Hale's 100 inch lens built in the early 1900s was the largest solid piece of glass made until then. The lens was made by a French specialist who poured the equivalent of ten thousand melted champagne bottles into a mold packed with heat maintaining manure so that the glass would cool slowly and

The white elephant is the sacred animal of Thailand.

Following the second flag raising, Rosenthal had the Marines of Easy Company pose for a group shot, which he called the "gung-ho" shot. A few days later he was asked if he had posed the photo. Thinking the questioner was referring to the 'gung-ho' picture, he replied "Sure." As a result of this , Rosenthal has repeatedly been accused of having ...Read more

The name "Mary Jane" is not only used for little girls; it’s also a kind of sugar candy and a style of shoe, as well as a nickname for marijuana.

The bouillon cube was once a common snack food in early America. Beef or veal stock was boiled down until it reached a hard jelly texture. The hard cakes didn't spoil, and trappers and hunters nibbled on them when tramping along on long journeys during the 1700s.

Bill Gates formed a company to sell a computerized traffic counting system to cities, which made $20,000 its first year. Business dropped sharply when customers learned Gates was only 14 years old.

Dolphins swim in circles while they sleep with the eye on the outside of the circle open to keep watch for predators. After a certain amount of time, they reverse and swim in the opposite direction with the opposite eye open.