Discovered in 1931, Persepolis is one of the last archaeological excavations that dates back to the ancient world.

The word "Paradaisia" in old Persian became "Paradise" in ancient Greek.

Colonial housewives often served popcorn with sugar and cream for breakfast - creating the first puffed breakfast cereal.

Pork skin is a major ingredient in most commercially produced gelatin, which is widely used in the manufacture of other snack foods like gummy bears, marshmallows, and some Jell-O desserts. (2005)

In about 22 seconds, Krispy Kreme can produce enough doughnuts to make a stack the height of the Empire State Building. (2005)

If all the Coca-Cola ever produced was put in 8-ounce bottles laid end to end, it would reach to the moon and back almost 1,300 times (2005)

According to the FBI, of the 56 law enforcement officers feloniously killed in the line of duty in 2002, 38 died from bullets fired from handguns and nine from rifle bullets.

A competition pistol champion may shoot up to 100,000 rounds of ammunition per year. (2003)

The single-shot, muzzle-loading rifle caused 80 percent of all wounds during the Civil War. Its primary bullet was the conical shaped mini ball.

The word "frangible" comes from the Latin word "frangere,&quot which means "to break."

The 45-foot-tall lion that stands outside the MGM Grand weighs a hefty 90,000 pounds. It was cast in 1,600 individual pieces of half-inch-thick bronze plate, welded together and supported by an internal steel structure.

Shrimp consumption in Las Vegas is more than 60,000 pounds a day. That's higher than the rest of the country combined and adds up to 22 million pounds per year. (1995)

Frank Sinatra was a Las Vegas fixture for 43 years, beginning with a performance at the Desert Inn in 1951. His last gig was at the MGM Grand in May 1994. (1995)

The Riviera Hotel became the first high-rise hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in 1955. The hotel stood a towering nine stories.

The Flamingo Hotel of Las Vegas became the Flamingo Hilton in 1974. The last of the original structure was torn down on December 14, 1993 and the hotel's garden was built on the site, complete with a plaque dedicated to the original owner, mobster Bugsy Siegel.

All 8 of Mickey Rooney's weddings happened in Las Vegas, starting his marriage to Ava Gardner in 1942. Rooney took his last walk down the aisle in 198, when he married his current wife, Jan. (1995)

The first Las Vegas hotel, the Hotel Las Vegas, opened in 1905 with 30 rooms. The MGM Grand has more than 5,000 rooms.

On August 17th, 1977, the nuclear -powered Soviet icebreaker Arktika became the first surface vessel to break through to the North Pole.

A 2002 U.S. Navy report proposes that global warming is shrinking the Arctic ice cap so fast that the summer ice cover could vanish by 2050.

Captain Michael Healy, who commanded the cutter Bear from 1886 to 1895, was the first African-American to command a vessel for the United States government.

When the Mackinaw icebreaker was designed in the 1940s, her role in the Great lakes was deemed so vital that she was built too large to pass through the locks leading to the ocean.

In 1962, the U.S. navy Seabees built a nuclear fallout shelter for President Kennedy near his vacation home in Palm Beach, Florida, on Peanut Island -- one of the many barrier islands on the Intracoastal Waterway. It exists to this day.

Cretaceous rock is approximately 150 million years old (2006)

In 1623, Captain Myles Standish of the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts first proposed building a canal across the Cape Cod isthmus. He believed it would help facilitate trade between Native Americans and the colonists.

In 1846, the Delaware and Raritan Canal Company became one of the first businesses to install a telegraph. Employees of the company used it to notify traffic-enforcement officers when ships exceeded the canal's 4.5-mile-per-hour speed limit.

Many slaves who worked on the original Dismal Swamp Canal escaped bondage by fleeing into the swamp's dense forests. Today, Dismal Swamp is recognized as part of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.

In 1872, in the American west Yellowstone was established as the worlds first National Park.

In 1872, in Washington former slave Frederick Douglas ran for Vice President on a ticket of Equal Rights Party.

In 1872, in Denver German immigrant Adolph Coors purchased a local bottling company. The beginning of his brewing empire.

