A BILLION FACTOIDS

2008-05-09T10:51:00.000-07:00

Juan Vucetich was an Argentinian police official who was a pioneer in the science of fingerprinting, making the first positive identification of a criminal based on a bloody fingerprint in 1892. (Interestingly, the murderer was a woman.)

2008-05-08T13:03:00.000-07:00

Hannah Teter is an American snowboarder who has won the FIS World Cup several times and a gold medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Her discipline is the half-pipe and she is really incredibly hot.

2008-05-07T18:49:00.000-07:00

Most southern Americans know the tortilla only as a corn or wheat flatbread, but in Spain the word "tortilla" usually refers to a kind of potato cake or omelet.

2008-05-06T18:43:00.000-07:00

The Underwood Company's devil logo (for its deviled ham) was introduced in 1870 and is the oldest food trademark still in use in the United States. Although a jolly fellow in a jacket now, originally he was rather more demonic in appearance.

2008-05-05T22:05:00.000-07:00

Mount Kenya, the highest mountain in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa, is known in the Gikuyu language as Kirinyaga, which means 'God's resting place.' It is a volcanic peak.

2008-05-04T20:49:00.000-07:00

Pico de Orizaba is the highest peak in Mexico, at 18,490 feet tall. It is a volcanic mountain located on the border of the states of Puebla and Veracruz.

2008-05-03T12:01:00.000-07:00

The musical 'Fiddler on the Roof' takes its title from the painting 'The Fiddler' by Marc Chagall, which shows a fiddler looming over a town, his right foot apparently on a small house's roof. The musical is about Tevye and his five daughters, who move away from their father's traditions.

2008-04-30T18:14:00.000-07:00

Minamata disease is a neurological condition brought on by severe mercury poisoning. Ataxia, numbness, paralysis, loss of senses, and muscle weakness are all symptoms. It is named after a Japanese city where the Chisso company opened a chemical plant in 1908.

2008-04-28T15:41:00.000-07:00

The Iskar River is the longest in Bulgaria, at 230 miles. A tributary of the Danube, it flows near eastern Sofia, the capital.

2008-04-27T16:32:00.001-07:00

The $100,000 US note, the largest denomination ever issued, bore Woodrow Wilson's portrait.

2008-04-26T12:25:00.000-07:00

Amati was a dynasty of violin makers from Cremona, Italy, flourishing 1550-1740. Nicolo Amati is said to have taught Antonio Stradivarius.

2008-03-24T20:17:00.000-07:00

Even though this sounds ridiculous, the gene that helps determine physical structures in people, including teeth and appendages, has been named Sonic Hedgehog (SHH). Yes, after the video game character. It is one of three hedgehog homologues in mammals.

2008-03-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

An acre is a measurement of area equal to 4,840 square yards or 43,560 square feet. That is 4046.8 square meters. It was supposedly originally defined as the amount a man could plow with an ox in one day.

2008-03-22T21:10:00.000-07:00

"Land der Berge, Land am Strome" (Land of Mountains, Land on the River") is the national anthem of Austria. The music is adapted from a work by Mozart, itself adapted from an earlier work by Johann Holzer. The lyrics were written in 1946 by Paula von Preradović.

2008-03-21T20:03:00.000-07:00

A lepton is a fermion (a sub-atomic particle with 1/2 integer spin) that is opposed to a quark. An electron is a kind of lepton.

2008-03-20T17:59:00.000-07:00

The Helga pictures are a series of nearly 250 studies by Andrew Wyeth of his neighbor Helga Testorf, mainly painted between 1971-85 (though the final Helga picture was made in 2002).

2008-03-19T20:51:00.000-07:00

The clarinet is the only single reed woodwind usually found in orchestras. (The saxophone is the other single reed woodwind.)

2008-03-18T08:17:00.000-07:00

The Raccoon Lodge was the fraternity Ralph and Ed belonged to on 'The Honeymooners" (Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, chapter).

2008-03-17T14:49:00.000-07:00

Mary I of England, the daughter of Catharine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII, was known as 'Bloody Mary' Tudor for her persecution of Protestants.

