The Black Mission fig, the most popular variety of fig growing in desert areas, is so named because of its color and because it was the variety introduced at the California and Southwestern Spanish missions.

The longest muscle in the human body is the sartorius. This narrow muscle of the thigh passes obliquely across the front of the thigh and helps rotate the leg to the position assumed in sitting cross-legged. Its name is a derivation of the adjective "sartorial," a reference to what was the traditional cross-legged position of tailors (or "...Read more

One of the deadliest diseases in the world is Japanese River Fever, with a mortality rate of more than 50 percent. It is found only near rivers in certain areas of Japan, China, Korea, Burma, and India.

Oscar-winning director James Cameron (Titanic) was a risk-taker even when a boy. He organized his playmates in building a functional catapult that threw boulders large enough to make impact craters. He and his buddies also created a miniature diving vessel to send mice to the bottom of the

The totalitarian superstate of Oceania is comprised of four ministries which are housed in huge pyramidal structures, each roughly 300 metres high and visible throughout London, displaying the three slogans of the party on their facades. The Ministry of Peace (Minipax) concerns itself with conducting Oceania's perpetual wars. The Ministry of ...Read more

During the Civil War, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant believed that onions would prevent dysentery and other physical ailments. He reportedly sent the following message via wire to the War Department: "I will not move my army without onions." Within a day, the U.S. government sent three trainloads of

In the pilot episode of the American televison show The Partridge Family, the group of musical siblings convinces their mother to help them out by singing with them as they record a pop song in their garage. Through the efforts of the 10-year-old son Danny, they find a manager who helps make the song a Top-40 hit. After some more convincing, Mom...Read more

During his rule, Elagabalus (c. 203 – March 11, 222) showed a disregard for Roman religious traditions and sexual taboos. He was married as many as five times and is reported to have prostituted himself in the imperial palace. Elagabalus replaced Jupiter, head of the Roman pantheon, with a new god, Deus Sol Invictus, and forced leading members...Read more

A bee has five eyes, two large compound eyes on either side of its head, and three ocelli (primitive eyes) on top of its head to detect light intensity.

The Greenwich Observatory is currently located at Cambridge University's Institute of Astronomy in Central England. However, the site of the observatory was originally in Greenwich, and was arbitrarily established in 1884 as longitude 0 degrees. The observatory was moved because London's fog made celestial observations difficult. A plaque in the...Read more

In Pentagon doublespeak, a "combat emplacement evacuator" is a shovel.

Suzie Derkins is the only character in Bill Watterson's comic strip, "Calvin and Hobbes," to have a first and last name. Calvin's parents have no names at all.

In Mexico, Día de la Madre -- Mother's Day -- is celebrated the day before it's observed in the United States. It is a huge gala event, with mariachis starting at noon and family festivities throughout the day.

Each year, more than 300,000 American teenagers become afflicted with some form of venereal disease.

An organization called SCROOGE was formed in 1979 in Charlottesville, Virginia. The acronym stands for the "Society to Curtail Ridiculous, Outrageous and Ostentatious Gift Exchanges."

The original story of a knight rescuing a damsel in distress from the clutches of a marauding dragon came in the tale of Saint George. He was a Roman Calvary officer that rode to the aid of a town in Cappadocia. The people their had been plagued by a dragon and sacrificed their best sheep to try and appease it, failing they offered up a village ...Read more

Wood frogs are freeze-tolerant and spend winters frozen on land, only to thaw in the spring and begin their breeding process in vernal ponds.

The wood of a pencil starts out as two sections, each of which has a long groove. The graphite goes into the groove, and the two pieces are glued together.

In the U.S. and France, a septillion is represented by the number 1 followed by 24 zeroes; in Great Britain and Germany, it is the number 1 followed by 42 zeroes.

The King Ranch in Texas is bigger than the state of Rhode Island. It comprises 1.25 million acres and was the first ranch in the world to be completely fenced in. At one time, its borders were guarded by armed patrol.