Many innovative weapons, including the M-16, were introduced to combat during the Vietnam War. Among these weapons were the F-4s, the Claymore mines, the AH-1G Huey Cobra, and the Gunship.

In the mid-1960's Mattel sold a realistic toy version of the M-16 rifle. This helped fuel a popular belief among American soldiers in Vietnam that their weapons were made by the to maker. The myth continues even to this day.

In 1884, Hiram Maxim invented the maxim Gun, the first automatic weapon later to be called machine gun.

There are over 350 patterns of military camouflage worn by soldiers of all the world's nations. (2002)

Most thermal imaging devices can sense Fahrenheit temperatures ranging from -4 degrees to 3,600 and changes as negligible as four tenths of a degree. (2002)

Infrared photography, the basis for thermal and night imaging devices, was developed by Kodak in 1937.

The term camouflage comes from the French word "camoufler" meaning "to blind or veil.quot;

In 1963 first home video recorder was demonstrated in London.

In 1963 a hotline was established to connect Washington D.C. and Moscow.

In 1963 Kenya gained independence after more than 60 years as British colony.

In 1999, Harley-Davidson surpassed Honda as the best-selling motorcycle in America. Harley sold over 177,000 bikes.

In the 2002 X Games, Mike Metzger extended the spectacle of the back-flip by landing it at the end of an 80 foot jump.

The best selling motorcycle of all time is the Honda 50. More than 30 million Cubs and Supercubs have been sold. (2003)

A custom bike from West Coast Choppers can cost more than $150,000 (2003)

In his bicycle racing days, before co-founding Indian Motorcycles, George Hendee won 302 out of 309 races.

Glenn Curtiss' 1907 motorcycle speed record stood until 1930, when Joe Wright went 150 miles an hour.

In 1971, Eddie Paul set a record for riding a motorcycle with no hands. Los Angeles to Las Vegas - 286 miles.

In 2002, almost a million new motorcycles were purchased in the U.S - for a total of $7.5 billion.

A flock of birds landed on the minute hand of Big Ben in 1949 and set the time back 5 minutes.

The first person to be killed by a train was a member of the British parliament. He was struck by the Rocket 1830.

The Mary Rose sank in a battle with the French in 1545. In 1982, the ship was raised from the bottom of the sea.

Six ravens are always kept at the Tower of London. Legend has it that if they leave, the Kingdom will fall.

In the first 7 months after the U.S. entered World War Two, 5 Allied ships were sunk by German U-boats within 100 miles of Cape Cod Canal.

Some locals wanted the Bourne Canal to be filled in when the Army Corps of Engineers took it over in 1928. The "Big Ditch," as some called it, actually split the town of Bourne in half.

Belmont's canal is 140 feet wide.

Cape Cod Canal visionary August Belmont, Jr. built Belmont Park Racetrack, home to the Belmont Stakes, and helped build two America's Cup winning yachts.

The Sagamore and Bourne Bridges see a combined total of approximately 70,000 daily trips in winter. During the summer, the traffic nearly doubles with over 130,000 daily trips.

Three years after he'd left the Presidency, Theodore Roosevelt made his boastful "I took the isthmus" statement, revealing the U.S. involvement in the Panamanian revolution. This public revelation so angered the Colombian government that they demanded, and received, $25 million in reparations from the U.S.

Leonardo DaVinci should be credited with the earliest plan for water gate locks. All modern locks follow his plan, even the massive structures at the Panama Canal.

Dr. Gorga's work on sanitation at the Panama Canal is credited with saving at least 71,000 lives and some 40 million work days.

When John Stevens addressed his Panama Canal workers, he inspired them with this speech: "There are three diseases on the isthmus: yellow fever, malaria, and cold feet. And the worst disease of all is cold feet."

In 1925, the American Licorice Company made licorice shoes for Charlie Chaplin to eat in the film The Gold Rush

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan had Jelly Belly jelly beans stowed on the space shuttle Challenger as a surprise for the astronauts.