2008-03-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

St. Joseph, Missouri was the gateway to the wild west and was the beginning point for the Pony Express, which ran to Sacramento, CA from 1860 to 1861.

2008-03-15T13:19:00.000-07:00

The Medes were an ancient Iranian people with an empire flourishing in 6th century BC. They were eventually supplanted by Cyrus and the Persian Empire.

2008-03-14T22:19:00.000-07:00

Albert Einstein (born on this date, Pi Day, 1879), was chosen as Time magazine's Person of the Century in 2000. Let's hear it for the egghead!

2008-03-13T11:49:00.000-07:00

Rabindranath Tagore wrote the words to the national anthems of both Bangladesh ("Amar Shonar Bangla") and India ("Jana Gana Mana").

2008-03-12T18:01:00.000-07:00

Fauvism was an early 20th-century art movement that emphasized strong color and brush strokes. The leaders of the movement were Henri Matisse and Andre Derain.

2008-03-11T20:13:00.000-07:00

Hydrogen is the most abundant of the chemical elements, constituting roughly 75% of the universe's elemental mass, though estimates vary up to 90%.

2008-03-10T12:18:00.000-07:00

In FIFA football, the goal is 24 feet wide and eight feet high (7.3 m by 2.44 m).

2008-01-05T19:44:00.000-08:00

Patagonia is the name given to the southwestern section of the Andes mountains and their environs, located in Chile and Argentina. The origin of the name is unclear.

2008-01-04T13:43:00.000-08:00

The Swanson & Sons company was not the first to introduce the frozen TV (re-heatable, later microwaveable) dinner --- that was most likely William Maxson, in 1944, who created them for serving on airplanes --- but popularized them, and trademarked the name, in 1952. The first Swanson TV dinner consisted of turkey, stuffing, cornbread, and buttered peas. What? No dessert?!

2008-01-03T18:22:00.000-08:00

Imhotep was an engineer, architect, and physician who lived in the 26th century BC. He is credited as the first doctor and architect we known by name. He designed the Pyramid of Djoser, the oldest pyramid in the world.

2008-01-02T12:13:00.000-08:00

The oribi is a small antelope of sub-Sahran Africa. About 3-4 feet long and 2 feet high, it's known for the loud whistle it makes when alarmed.

2008-01-01T10:45:00.000-08:00

Bonn, the capital of West Germany until 1990, is located on the Rhine river.

2007-12-28T19:48:00.000-08:00

The Bathtub Hoax was the result of a humor piece written in 1917 by H.L. Mencken. Titled "A Neglected Anniversary," it insinuated that Millard Fillmore popularized the bathtub by installing one in the White House.

2007-11-10T20:35:00.000-08:00

The ironically-named Speedwell was the second of two ships meant to take the Pilgrims from Plymouth to Virginia. After it was found to be taking water twice, the passengers were all transferred to the Mayflower and the voyage proceeded without the Speedwell.

2007-11-09T20:58:00.000-08:00

Frederic Chopin Airport, located in Warsaw and named after its resident composer (who left the city in 1831, never to return). It was formerly called Okecie Airport. It is the busiest airport in Poland.

2007-11-08T16:46:00.000-08:00

St. Louis, Missouri, is located on the eastern border of the state, on the western bank of the Mississippi River (which forms the border with Illinois). The Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois rivers converge north of the city (thus the flag design); however, the River des Peres is within the city and flows into the Mississippi.

2007-03-29T20:17:00.000-07:00

Copperheads was a name given to Northern Democrats who opposed the Civil War and sympathized with the South, so named by their opponents because they were dangerous. Also called Butternuts and Peace Democrats.

2007-01-02T20:27:00.000-08:00

The United Arab Emirates is a federation of seven emirates located on the Persian Gulf. It is made up of the capital Abu Dhabi (by far the largest in area), Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain (at 62,000 people the least populous of the seven). Here is a mnemonic for them: Apu Doubles Fudge, Rassles Sharks, Um... Q*bert.

2006-07-01T20:47:00.000-07:00

The word "time" is the most common noun in the English language, according to the Oxord English Dictionary.

