The letter "O" is the oldest letter. It has not changed in shape since its adoption in the Phoenician alphabet c. 1300 B.C.

George I, king of England from 1714 to 1727, could neither speak nor write the English language. He had no desire to learn the language of his new country, and made no attempt to do so in the 13 years he ruled.

In 1992, Pop-Tarts became the focus of controversy when Thomas Nangle sued Kellogg for damages, after his Pop-Tarts got stuck and caught fire in his toaster. The case gained notoriety when humor columnist Dave Barry wrote a column about starting a fire in his own kitchen with Pop-Tarts. In 1994, Texas A&M University professor Patrick Michaud ...Read more

Each 2-ounce bottle of Tabasco Sauce contains at least 720 drops of sauce. The fiery pepper sauce is produced by the McIlhenny family, and the McIlhenny Company was founded back in 1868 at Avery Island, Louisiana.

The little metal ring or cap attached to or near the end of a cane or wooden handle (such as on a paint brush) to prevent splitting is called a ferrule. Its name was derived from the Latin "viriola," meaning "little bracelet."

Beards are the fastest growing hairs on the human body. If the average man never trimmed his beard, it would grow to nearly 30 feet long in his lifetime.

In the 1530s, a printing press was set up in Mexico City, and the first Mexican newspaper was published there in 1541.

$1,000,000 in $1 bills would weigh approximately one ton. Placed in a pile it would be 360 feet (110 m) high as tall as 60 average adults standing on top of each other.

According to poetic legend, Lizzie Borden used her ax and gave her mother 40 whacks and her father 41. In actuality, the police accused her of giving her father 10 whacks and her stepmom 19. Lizzie was acquitted at her trial of the double murder.

In October 1993, the deliberately tasteless Beavis and Butt-head, MTV's animated top-rated series, was attacked for allegedly inspiring a 5-year-old child to start a fatal fire. In response, MTV agreed to run the controversial show in a later time spot and the writers agreed not to use references

Antarctica's inhabitants number about 1,000 people in winter and about 2,000 in summer. More people fill a football stadium for one game than have ever been to Antarctica, which is nearly twice the size of the United States. In fact, the Ross Ice Shelf, hundreds of feet thick, is about the same

The eighteenth-century politician and playboy John Wiles was arguing with a fellow politician, Lord Sandwich, who exclaimed: "Sir, you will die either of the pox or on the gallows." To which Wilkes reportedly replied: "Depending on whether I embrace your mistress or your principles."

Since the Lego Group began manufacturing blocks in 1949, more than 189 billion pieces in 2,000 different shapes have been produced. This is enough for about 30 Lego pieces for every living person on Earth.

The fingernails grow faster on the hand you favor. If you are right-handed; your right fingernails will grow faster; likewise the fingernails on the left hand of a left-handed person. The middle fingernail grows faster than all other nails.

Martin Van Buren, eighth president of the United States, was the first to be born a citizen of the United States. He was born in 1782, six years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The Chicago Cubs are the oldest original franchise in professional sports, dating back to the founding of the National League by team president Walter A. Hubert in 1876. Nicknamed the "lovable losers" of the North Side, the Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908 and have not played in the

Mercury has been known since about the third millennium B.C. The planet was given two names by the Greeks: Apollo, for its apparition as a morning star, and Hermes as an evening star. Greek astronomers knew, however, that the two names referred to the same body.

The official time ball for the U.S. is on top of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. As early as 1845, the U.S. Navy dropped a time ball every day at noon from atop a building on a hill overlooking Washington, D.C. People from many miles away could set their watches at noon. Ships anchored in the Potomac River could check their ...Read more

The hum of a hummingbird comes from the super-fast beat of the wings. The smallest ones beat their wings the fastest - up to 80 times per second. Even the slower beat of bigger hummingbirds (20 times per second) is so fast you can only see a blur.

Absinthe is often referred to as la Fee Verte ("The Green Fairy") because of its coloring - typically pale or emerald green, but sometimes clear. Due to its high proof and concentration of oils, absintheurs (absinthe drinkers) typically add three to five parts ice-cold water to a dose of absinthe, which causes the drink to turn cloudy (called "...Read more