Schimpff's Confectionery produces about 8,000 pounds of Red Hots per year. A large-scale candy manufacturer can make almost twice that amount of red Hots in one hour. (2006)

If laid end to end, the Hershey's chocolate bars produced in one year would circle the earth two and a half times. (2006)

in 2005, Americans consumed 500 million McMuffins and 237 million McGriddles.

1 pkg Chocolate Instant Breakfast without milk = 130 calories; 1% daily fat; 9% daily protein.

Antioxidants support immune system and hearth health.

Americans consume more than 2.7 billion packages of cereal per year. If laid end to end, they would reach to the moon and back. (2006)

In 1513, Spanish explorer Ponce De Leon brought the first orange seeds to Florida. Navel oranges were introduced to California in 1873, via seedling from a Brazilian Monastery.

1 cup of Orange Juice = 90 calories Vitamins A B C D Folate & Potassium.

In commercial egg production, the color of an eggshell reflects the color of the hen's feathers. Hens with white feathers lay white eggs. Those with red feathers lay brown eggs.

One large egg = 80 calories; 10% daily protein; 66% daily cholesterol.

The word for stamp collecting, philately, was coined from a combination of Greek words meaning "the love of being tax free," alluding to the fact that, before postage stamps, letters were sent collect.

The Pony Express was successful at delivering the mail but not making money. It's owners Russell, Majors and Waddell went bankrupt.

In the early 1800's letter carriers earned no salaries, but were paid two cents by the recipient for each letter they delivered.

One of the most expensive coffees in the world is Kopi Luwak from Indonesia. It's made from coffee beans digested and extracted by the palm civet - a catlike animal - and sells for around $300 a pound.

The largest retailer of cups of coffee in U.S. is Dunkin' Donuts, which sells about a billion cups a year, or 30 cups every second. (2005)

The date palm tree is considered so beautiful that as many as 15,000 trees are harvested and sold each year to real estate developers. (2006)

Growers in the state of Wisconsin harvest more than 50% of the U.S. cranberry crop. (2006)

The state of Nebraska alone produces some 1.2 billion bushels of corn each year. That's almost 300 bounds for every man, woman, and child in the U.S. (2006)

California harvests more than 90% of the nectarines and plums grown in the U.S. and provides over 70% of all peaches. (2006)

in 1900, 41% of the U.S. population were farmers. Today (2003), 2% farm the land.

Although banned in the U.S., approximately two dozen countries continue to use DDT to control malaria.

35% of corn and 55% of soybeans produced in the U.S. in 1995 were genetically modified.

There are close to one billion acres of farmland in the United States (2003)

The Empire State Building is one of the greatest lightning rods ever built. Allegedly, when conditions are right and the 86th floor is surrounded by static electricity, if you kiss someone, fire will fly from your lips.

There are 6,500 windows in the Empire State Building. All get cleaned twice a month. Window washers qualify for 'combat pay'

There was a price to pay for rushing construction on the Empire State Building: fourteen men died. The Chrysler Building, built more slowly, lost only one worker.

The architect of the Empire State Building could not attend the dedication of the building. Instead, he sent a telegram from his ship en route to England: 'One day out and I can still see the building.'

The Grumman Corporation faced substantial contractual penalties if the F-14 Tomcat it produced failed to meet the Navy's specifications. For example, each 100 pounds of excess weight would draw a fine of $440,000

Over the course of 36 years, a total of 69 aircrew have lost their lives operating the F-14 Tomcat

Without weapons and fuel, the F-14 Tomcat weighs 42,000 pounds. When fully loaded, its max weight can increase to more than 72,000 pounds.

The name 'Tomcat' was selected partly as a tribute to the F-14 program's strongest supporters: navy admirals Thomas Connolly and Thomas Moorer.

Did you know that there are 206 bones in the adult human body and there are 300 in children (as they grow some of the bones fuse together).

Nearly 20% of all vehicles stolen had the keys in them.

The origin of the English word “orgasm” derives from the Greek, “orgaein,” meaning “to swell” or “be excited or lustful.”

The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows—shaved eyebrows were a fad at the time.

A kangaroo can only jump if its tail is touching the ground.

The collecting of beer mats (coasters) is called tegestology.

The average bra size today is 36C. Ten years ago it was 34B.