2006-05-02T13:14:00.000-07:00

John Coolidge Adams is a minimalist composer. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his "On the Transmigration of Souls," which commemorates the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack. Also he has something to say about pop culture.

2006-05-01T21:04:00.000-07:00

On May 1, 1963, Jim Whittaker became the first American to summit Mount Everest, reaching the top along with Nawang Gombu after running out of oxygen.

2006-04-19T13:43:00.000-07:00

Patriots' Day is a civic holiday (traditionally April 19, celebrated the third Monday of April) observed in Massachusetts to commemorate the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The Boston Marathon is held every year on Patriots' Day.

2006-03-26T14:21:00.000-08:00

Every baseball used in MLB games is made by hand in Costa Rica. All baseballs used in major league games are made by the official producer of baseballs, Rawlings.

2006-03-25T14:18:00.000-08:00

SpeedDating was invented in the 1990s by a Los Angeles rabbi named Yaacov Deyo.

2006-03-24T14:10:00.000-08:00

A melisma is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession.

2006-03-23T19:21:00.000-08:00

Siderodromophobia is the fear of trains. The word comes from Greek roots meaning "iron" and "running" (as in dromedary).

2006-03-22T19:03:00.000-08:00

Myristicin is an organic compound present in nutmeg that gives it psychoactive properties when ingested in large quantities.

2006-03-21T18:59:00.000-08:00

The shamisen, or samisen, also called samsen, is the three-stringed instrument used by geishas.

2006-03-20T18:50:00.000-08:00

James Lawrence was a commander of the USS Chesapeake in the 1812 war famous for his dying command, "Don't give up the ship," during an action against HMS Shannon. This was used in Oliver Hazard Perry's battle flag.

2006-03-19T18:00:00.000-08:00

The word "school" derives from the Greek word for "discussion," originally "leisure, spare time." Seems reasonable, as only those with leisure time on their hands would think to fill their days with otiose dialectics and disputations.

2006-03-18T17:57:00.000-08:00

Newspapers and other cheap papers turn yellow over time because the lignin, a dark substance found in cardboard, in them gradually reacts to oxygen to reflect a darker color.

2006-03-17T17:53:00.000-08:00

The Five Pillars of Islam are: creed, prayers, fasting, giving alms, and the Hajj. Buddhism has an Eightfold Path.

2006-03-16T17:49:00.000-08:00

Himalayan salt, rock salt mined primarily in Pakistan, is noted for its pink color. Large crystals of Himalayan salt are sometimes used as lamps.

2006-03-15T16:36:00.000-08:00

Stonewall Jackson's amputated left arm is buried (probably) at Ellwood, his brother's house, near Chancellorsville, Virginia. His body is buried at a memorial cemetery in Lexington, Virginia.

2006-03-14T16:51:00.000-08:00

Mrs. Butterworth, the advertising icon who originated in 1961 and is owned by the syrup brand of the same name, almost never goes by her first name: Joy.

2006-03-13T07:06:00.000-08:00

The constitution of the state of Alabama is 340,136 words (including 827 amendments) and is the longest still-operating constitution in the world. This current constitution, adopted in 1901, is the state's sixth.

2006-03-12T21:19:00.000-08:00

Vostok 1 was the first human space flight, in 1961; Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited the earth once during the two-hour mission.

2006-03-11T16:44:00.000-08:00

The island of Bermuda has fast food outlets, but chain restaurants are banned by law.

2006-03-10T14:50:00.000-08:00

The logo for the Cracker Jack snack, featuring a boy and his dog, was introduced around 1918. The boy's name is Sailor Jack and his dog is named Bingo.

2006-03-09T14:55:00.000-08:00

An iconic sign just south of the Strip in Las Vegas calls the city "fabulous." It is fabulous to be under video surveillance 24 hours a day for the privilege of playing games of chance heavily weighted toward the house!

2006-03-05T12:38:00.000-08:00

Moses named his firstborn son Gershom, which means traveler in an alien land, because Moses himself had been "a stranger in a strange land" (KJV translation).

