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.

Prior to the invention of lawn mowers, lawns were cut with scythes, but this operation was ineffective unless the lawn was wet. The sale of lawn mowers got a great boost when lawn tennis came into vogue in England in 1870.

Lack of sleep is becoming such a problem for American adults that 8 percent say they occasionally or frequently fall asleep at work, and 19 percent say they make errors because of sleepiness.

Ostriches are such fast runners, they can outrun a horse. Male ostriches can roar like a lion.

M. R. Bissell had a china shop in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and was allergic to the dusty straw scattered on the floor after unpacking china from crates. So, he invented the first carpet sweeper in 1876 to clean up the mess and protect his sinuses.

The average house wife walks 10 miles a day around the house doing her chores. In addition, she walks nearly 4 miles and spends 25 hours a year making beds.

Because Post had revealed Country Squares before it was ready, Post's biggest competitor Kellogg was able to develop their own version in six months. Post released their Country Squares in the same year, but sales lagged behind Pop-Tarts. It is widely believed that Country Squares failed because of their name. In the progressive culture of the ...Read more

The average American uses eight times as much fuel energy as an average person anywhere else in the world.

Despite man's fear and hatred of the wolf, it has not ever been proved that a non-rabid wolf ever attacked a human.

Colonel Waring, New York City Street Cleaning Commissioner, was responsible for organizing the first rubbish-sorting plant for recycling in the United States in 1898.

Paul Revere, the greatest silversmith of colonial America, was a failure at his second trade, copperplate engraving. His artistry on copper was poor, and he worked at engraving only when he was financially hard-put.

In 1900, there were 8,000 cars in the United States; by 1919, there were 6 million cars in the U.S.

Credit for the invention of the parachute goes to Sebastien Lenormand in 1783. In 1495, Leonardo da Vinci designed a pyramid-shaped chute. J. P. Blanchard (1753-1809), a Frenchman, is said to have been the first to use a parachute. In 1785, he dropped a dog in a basket, to which a parachute was attached, from a balloon high in the air. Blanchard...Read more

February 18, 1930 marks the first flight by a cow in an airplane. Elm Farm Ollie, while watched by reporters, produced milk that was put into containers and parachuted over St. Louis, Missouri. Can you spell "publicity stunt"?

Americans consume about 138 billion cups of coffee a year.

Undertakers report that human bodies do not deteriorate as quickly as they used to. The reason, they believe, is that the modern diet contains so many preservatives that these chemicals tend to prevent the body from decomposition too rapidly after death.

The one extra room new-home shoppers want the most is the laundry room, at 95 percent. Only 66 percent of new-home buyers request an extra room to use as an office.

Many cities in our country bear the names of other countries. The U.S. city of Mexico can be found in the states of Indiana, Maine, and Missouri.

Major-league baseball clubs didn't start putting numbers on uniforms until the 1930s. As a result, Ty Cobb, who broke many batting and base-stealing records while playing with the Detroit Tigers (1905-1926), didn't have his uniform number retired. This was, simply, because Cobb never was issued a

Thirty-two percent of computer data loss cases are due to human error.