There are an estimated 285,000 species of flowering plants on Earth compared to 148,000 for all other plants. Flowering plants are very important because they provide food for herbivores - plant-eating animals - and for humans.

Rev. Jesse Jackson, during an interview on NBC-TV's Meet the Press in June 1988, remarked, "There's nothing wrong with having a big ego. It's all right to have a Rolls Royce ego so long as you don't have a bicycle brain. If they coordinate, you can work it out pretty well."

During the mating season, male porcupines bristle their quills at each other and chatter their teeth in rage before attacking. All porcupines at this time become very vocal: grunting, whining, chattering, even barking and mewing at each other.

Small animals like bats and shrews consume up to one and one half times their body weight in food every day. For an adult male, this would be like eating 1,000 quarter-pound cheeseburgers a day, every day; or about 50 Thanksgiving dinners a day.

Rings have perpetuated the talismanic role of the diamond through the ages. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods, every ring that was set with a precious stone was not so much a piece of jewelry, but an amulet that conveyed the magical powers of the stone upon the wearer.

In Scotland, New Year's Eve is called hogmanay, and is an occasion when young people go about singing and seeking gifts.

People in Sweden, Japan, and Canada are more likely to know the population of the United States than are Americans.

Las Vegas means "the meadows" in Spanish. Ironically, the city in the desert was once abundant in water and vegetation.

Living creatures create tiny weather systems called microclimates in their nests and burrows. For instance, bees fan their wings at the hive entrance during hot weather. This makes a cooling draft blow through the hive.

Robert Mitchum was an actor's actor. He enjoyed his celebrity, but never took being a star very seriously. His movie career began during World War II, when the rugged, sleepy-eyed actor was fired from an aircraft plant because he threw a punch at his foreman. Acting in the movies, he figured, couldn't be any worse. Years later, he was arrested ...Read more

The largest painting measures 92,419 square feet and was completed by ID Cultur in Amsterdam, Netherlands on August 14, 1996.

The name of the game “cricket” is believed to have been derived in the late 1500s from the Middle French word criquet, meaning “goalpost.”

The Coast Guard Academy in July of 1976 was the first U.S. service academy to admit women.

Postmen in Victorian England were popularly called "robins." This was because their uniforms were red. The British Post Office grew out of the carrying of royal dispatches. Red was considered a royal color, so uniforms and letter-boxes were red. Christmas cards often showed a robin delivering

MGM film bathing beauty and box-office darling Esther Williams arrived on the Hawaiian island Kauai to film the musical, Pagan Love Song,(1950) co-starring Howard Keel, Rita Moreno, and Philip Costa. Overall, this film was fairly routine, but in it, Williams performed her first salt water swimming ballet. Williams was a great swimming athlete ...Read more

The correct response to the Irish greeting, "Top of the morning to you," is "And the rest of the day to yourself."

Life preservers and the lining of aviators' jackets used during World War II were made from fiber found in milkweed pods.

When airplanes were still a novel invention, seat belts for pilots were installed only after the consequence of their absence was observed to be fatal - several pilots fell to their deaths while flying upside down.

Mary was the second daughter and fifth child of Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. A stillborn sister and three short-lived brothers, including the prince Henry, had preceded her. Through her mother, she was a granddaughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, famous for driving the Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula, ...Read more