2006-03-04T18:39:00.000-08:00

Neuschwanstein Castle, in Bavaria, Germany, was the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty's castle in Disneyland.

2006-03-03T18:37:00.000-08:00

The three countries of South America that are located entirely within the northern hemisphere are Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela.

2006-03-02T18:31:00.000-08:00

By a 1964 Act of Congress, bourbon is known as "America's native spirit." Or, you know, possibly not.

2006-03-01T12:35:00.000-08:00

Ian Fleming, an amateur bird watcher, named James Bond after an American ornithologist.

2006-02-28T12:31:00.000-08:00

Nephrite is a mineral, also called jade, which was once thought to cure kidney stones (the name comes from the Greek "nephros," or kidney).

2006-02-27T15:21:00.000-08:00

In 2008, Lousiana's House of Representatives designated the sazerac --- a mix of rye whiskey, absinthe, and bitters --- as New Orleans' official cocktail.

2006-02-26T15:19:00.000-08:00

The word "yoga" is taken from the cognate Sankrit word originally meaning a yoke, from a root meaning to join or attach. It is thus typically translated as "union."

2006-02-25T20:00:00.000-08:00

The Hawaiian island of Lanai was once known as "Pineapple Island" because it was owned by the Dole corporation, governed by James Dole, and was the world's foremost exporter of pineapples. Yep, just sittin' on the porch, eatin' pineapples.

2006-02-24T19:58:00.000-08:00

Brazil nuts contain trace amounts of radium, up to 1,000 times the amounts found in other foods, possibly due to the extensive root systems of the nut tree.

2006-02-23T19:55:00.000-08:00

The modern day trampoline was invented by an American gymnast called George Nissen who purportedly got the idea after seeing trapeze artists fall into safety nets. He named it after the Spanish word for diving board.

2006-02-22T18:20:00.000-08:00

Aquavit is a spirit principally produced in Scandinavia, flavored by caraway seeds or dill.

2006-02-21T18:07:00.000-08:00

Sacagawea was honored with a 2000 U.S. dollar coin, bearing the face of a Shoshone-Bannock woman. In 2001 she was given the rank of Honorary Sergeant by Bill Clinton.

2006-02-20T18:15:00.000-08:00

Sapphire is a gemstone of the mineral corundum, an aluminum oxide colored other than red or pink. It is a 9.0 on the Mohs Hardness Scale, as is ruby, the red variant of corundum.

2006-02-19T16:08:00.000-08:00

Scott Fahlman, a computer scientist, is credited with first proposing the emoticon on a Carnegie Mellon message board in 1982. He proposed :-) as a a "joke marker," because it warned reader that an email was not intended to be taken seriously.

2006-02-18T15:56:00.000-08:00

Nathaniel Wyeth, who invented the recyclable PET plastic soda bottle, was the brother of painter Andrew Wyeth.

2006-02-17T15:48:00.000-08:00

Pan-pan is a radiotelegraph call sign indicating a state of urgency with no immediate danger to life, which is one degree less urgent than a call of Mayday.

2006-02-16T15:45:00.000-08:00

Montgomery Ward, later known as Ward's, was the first mail order business, and the first major business to use the slogan "satisfaction guaranteed or your money back," in 1872.

2006-02-15T15:41:00.000-08:00

"Lohengrin" is an 1850 opera by Richard Wager. It is based on the Germanic folk hero, son of Percival, who memorably rides in a boat pulled by swans. The most famous part of the opera is the Bridal Chorus, popularly known as "Here Comes the Bride" (in a boat pulled by swans!).

2006-02-14T15:36:00.000-08:00

A Cobb salad is made from greens, tomato, bacon, chicken, eggs, avocado, and Roquefort cheese. Its origin is unknown, but typically its birth is associated with the Brown Derby Diner in Los Angeles.

2006-02-13T15:35:00.000-08:00

A lava lamp works because the colored wax inside liquid rises and falls as its density is changed by its light bulb's heat.

2006-02-12T20:31:00.000-08:00

In Egyptian mythology, a criosphinx is a sphinx with the head of a ram instead of a human. This comes from the Greek word krios for ram.

