Electric Christmas tree lights were first used in 1895. The idea for using electric Christmas lights came from an American, Ralph E. Morris. The new lights proved safer than the traditional candles.

The eggplant has many names worldwide. In addition to "eggplant," it is called aubergine, brinjal, melanzana, garden egg, and patlican.

The standard single oar used by gondoliers in Venice is 14 feet long.

A "hairbreadth away" is 1/48 of an inch.

Not in Australia -- When Burger King decided to expand its operations into Australia, it found that its business name was already trademarked by a man running a small takeaway food shop. Consequently, the first Australian franchise of the Burger King Corporation, established in Perth in 1971, was branded Hungry Jack's, echoing the name and ...Read more

In 1965, Ford offered three different body styles: the convertible, the standard hardtop and the fastback. The standard hardtop outsold the fastback, 5 to 1, making the fastback a more desirable collector's item today. If you're looking to get a vintage Mustang, most likely you'll be running into a lot from 1966 as that was the most popular year...Read more

"Hot cockles" was a popular game at Christmas in medieval times. It was a game in which the other players took turns striking the blindfolded player, who had to guess the name of the person delivering each blow. "Hot cockles" was still a Christmas pastime until the Victorian era.

The abbreviation of Xmas for Christmas is not irreligious. The first letter of the word Christ in Greek is chi, which is identical to our X. Xmas was originally an ecclesiastical abbreviation that was used in tables and charts.

Of all the world's peoples, the only ones known not to use fire are the Andaman Islanders and the Pygmies.

Seven thousand years ago, the ancient Egyptians bowled on alleys not unlike our own.

Venus is the planet that turns most slowly on its axis. It spins once every 243 Earth days. Since Venus takes 224 Earth days to complete one orbit of the Sun, its days are longer than its years.

The discovery of Neptune was announced in 1846. But when astronomers checked previous records, they found the record of an observation of the planet as far back as 1795 by astronomers who, believing it to be a star, recorded the position routinely.

The U.S. Congress passed a law in 1832 requiring all American citizens to spend one day each year fasting and praying. For the most part, people ignored the law, and no effort was made to enforce the legislation.

Most people by the age of sixty have lost 50 percent of their taste buds and 40 percent of their ability to smell.

If today's ice caps melted completely, sea level would rise across the world by between 200 and 230 feet. This means the Statue of Liberty would be immersed up to her armpits, and the clock face on the Houses of Parliament in London would be under water.

Tourists who are eager to visit recently erupted volcanoes while on vacation should take heed. Volcanic ash has been known to remain hot for a period of nearly one hundred years.

When sailors speak of sheets (as in "four sheets to the wind"), they are not talking about sails. A sheet in nautical terminology is a rope or chain.

The first city to reach a population of 1 million people was Rome, Italy in 133 B.C. London, England reached the mark in 1810 and New York City, USA made it in 1875. Today, there are over 300 cities in the world that boast a population in excess of 1 million.

Married Catholics continue to be sexually active as they age: 50 percent of them have sex at least once a week when they are 55 years old or older, compared with 40 percent for other faiths.

When Orville and Wilbur Wright were children, their father brought them a rubber-band-powered flying toy called a "bat." The brothers credited this toy with getting them interested in flight.