Blue whale's got nothin on this

The largest living organism ever found has been discovered in an ancient American forest, in eastern Oregon.

Officially known as Armillaria ostoyae, or the honey mushroom, the fungus is 3.5 miles square miles and takes up 1,665 football fields.

Some real fast feet

Ethiopia’s Abebe Bikila won a gold medal at the 1960 Olympics — while running the marathon barefoot! He won again four years later, this time wearing shoes.

Sorry. I was exhausted... (Saturday)

There was no fact for yesterday. This is today's fact.

Disney #2 (Thursday)

Cinderella's castle is made of fiberglass, not stone.

Disney #1 (Wednesday)

The Tower of Terror was built just short enough that it doesn't need a blinking light on top to warn airplanes (the designers thought it would ruin the theme of the ride).

Two thumbs up! No, down! I meant down!!

How did Roman emperors order the death of a gladiator?

Thumbs up.

Neither Roman spectators calling for the death of a gladiator, nor Roman emperors authorizing one ever gave a thumbs down. In fact, the Romans didn't use a thumbs down sign at all.

If death was desired, the thumb was stuck up-like a drawn sword. For a loser's life to be spared, the thumb was tucked away inside the closed fist-as with a sheathed weapon. This is expressed in Latin as "pollice compresso favor iudicabatur" (goodwill is decided by the thumb being kept in).

So yes, the movie The Gladiator is incorrect when it shows Commodus giving the thumbs up to spare Maximus. Ridley Scott was aware of the misconception, but did not want to confuse the audience.

Another reason Jersey is pathetic...

In New Jersey and Oregon, pumping your own gas is actually illegal.

What an idiot...

Albert Einstein never learned how to drive a car.

Albert Einstein (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist. He is best known for his theory of relativity and specifically mass–energy equivalence, expressed by the equation E = mc2. Einstein received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect."

Einstein published over 300 scientific works and over 150 non-scientific works. In 1999 Time magazine named him the "Person of the Century", and according to Einstein biographer Don Howard, "to the scientifically literate and the public at large, Einstein is synonymous with genius."

BUT...he couldn't drive a car!

That's one big state...

The distance from the eastern tip to the western tip of the state of Texas is greater than the distance from New York City to Chicago.

I guess theirs are much bigger?

Humans and giraffes have the same number of neck vertebrae. (They both have 7)

A Real Split Decision

All of Stonewall Jackson's body is buried in Lexington, VA except for his left arm, which is buried in Fredericksburg, VA. (It was amputated on the battlefield after Jackson was accidentally shot by his own men.)

What was their mascot?

The Pittsburgh Pirates were originally called the Pittsburgh Alleghenys.

Professional baseball has been played in the Pittsburgh area since 1876. The teams of the era were "independents", barnstorming throughout the region and not affiliated with any organized league, though they did have salaries and were run as a business organization. In 1882 the strongest team in the area joined the American Association as a founding member. Their various home fields in the 19th century were in a then-separate city called Allegheny City, across the Allegheny River from Pittsburgh. The team was listed as "Allegheny" in the standings, and was sometimes called the "Alleghenys" (not the "Alleghenies") in the same generic way that teams from Boston, New York, and Chicago were sometimes called the "Bostons", the "New Yorks", and the "Chicagos", in the sportswriting style of that era. After five mediocre seasons in the A.A., Pittsburgh became the first A.A. team to switch to the older National League in 1887. At this time, the team renamed itself the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, although Allegheny remained a separate city until it was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907. At that time, owner-manager Horace Phillips sold the team to Dennis McKnight; Phillips stayed on as manager.

In those early days, the club benefited three times from mergers with defunct clubs. The A.A. club picked up a number of players from a defunct Columbus, Ohio, team in 1885.

The Alleghenys were severely crippled during the 1890 season, when nearly all of their stars jumped to the Pittsburgh Burghers of the Players' League. With a decimated roster, the team experienced what is still the worst season in franchise history, going 23-113. The battle nearly ruined McKnight, and he was forced to return his franchise to the league. However, almost immediately after this, McKnight joined the backers of the Burghers as a minority owner, which then repurchased the Pittsburgh National League franchise and rechartered it under a different corporate name. They were thus able to legally recover the services of most of the players who had jumped to the upstart league a year earlier.