2006-02-11T20:27:00.000-08:00

Under Gerald Ford, Dick Chene y was appointed White House Chief of Staff in 1975, making him the youngest to hold the post at 34. He is also an evil lying bastard who hates the poor and likes to shoot people in the face.

2006-02-10T20:19:00.000-08:00

Vitamin D is classified as a hormone because it is produced by the body (under the ultraviolet light of the sun), as well as being synthesized when taken in.

2006-02-09T19:48:00.000-08:00

The Moro are an indigenous Muslim population in the Philippines, compromising about 5-10% of the total population. There is an organization called the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which demands autonomy for the Moro peoples.

2006-02-08T20:27:00.000-08:00

The Mayflower was originally meant to land at the mouth of the Hudson River, near present-day New York City (part of what was then called the Virginia Colony), but was blown off course and dropped anchor in the hook of Cape Cod Bay. There they named Plymouth rock and the settlement, current-day Plymouth, Massachusetts. (The Mayflower Compact was drawn up because they did not actually have the right to settle there, not being where they had intended.)

2006-02-07T20:12:00.000-08:00

Bayer developed heroin, presumably named for how "heroic" it made testers feel, from morpheine and codeine. Bayer marketed it as a cough suppressant from 1898 to 1910. It was claimed that heroin was ten times more effective against tubercular cough than codeine.

2006-02-06T20:06:00.000-08:00

Benihana is named after the coffee shop that the founder's parents owned in Tokyo. "Benihana" means "red safflower." Many of the restaurants have plates that feature a stylized image of this flower.

2006-02-05T20:00:00.000-08:00

Since 2003, Ronald McDonald has been designated McDonald's "Chief Happiness Officer."

2006-02-04T19:57:00.000-08:00

Delaware's motto is "Liberty and Independence," but its nickname is "The First State," which is printed on their license plates. (It was the first of the original 13 colonies to ratify the Constitution.)

2006-02-03T19:52:00.000-08:00

United States Social Security cards have a blue border. The three parts of a Social Security Number are the area, group, and serial number.

2006-02-02T07:23:00.000-08:00

Aubrey holes, named after a 17th-century antiquarian, are 56 cremation pits that line the inside ring of Stonehenge. It is possible that their placement was used for astronomic calculations.

2006-02-01T20:44:00.000-08:00

Calvin Coolidge kept a menagerie of exotic animals during his tenure at the White House, including a pygmy hippopotamus named Billy, a wallaby, lion cubs, and a raccoon. He also had several cats and dogs.

2006-01-31T20:19:00.000-08:00

The town of Snowflake, Arizona, was named not for any precipitation, but for Mormon pioneers Erastus Snow (who also founded Snow College in Utah) and William J. Flake. Odd, isn't it?

2006-01-30T19:28:00.000-08:00

Andradite is a mineral type in the garnet group, and includes melanite, which is black garnet.

2006-01-29T19:20:00.000-08:00

"I Dreamed a Dream" is a song from Les Miserables. It is sung by the character of Fantine. brought to modern prominence by Susan Boyle's 2009 performance on "Britain's Got Talent."

2006-01-28T19:00:00.000-08:00

Alleyne FitzHerbert was a 19th century British diplomat, the First Baron St. Helens. The mountain in Washington was named after him by explorer George Vancouver.

2006-01-27T18:31:00.000-08:00

Pearl Harbor is located on the island of Oahu. It is named for the oysters once harvested there and is now a WWII monument. Oh! Ah! Ooh! We're being ambushed!

2006-01-26T19:43:00.000-08:00

The syrinx is the avian equivalent to the mammalian larynx. It is forked and is set lower than the voicebox, so birds can create a wider variety of sounds and appear to sing without taking a breath.

2006-01-25T19:38:00.000-08:00

The Passat, which is German for trade wind, is a make of car by Volkswagen.

2006-01-24T19:34:00.000-08:00

A "cooler," in gambling, is a person whose luck is consistently bad and can bring down a whole table by his or her very presence.