American 50-star flag

The American 50-star flag was designed by 17-year-old student Robert G. Heft in 1958. Heft did the flag as a high school class project and originally received a B-. After discussing the grade with his high school teacher, Stanley Pratt. It was agreed that if the flag was accepted by the United States Congress, the grade would be reconsidered. Heft's flag was chosen and his teacher honored their agreement by changing his grade to an A for the project.

Breakfast word origin

Breakfast means to break the fasting period observed through the previous night (after dinner, a person doesn't have any food till the next morning, as that is considered a period of fasting, the next meal which is in the morning is literally breaking the fast). It was not until the 15th century that the term “breakfast” came into use in written English to describe a morning meal.

Phoenix

The phoenix is a mythical sacred firebird that can be found in the mythologies of the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Chinese and Phoenicians. It has a 500 to 1000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignites. Both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises. The new bird is destined to live as long as its old self.

Thor Heyerdahl

Thor Heyerdahl was a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer. He became notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition in 1947, in which he sailed 8,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean in a self-built raft constructed from balsa wood and other native materials. The raft was named after the Inca sun god, Viracocha for whom "Kon-Tiki" was said to be an old name.

Ku Klux Klan

The first Ku Klux Klan, informally known as the Klan or the "Hooded Order" was created on December 24, 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee. The name was formed by combining the Greek word Kyklos (meaning "cycle", suggesting a circle or band of brothers) with the word clan. Klan members adopted masks and robes that hid their identities and targeted through night rides black or white Rebublicans. 

James Matthew Barries

In April 1929, James Matthew Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan, gave the rights to his work to Great Ormond Street Hospital. It is a children's hospital located in the Bloomsbury area of London. The earnings were and still are used to fund the hospital and its activities.

Neptune

Neptune was the first planet found by mathematical prediction rather than by empirical observation. Unexpected changes in the orbit of planet Uranus led Alexis Bouvard, a French astronomer, to deduce that an eighth planet existed in the solar system. On 23 September 1846, Johann Gottfried Galle, with the assistance of student Heinrich Louis d'Arrest, was the first person to view the planet Neptune. He used the calculations of Urbain Le Verrier to know where to look.

Lobster

Image courtesy of vectorolie/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Lobster was initially considered a mark of poverty. It was served to lower members of society and in prison, much to the displeasure of inmates. Lobster was also used as fertilizer and fish bait. It was not until well into the 20th century that lobster was viewed as more than just a low priced canned food. 

Mexico's Hidden Beach

There's a hidden beach located off the coast of Puerto Vallarta in Mexico. It is officially called Playa De Amor, or the 'Beach of Love'. It is believed that the beach was formed prior to the First World War since the Mexican government had been using the islands surrounding the beach as target practice. These controlled bombings have been said to have formed numerous caves and other unique rock formations on the Marietas Islands.

Mount Etna

Mount Etna is Europe's tallest active volcano and is located in Sicily, Italy. Etna is a composite volcano and has been created by earth's active tectonic plate system (the African plate is moving below the Eurasian plate). It covers an area of 1,190 km2 with a basal circumference of 140 km. It is also known as Mungibeddu in Sicilian and Mongibello or Montebello in Italian.

Uluru Stone

Uluru (also known as Ayres Rock) is a large sandstone rock formation in central Australia. It stands 348m high, rising 863m above sea level, with most of its bulk lying underground and has a total circumference of 9.4km. The local people call it Uluru, however, on July 1873 when the surveyor William Gosse sighted the stone he also named it Ayres Rock in honour of Chief Secretary of South Australia, Sir Henry Ayres. Uluru is notable for appearing to change colour at different times of the day and year, most notably glowing red at sunrise and sunset. This happens because it is infused with minerals that reflect the red light.

Colossus of Rhodes

The Colossus of Rhodes was a statue of the Greek Titan Helios, built on the Greek island of Rhodes by Chares of Lindos. It was constructed to celebrate Rhodes' victory over the ruler of Cyprus Antigonus I Monophthalmus in 305 BC. Much of the iron and bronze used in its structure was reforged from the various weapons Antigonus's army left behind. The Colossus of Rhodes stood over 30 meters high but it only stood for 56 years until it was destroyed by an earthquake in 226 BC. It is considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Qwerty

In 1866, Christopher Sholes invented the first practical modern typewriter. On his first model, the letters on the keyboard were arranged in alphabetical order and this caused problems because the keys jammed easily when the typist worked quickly. Sholes with assistance from James Desmore rearranged the typewriter keyboard by splitting keys for letters commonly used to prevent them from sticking to each other. This arrangement became today's standard "Qwerty" keyboard.

Karl Landsteiner

Karl Landsteiner was an Austrian biologist and physician. He is noted for having first distinguished the main blood groups A, B and O, which he labeled C, of human blood. Landsteiner also found out that blood transfusion between persons with the same blood group did not lead to the destruction of blood cells, whereas this occured between persons of different blood groups. Based on his findings, in 1907 the first successful blood transfusion was performed by Reuben Ottenberg at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

Mount Vesuvious

On August 24 79AD, mount Vesuvious in Italy erupted destroying and burring under 4-6m of ash and pumice the city of Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area. An estimated 16.000 people died from the eruption.