The official seal of the Republic of Mount Athos, Greece, consists of four parts, each held by a different official, and they must all meet to validate any document.
I Bet Ya Didn't Know
I bet ya' didn't know…. 978 items · page 22 of 25
During the Revolution, Benedict Arnold, a West Point commander, attempted to turn the fort over to the British. His plot was discovered, and he fled behind British lines.
In 1882, David Jacks began shipping cheese from his dairies in Monterey, CA. Eventually, the cheese became known as simply Monterey Jack.
The first modern brassiere was patented by Mary Phelps Jacob in 1914.
People who use antibacterial soaps are just as likely to get sick as those who use regular soap.
Robert E. Lee, a West Point graduate of 1829, was later superintendent of the academy and president of the college now known as Washington and Lee University.
It takes 110 domestic silkworm cocoons to make a man's tie; 630 to make a blouse.
West Point's class of 1980 was the first to include women.
There are 45 miles of nerves in the adult human body!
The salt scattered on American highways each winter to keep cars from skidding on snow and ice represents 10 percent of the world's annual output of the mineral.
In the 15th century, scholars in China compiled a set of encyclopedia that contained 11,095 volumes.
Composer Richard Wagner was known to dress in historical costumes while writing his operas. He wasn't the only composer with quirks: Christopher Gluck would only write while seated in the middle of a field. Gioacchino Rossini reportedly could only find inspiration by getting profoundly drunk.
The Fish Bowl was invented by Countess Dubarry, Mistress of King Louis XV (Born 1710 Died 1774).
The ice fences of the Himalayas - Fields in the Himalaya Mountains, as a result of the high winds whipping the ice, often are surrounded by sharp pickets of ice 10 feet high.
1926 - The first television picture was broadcast from Arlington, Virginia to Washington, D.C. The technological achievement was of a picture of a weather map.
Is your entire family overweight? If so, odds are your dog is, too.
Eight million Americans a year attend family reunions.
Stilts were invented by French shepherds who herded sheep in marshes near the Bay of Biscay.
Emperor Augustus (63 B.C. - 14 A.D.) of Rome was the first notable to shave himself.
Bald money, blank on both sides, was used in Samarkand (1918).
Each foot has 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments, 19 muscles and tendons.
The opposite sides of a dice cube always add up to seven!
Katharine Hepburn made her debut 70 years ago in A BILL OF DIVORCEMENT (1932), in which she held her own as the daughter of John Barrymore.
The first ten amendments to the US Constitution are known collectively as "The Bill of Rights."
The amount of play money printed each year for use in the game, Monopoly is more than the amount of real money issued every year by the U.S. government.
A cactus on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean blooms only once every 50 years.
Felix Martin, a waiter in the Cafe' Helder in Paris, France, memorized the entire French military yearbook for 1856, containing 1,171 pages of statistics, including the name, rank, and birth date of 26,208 officers. (Was he bored?)
In 1933, an amendment cancelled an earlier amendment. Amendment 21 repealed 1919's Amendment 18, which prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of liquor.
The Gnaden Waterfall in the Tauern Mountains of Austria reflects a rainbow on its waters at exactly 3:30 every day.
Some of the country's oldest rides are still spinning at small amusement parks. The 1902 Leap-the-Dips roller coaster is at Altoona, Pa.'s Lakemont Park.
About 2 billion tons of animal manure are produced in the U.S. every year. France, Holland and Belgium have been classified by the European Community as "manure surplus" regions because they produce more than their land can absorb.
According to suppliers, Purple is by far the favorite ink color in dabbers used by bingo players.
Four tablespoons of ketchup, about the amount you would eat with a order of fries, contains the nutritional equivalent of an entire ripe medium tomato.
The largest stained-glass window is in the Resurrection Mausoleum in Justice, Illinois. It consists of 2,448 panels and it measures 22,381 square feet. The window was completed in 1971.
The litra, a silver coin minted 2,400 years ago, was so tiny that the ancient Greeks carried it in their mouths. The coin was a wafer weighing only 1/30th of an ounce.
Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine.
Katharine Hepburn's character, missionary spinster Rose, in THE AFRICAN QUEEN was modeled on former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
When a car is "totaled," you'd think it would be junked. Yet 20% of vehicles totaled between '93 and '99 were rebuilt, reregistered, and put back on the road, according to CONSUMER REPORTS.
Eighty percent of what you file is never looked at again, according to UNCLUTTER YOUR HOME author Donna Smallin.
The greatest charioteer in all history, Anniceris, famed Greek chariot driver, could make 1,000 turns in an arena at full speed without deviating from the original track. (Nascar in it's earliest form?)