In the Netherlands, the Begijnhof is an enclosed courtyard dating from the early fourteenth century. Hidden behind the frantic Spui shopping strip, it is an anachronistic oasis of tranquility, with tiny houses surrounding a pristine courtyard. The Begijnhof was formerly a convent inhabited by the Beguines, a Catholic order of unmarried or ...Read more

Television's "I Love Lucy" began as a radio show - My Favorite Husband, in which Lucy played the scheming, middle-class wife of a bank vice president. CBS wanted to move the show to television - but almost scrapped the idea because of Lucy's insistence that Desi Arnaz play her husband. Lucy got

The first "technology" corporation to move into California's Silicon Valley was Hewlett-Packard, in 1938. Stanford University engineers Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard started their company in a Palo Alto garage with $1,538. Their first product was an audio oscillator bought by Walt Disney Studios

An artificial spider and web are often included in the decorations on Ukrainian Christmas trees. A spider web found on Christmas morning is believed to bring good luck.

The electric organs in an electric eel make up four-fifths of its body.

Pieces of bread were used to erase lead pencil before rubber came into use.

Chalk is made from tiny plankton fossils.

Giraffes are the only animals born with horns. Both males and females are born with bony knobs on the forehead.

Probably not. Medical experts have observed that people who stutter rarely do when they are alone or talking to a pet.

The hottest day ever in Canada was July 5, 1937 when the mercury soared to 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) in Midale and Yellowgrass, Saskatchewan. But that's downright chilly compared to the United States where the temperature hit 56.7 (135 F) degrees Celsius on July 10, 1913 at Death Valley, California, and Al'azizyah, Libya, where ...Read more

The World's Largest Catsup Bottle stands proudly next to Route 159, just south of downtown Collinsville, Illinois. This unique, 170-foot-tall water tower was built in 1949 by W.E. Caldwell Company for the G.S. Suppiger catsup bottling plant. In 1995, due largely to the efforts of the Catsup Bottle Preservation Group, this piece of local history ...Read more

According to one source, the Los Angeles Dodgers coined the term "high five." Outfielder Glenn Burke is credited with originating it in 1977.

There are more people in New York City (7,895,563) than there are in the states of Alaska, Vermont, Wyoming, South Dakota, New Hampshire, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Hawaii, Delaware, and New Mexico combined.

The telephone area code for a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean is 871.

A recent study conducted by the Shyness Clinic in Menlo Park, California, revealed that almost 90 percent of Americans label themselves as shy.

This is one of the historical dental trivia questions that people have been asking for many years. It is believed that the defenders of the Alamo were probably among the first to try chewing gum. The Mexican dictator Santa Anna is credited with introducing it. Here's another question about gum. Sugarless chewing gum is actually good for your ...Read more

Laverne De Fazio's favorite drink in the TV series Laverne and Shirley was Pepsi and milk.

The tarantula spends most of its life within its burrow, which is an 18-inch vertical hole with an inch-wide opening. When male tarantulas are between the ages of 5 to 7 years, they leave the burrow in search of a female, usually in the early fall. This migration actually signals the end of their life cycle. The males mate with as many females ...Read more

An adult human head weighs about 12 pounds (5.4kg), or the same as a light bowling ball.

Camp Snoopy is the largest indoor themed entertainment park in America. Located inside The Mall of The Americas in Bloomington, Minnesota, Camp Snoopy sits under 1.2 miles of skylights which allow 70 percent of the natural light to enter the Park. Camp Snoopy is home to over 400 trees and 30,000 live plants. Over 20,000 lady bugs have been ...Read more