The U.S. Congress passed a law in 1832 requiring all American citizens to spend one day each year fasting and praying. For the most part, people ignored the law, and no effort was made to enforce the legislation.

Lebanon is the only country in the Middle East that does not have a desert.

The phrase "a red letter day" dates back to 1704, when holy days were marked in red letters in church calendars.

The Jardine River in Australia’s Cape York Peninsula is home to Crocodylus porosus, the saltwater or estuarine crocodile. It is the largest and perhaps most dangerous of all 23 species of crocodilians.

Fire walking is a religious ceremony practiced in many parts of the world, including the Indian subcontinent, Malaya, Japan, China, Fiji Islands, Tahiti, Society Islands, New Zealand, Mauritius, Bulgaria, and Spain. It was also practiced in classical Greece and in ancient India and China. The most common practice is of walking swiftly over a ...Read more

James Ramsey invented a steam-driven motorboat in 1784. He ran it on the Potomac River, and the event was witnessed by George Washington.

A squirrel has no color vision, it sees only in black and white. Every part of its field of vision, however, is in perfect focus, not just straight ahead, as with humans.

Italian director Federico Fellini was among the most intensely autobiographical film directors the cinema has known. After holding jobs as a crime reporter and a caricature artist, Fellini began his film career as a gag writer for Italian actor Aldo Fabrizi. He later turned to directing, and won the Foreign Language Film Oscar for Federico ...Read more

In 1982, its inaugural year, The Weather Channel lost $10.6 million, and came dangerously close to being shut down. In fact, the network didn't make any money until 1985. Since then, The Weather Channel has steadily grown to where it is now seen in more than 67 million homes, or 98 percent of

Brazil is a land with a lot of big creatures -- it is home to the world's largest snake (the anaconda, measuring up to 35 feet in length), largest spider, largest rodent (the capybara, a sort of guinea pig the size of a police dog), and the world's largest ant.

There are 17 recognized species of walnuts -- all are edible. “Persians” are considered the most tasty.

One of the greatest orators of all time, - Demosthenes (384? – 322 B.C.) was once a stutterer who stubbornly trained himself to stop, reportedly by putting pebbles in his mouth and practicing speaking aloud.

Dr. John Gorrie of Appalachicola, Florida, invented mechanical refrigeration in 1851. He patented his device on May 6, 1851. There is a statue which honors this "Father of Modern Day Air Conditioning" in the Statuary Hall of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

White mustard seeds are used to make yellow mustard; the color comes from turmeric. Spicy mustards are concocted from brown mustard seeds.

In the year 1886, Herman Hollerith had the idea of using punched cards to keep and transport information, a technology used up to the late 1970s. This device was originally constructed to allow the 1890 census to be tabulated. In 1896, the Tabulating Machine Company was founded by Hollerith. Twenty-eight years later in 1924, after several take-...Read more

The Agulhas current in the western Indian Ocean is the fastest ocean current in the world. Even so, its speed is only 6 miles per hour.

A mile on the ocean and a mile on land are not the same distance. On the ocean, a nautical mile measures 6,080 feet. A land or statute mile is 5,280 feet.

Gardenias and orange blossoms both smell terrific, but when placed together in the same bouquet, they will neutralize each other's odor and there will be no smell at all.

In the game of craps, the slang term "Little Phoebe" refers to a roll of 5 on the dice.

The Adelie penguin bears the name of French explorer Dumont d'Urville's beloved wife.