According to witnesses, film comedian W. C. Fields drank two quarts of martinis a day, even when working on the movie set. In his final years, he suffered from cirrhosis and kidney trouble, and had to wear heavy makeup in his last films to conceal the swollen veins and "gin blossoms" on his face

The winning term "checkmate" comes from the Arabic phrase shah mat, meaning the king is dead.

As with boot cut hems, the trend began in Europe and spread rapidly around the world. Today both boot cut and flare leg pants remain popular both in denim and higher quality office wear. In menswear straight leg also gave way to boot cut looks, again initially in Europe, and has made it's leap into flare leg, for officewear, the same as what ...Read more

It did indeed; the poster was released in the mid 80s and prompted a total recall because of the picture painted in ice-cubes at the bottom right corner. The artist who designed the picture put this in as a joke, and it went through unnoticed until someone spotted it on the back of a Coke truck.

Pharaoh ants are a serious nuisance pest in hospitals, rest homes, apartments, hotels, grocery stores, and other buildings. They feed on a wide variety of foods including soft drinks, greases, jellies, honey, shortening, peanut butter, fruit juices, baked goods, dead insects, and even shoe polish. Also, pharaoh ants gnaw holes in silk, rayon, ...Read more

In the 1850s, Ohio was the nationa (tm)s largest wine producer. Although its remaining 3,000 acres of vineyards are but a fraction of what they once were, Ohio remains the largest wine producer in the Midwest.

In 1937 the emergency 999 telephone service was established in London. More than 13,000 genuine calls were made in the first month.

Lemon grass is a traditional flavoring used in Thai cooking. It grows in stalks and has a subtle, bright, delicate flavor that is lemon-like. It is also used as a flavoring in some beers.

Because Napoleon believed that armies marched on their stomachs, he offered a prize in 1795 for a practical way of preserving food. The prize was won by a French inventor, Nicholas Appert. What he devised was canning. It was the beginning of the canned food industry of today.

Venezuela's Angel Falls are a mile high. They were originally discovered from an airplane.

Contrary to popular belief, most teenagers do not use marijuana. Among students surveyed in a yearly national survey, only about one in six 10th graders report they are current marijuana users (that is, used marijuana within the past month). Fewer than one in four high school seniors is a current

An observation about film-making from director Peter Bogdanovich: "John Ford said that the best things in pictures happen by accident. And Orson Wells said that a director is a man who presides over accidents."

Westerners are likely unaware of this, but Japanese chopsticks are pointed at the eating end and Chinese chopsticks are blunt.

During his heyday, John Quincy Adams was nicknamed a oeOld Man Eloquent.a

The first tank became operational when Captain H. W. Mortimore of the Royal Navy took a Mark I into action at Delville Wood during the Battle of the Somme on September 15, 1916. The first successful use of massed tanks in combat occurred at the Battle of Cambrai on November 20, 1917. Tanks were later used again to great effect in the Battle of ...Read more

The huge marble dome on top of the State Capitol of Rhode Island was the first of its kind in the United States.

The sun contains over 99.8 percent of the total mass in our solar system, while Jupiter contains most of the rest. The fractional percentage that is left is made up of our Earth and moon and the remaining planets and asteroids.

Scientists estimate that they could fill a 1,000-volume encyclopedia with the coded instructions in the DNA of a single human cell if the instructions could be translated to English.

Illusionist David Copperfield donated $10,000 in October, 1994 to repair the vandalized New York gravesite of legendary magician Harry Houdini. Houdini's mausoleum, with its Gothic benches and ornate headstones, had been vandalized five months earlier. Houdini and his wife both rest at the site.

Species of coffee trees can grow as tall as 32 feet and their leaves can range in color from purple to yellow. Green is the predominant color, however.