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- Little known, and even less appreciated, the United States actually has a mothers-in-law day.
- Young priests of the island of Leukas, Greece, to qualify for service at the temple of Apollo, were required in ancient Greece to don the wings of an eagle and plunge from Cape Dukato into the sea, a dive of 230 feet. It was assumed that the gods would eliminate those unfit, but no diver was ever injured, although the ordeal was performed for centuries.
- The blueprints for the Eiffel Tower covered more than 14,000 square feet of drafting paper.
- Elwood Edwards' voice is heard more than 27 million times a day (which comes to more than 18,000 times per minute). Edwards is the man behind those special 3 words (not "I love you") "You've got mail!".
Back in 1989, Edwards' wife, Karen, was working in customer service for a little-known outfit in Vienna, Virginia called Quantum Computer Services. Quantum had an online service called Q-Link. Karen overheard the company's CEO, a young guy by the name of Steve Case, describe how he wanted to add a voice to its user interface. Her advice: "I said, 'Hey, you ought to try Elwood.'" Her husband had spent his entire career in local radio and TV.
Edwards agreed to record four simple phrases on a run-of-the-mill cassette player: "Welcome!"; "File's done"; "Goodbye"; and, of course, "You've got mail!". Quantum changed its name to AOL and Edwards's voice debuted on AOL 1.0 in October 1989.
- When the Titanic sank in 1912, hundreds of passengers were saved only because a Marconi wireless operator, David Sarnoff, reportedly picked up the ship's radio distress messages and alerted ships in the area. Sarnoff went on to become president of the first radio network, the National Broadcasting Company.
- Pudden'head Wilson, the title character in Twain's novel about switched babies, is regarded by the townspeople as a fool because of his hobby of collecting finger impressions on glass. His strange pasttime, however, leads to his identification of a murderer and his revelation of an incident where two babies, one the son of a slave and one the son of a slaveholder, were switched.
- It would take more than 150 years to drive a car to the sun.
- In the 40's, the Bich pen was changed to Bic for fear that Americans would pronounce it 'Bitch.'
- Snoopy stood on two legs for the first time in a 1958 strip.
- Snoopy and Charlie Brown appeared together on the March 17th, 1967 cover of Life Magazine. The Apollo X astronauts took the duo into space in 1969.
- Charlie Brown hits a game-winning home run on March 30, his first in 43 years. Unfortunately - he NEVER got to kick the football.
- Charles Schulz was born November 26, 1922, to Carl and Dena Schulz of St. Paul, Minnesota. Within a week, however, Charles became known as "Sparky," christened by an uncle with a soft spot for Barney Google's horse "Sparkplug." Schulz never lost his nickname, proof of a life devoted to comics. Schulz died Saturday February 12th, 2000 - shortly after completing work on what was scheduled to be the last Sunday PEANUTS strip.
- Ghosts appear in 4 Shakespearian plays; Julius Caesar, Richard III, Hamlet and Macbeth.
- If you took a standard slinky and stretched it out it would measure 87 feet.
- Rebecca Elizabeth Marier was the first woman to graduate "top of the class" at West Point, the U.S. Military Academy. The rankings are based on academic, military, and physical accomplishments.
- Jean Marie Butler was the first woman graduate from the United States Coast Guard Academy in 1980. She also was the first woman to graduate from any U.S. service academy.
- Huckleberry Finn's remedy for warts was swinging a dead cat in a graveyard at midnight.
- Three teaspoons make up one tablespoon.
- Daisy is the name of Dagwood Bumstead's dog.
- Dr. Jekyll's first name is Henry.
- Camera shutter speed "B" stands for bulb.
- The color black moves first in checkers.
- Mario Puzo wrote "The Godfather."
- The first American in space was Alan B. Shepard Jr.
- IBM's motto is "Think."
- Mr. Boddy is the murder victim in the game "Clue."
- There are 225 spaces on a Scrabble board.
- Aladdin's nationality was Chinese.
- Sherlock Holmes archenemy was Professor Moriarty.
- Superman's boyhood home was Smallville, Illinois.
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