The new owners also signed several players from American Association teams. One of them was highly regarded second baseman Lou Bierbauer, who had previously played with the A.A.'s Philadelphia Athletics. The Athletics failed to include him on their reserve list, and the Alleghenys picked him up. This led to loud protests by the Athletics, and in an official complaint, an AA official claimed the Alleghenys' actions were "piratical". This incident (which is discussed at some length in The Beer and Whisky League, by David Nemec, 1994) quickly accelerated into a schism between the leagues that contributed to the demise of the A.A. Although the Alleghenys were never found guilty of wrongdoing, they made sport of being denounced for being "piratical" by renaming themselves "the Pirates" for the 1891 season. The nickname was first acknowledged on the team's uniforms in 1912.

Hope you have a good big man...

Early basketball rules called for a jump ball to occur after the scoring of each field goal.

Now that's ambidextrous! (MONDAY)

President James Garfield could write Greek with one hand while simultaneously writing Latin with the other.

Safety...

According to doctors, humans suffer an average of 14 episodes of flatulence per day.

Not so grand after all...

Though it’s not as well-known as the Grand Canyon, Hell’s Canyon is the deepest gorge in the U.S. at nearly 8,000 feet.

Hells Canyon is a ten-mile wide canyon located along the border of eastern Oregon and western Idaho in the United States. It is North America's deepest river gorge at 7,993 feet (2436 m) and the most important feature of Hells Canyon National Recreation Area.

The canyon was carved by the waters of the Snake River, which plunges more than a mile below the canyon's west rim on the Oregon side and 8,000 feet below the peaks of Idaho's Seven Devils Mountains range to the east. The area is inaccessible by road.

Artifacts from prehistoric inhabitants as well as the ruins of early 19th century miners and settlers are visible.

Merry go counter-round

As a rule, European carousels rotate clockwise, while American merry-go-rounds spin counterclockwise.

Talk about a high strike zone...

Dock Ellis, a pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1970s, threw a no-hitter while under the influence of LSD. At certain points during the game, Ellis said he couldn’t see the batter or the catcher, and as a result, relied on the
baseball to tell him where to throw it.

No-hitting the San Diego Padres on June 12, 1970 despite being, as he would claim in 1984, under the influence of LSD throughout the course of the game. Ellis had been visiting friends in Los Angeles under the impression he had the day off and was still high when his girlfriend told him he had to pitch a game against the Padres that night. Ellis boarded a shuttle flight to the ballpark and threw a no-hitter despite not being able to feel the ball or clearly see the batter or catcher. Ellis claims catcher Jerry May wore reflective tape on his fingers which helped Ellis to see his target. Ellis walked eight, struck out six, and was aided by excellent fielding plays by second baseman Bill Mazeroski and center fielder Matty Alou. During the game, Ellis is reported to have commented to his teammates on the bench between innings that he was pitching a no-hitter, despite the superstition that discourages mentioning a no-hitter while it is in progress. Because the no-hitter was the first game of a double header, Ellis was forced to keep track of the pitch count for the night game.

As Ellis recounted it:

"I can only remember bits and pieces of the game. I was psyched. I had a feeling of euphoria. I was zeroed in on the (catcher's) glove, but I didn't hit the glove too much. I remember hitting a couple of batters and the bases were loaded two or three times. The ball was small sometimes, the ball was large sometimes, sometimes I saw the catcher, sometimes I didn't. Sometimes I tried to stare the hitter down and throw while I was looking at him. I chewed my gum until it turned to powder. They say I had about three to four fielding chances. I remember diving out of the way of a ball I thought was a line drive. I jumped, but the ball wasn't hit hard and never reached me."

The incident inspired the song "Dock Ellis" by indie rock singer Barbara Manning, as well as "America's Favorite Pastime" by folk singer Todd Snider.

I'm Extra Loyal!

The phrase “Mr. Mojo Risin’,” repeated by Jim Morrison in the Doors’ song “L.A. Woman,” is an anagram of the vocalist’s name.

The True Land O' Lakes

Canada has more lakes than all other countries combined!

He really killed on the drums...

Jim Gordon, drummer for Derek and the Dominoes, is the only murderer to win a Grammy. He won it for co-writing Layla and in 1983 was convicted of killing is mother with a hammer and knife.

James Beck "Jim" Gordon (born on January 1, 1945) is an American recording artist, musician and songwriter. The Grammy Award winner was one of the most requested session drummers in the late 1960s and 1970s, recording albums with many well-known musicians of that time and was the drummer of the blues-rock supergroup, Derek & The Dominos. A diagnosed schizophrenic, Gordon murdered his mother in 1983 and was sentenced to sixteen years to life in prison.

