The term choral symphony was coined by French composer Hector Berlioz when describing his symphony, Roméo et Juliette

The Christmas season in Italy goes for three weeks, starting 8 days before Christmas known as the Novena. During this period, children go from house to house reciting Christmas poems and singing. In some parts shepherds bring musical instruments into the villages, play and sing Christmas songs.

American teenagers bet as much as $1 billion a year, and about 7 percent of adolescents under 18 may be addicted to gambling, studies show.

The first macaroni factory in the United States was established in 1848. It was started by Antoine Zegera in Brooklyn, New York.

When written in Roman numerals, the year 1666 is the only date in history that is written from the highest to the lowest value, MDCLXVI (1000 + 500 + 100 + 50 + 10 + 5 + 1).

Because of their acute sense of smell, dogs are trained to sniff out everything from drugs to bombs to iron ore. In Ontario, Canada, instruments couldn't locate where natural gas was escaping from a pipeline buried 18 feet underground. Trained German shepherds were brought in. The dogs worked in sub-zero temperatures and covered nearly 100 miles...Read more

A wild cat, known as "the fishing cat" actually swims to catch fish. Called the Bengali Mach-Bagral, nature gave this cat extra-long claws, which it uses like fishhooks. The fishing cat is found in Nepal, Burma, Southern China and parts of India.

Ed's business was booming. He built a new shop in Maywood, California and hired several employees to keep with the demand for his custom cars and t-shirts. Revell American was a model company that produced the model car kits for "Beatnik Bandit","Road Agent" and various other model kits including "Rat Fink" and his gang of hot rodding monsters. ...Read more

The Pac-Man video arcade game featured colored ghosts named Inky, Blinky, Pinky, and Clyde.

Penny Marshall was the first woman film director to have a film take in more than $100 million at the box office -- she accomplished this with the 1988 flick Big.

The only three countries in the world whose names begin with "Z" are Zambia, Ziare and Zimbabwe, all in Africa.

Shakespeare was the first to use certain words that are now common, including "hurry," "bump," "eyeball," and "anchovy."

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.

Leafy face architectural ornamentations are almost always male: green women are rare. However, green cats, lions and demons are also found. On gravestones and other memorials, human skulls are sometimes shown sprouting grape vines or other vegetation, presumably as a symbol of resurrection.

Zebus are humped cattle found in India, China, and northern Africa. Zebubs are tsetse-like flies found in Ethiopia.

A father Emperor penguin withstands the Antarctic cold for 60 days or more to protect his eggs, which he keeps on his feet, covered with a feathered flap. During this entire time he doesn't eat a thing. Most father penguins lose about 25 pounds while they wait for their babies to hatch. Afterward, they feed the chicks a special liquid from their...Read more

The most commonly used language in the world is Chinese. It is spoken by over 1 billion people.

The world's first underground railway, between Paddington (Bishop's Road) and Farringdon Street - with trains hauled by steam engines - was opened by the Metropolitan Railway on January 10th 1863. The initial section was six km (nearly four miles) in length, and provided both a new commuter rail service and an onward rail link for passengers ...Read more

"Villi", finger-like projections on the small intestine (their purpose is to increase the surface area for water and nutrient absorption) are four-hundredths of an inch long.

Napoleon favored mathematicians and physical scientists, but excluded humanists from his circle, believing them to be troublemakers.