My Country tis of thee

The true formal name of the famous statue standing in New York harbor is not ‘The Statue of Liberty”. It was named ” Liberty Enlightening the World” by its sculptor Frederic Bartholdi, who fashioned the statue’s likeness after his mother.

I thought he was a football player...

Big Ben doesn’t refer to a clock; it’s actually the name for the bell inside that famous clock tower.

Big Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock at the north-eastern end of the Palace of Westminster in London. The nickname is often also used (incorrectly) to refer to the clock and the clock tower. This is the world's largest four-faced, chiming clock and the third largest free-standing clock tower in the world. It celebrates its 150th birthday in 2009, during which celebratory events are planned.

The First Gator

President John Quincy Adams kept a pet alligator in the East Room.

Baby-face king

In a standard deck of playing cards, the king of hearts is the only king without a mustache.

And you think mondays last forever...

A Mercurian day is longer than its year.

Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 88 days. The orbit of Mercury has the highest eccentricity of all the Solar System planets, and it has the smallest axial tilt. It completes three rotations about the axis for every two orbits.

I wouldn't wear pants either if that was my middle name...

Donald Duck’s middle name is Fauntleroy.

Donald Duck is a cartoon character from The Walt Disney Company. Donald is a white anthropomorphic duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He usually wears a sailor shirt, cap, and a red or black bow tie, but no pants (except when he goes swimming). Donald's most famous trait is his easily provoked and occasionally explosive temper.

According to the Disney canon, particularly in the 1942 short Donald Gets Drafted, Donald's full name is Donald Fauntleroy Duck. Donald's birthday is officially recognized as June 9, 1934, the day his debut film, The Wise Little Hen, was released. However, in The Three Caballeros (1944), his birthday is given as simply "Friday the 13th", which is in reference to the bad luck he experiences in almost all his cartoon appearances. Donald's Happy Birthday (short) gives his birthday as March 13.

Donald's voice, one of the most identifiable voices in all of animation, was performed by voice actor Clarence "Ducky" Nash up to 1983. It was largely this semi-intelligible speech that would cement Donald's image into audiences' minds and help fuel both Donald's and Nash's rise to stardom. Since 1985, Donald has been voiced by Tony Anselmo, who was trained by Nash for the role. Donald is a V.I.P. member of the Mickey Mouse Club.

Keep up the good work, Supreme Court...

In 1893, The United States Supreme Court incorrectly ruled that tomatoes are vegetables, not fruits.

Nix v. Hedden, 149 U.S. 304 (1893, was a case in which the United States Supreme Court addressed whether a tomato was classified as a fruit or a vegetable under the Tariff Act of March 3, 1883, which required a tax to be paid on imported vegetables, but not fruit. The case was filed as an action by John Nix, John W. Nix, George W. Nix, and Frank W. Nix against Edward L. Hedden, Collector of the Port of New York, to recover back duties paid under protest. Botanically a tomato is a fruit. The court, however, unanimously ruled in favor of the defendant, that the Tariff Act used the ordinary meaning of the words "fruit" and "vegetable" - where a tomato is classified as a vegetable - not the technical botanical meaning.

The court unanimously decided in favor of the defense and found that the tomato was classified as a vegetable, based on the ways in which it is used, and the popular perception to this end. Justice Horace Gray, writing the opinion for the Court, stated that:

"The passages cited from the dictionaries define the word 'fruit' as the seed of plants, or that part of plants which contains the seed, and especially the juicy, pulpy products of certain plants, covering and containing the seed. These definitions have no tendency to show that tomatoes are 'fruit,' as distinguished from 'vegetables,' in common speech, or within the meaning of the tariff act."

Justice Gray cited several different Supreme Court cases (Brown v. Piper, 91 U.S. 37, 42, and Jones v. U.S., 137 U.S. 202, 216) and stated that when words have acquired any special meaning in trade or commerce the ordinary meaning must be used by the court. In this case dictionaries cannot be admitted as evidence, but only as aids to the memory and understanding of the court. Gray acknowledged that, botanically, tomatoes are classified as a "fruit of the vine", nevertheless they are seen as vegetables because they were usually eaten as a main course instead of being eaten as a dessert. In making his decision, Justice Gray mentioned another case where it had been claimed that beans were seeds — Justice Bradley, in Robertson v. Salomon, 130 U.S. 412, 414, similarly found that though a bean is botanically a seed, in common parlance a bean is seen as a vegetable. While on the subject, Gray clarified the status of the cucumber, squash, pea, and bean.

You sunk my battleship!

It takes seventeen “hits” to sink an opponent’s entire fleet in a game of Battleship.