Although there are approximately 200 million starlings in North America, they are all descendants of approximately 60 birds released in Central Park, New York, by Eugene Schieffelin, who headed an acclimatization society trying to introduce to North America every bird species mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare.
In the first two Star Wars movies (Episodes IV and V), there were only two lightsaber colors. The Jedi used blue lightsabers, while Darth Vader used a red lightsaber. The last movie in the original trilogy, "Return of the Jedi", introduced the green lightsaber. The green lightsaber was used in this movie because a blue lightsaber didn't contrast enough against the blue sky in the fighting scenes on Tattoine.
In the prequel trilogy, both blue and green lightsabers were used by the Jedi equally. The exception is the purple lightsaber used by Mace Windu. This uniquely colored lightsaber was a request from Samuel L. Jackson, in order for him to accept the part as Mace Windu.
During the filming of the movie "Scream", director Wes Craven kept telling Drew Barrymore real life stories about animal cruelty in order to keep her looking scared and crying. She is a keen animal lover in real life.
Due to the forces of surface tension, it is possible to place up to 20-35 or more drops of water onto a US penny, without the water spilling off the sides of the penny. The volume of water able to be placed on a penny vastly exceeds the volume of the actual penny. Surface tension is responsible for keeping the water on top of the penny.
The television series "ER" was originally planned as a movie to be directed by Steven Spielberg. When plans fell through and the project eventually became a series, Spielberg became interested in another Michael Crichton creation: Jurassic Park
The Mitsubishi Eclipse, also sold as the Eagle Talon and Plymouth Laser, was named after an English racehorse from the 1700s that won 26 races.
Raw kiwifruit is rich in the protein-dissolving enzyme actinidin, which is commercially useful as a meat tenderizer but can be an allergen for some individuals. This enzyme makes raw kiwifruit unsuitable for use in desserts containing milk or any other dairy products which are not going to be served within hours, because it soon begins to dissolve milk proteins. This also applies to gelatin based desserts, as well, as the actinidin will dissolve the collagen proteins in gelatin very quickly, either liquifying the dessert, or preventing it from solidifying.
The word "easel" (an upright support used for displaying and/or working on something resting upon it, usually a canvas being painted on) comes from the German word "esel" and the Dutch word "ezel", both of which refer to an easel, and to an ass(donkey). The use of the word for "donkey" refering to an "easel" is similar to the way "horse" is used in "sawhorse" (a wooden frame which supports work in progress).
WD-40 stands for "Water Displacement, 40th attempt". WD-40 was invented in 1953 and was first used by Convair to protect the outer skin of the Atlas missile from rust and corrosion. Another random WD-40 fact is that WD-40 dissolves cocaine.
Florida is not know for its tall mountains or hills, but did you know that if you placed the highest hill in Florida next to the Six Flags ride 'Kingda Ka', the roller coaster would overtop the hill by 111 feet. The highest land point in the state of Florida is 345 feet (105 meters) above sea level. In 2005, Six Flags Amusement Parks unveiled the then tallest roller coaster in the world, standing at 456 feet (139 meter) tall. That make the roller coaster 111 feet taller than the highest land point in the state of Florida.
The peace symbol ☮ was created by Gerald Holtom in 1958. It was designed for the British "Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament". The design was created by superimposing the flag semaphore letters 'N' and 'D' (Nuclear Disarmament) onto a circle. Flag semaphore is a system of communication using two hand held flag to convey information based on what position each flag is held at. The letter 'N' in flag semaphore is created by holding both flags at an angle below the horizontal line. This forms the two angled lines on the Peace Symbol. The letter 'D' is created by holding one flag straight up and one straight down. This forms the vertical line of the Peace Symbol.
Scratch-and-sniff works by taking the aroma-generating chemical and encapsulating it in gelatin or plastic spheres that are a few microns in diameter. When you scratch the sticker, you rupture some of these spheres and release the smell.
Drinking 16 ounces of ice water(0 degrees Celsius), requires the body to burn 17.5 Calories to warm the water up to body temperature. The recommended daily intake of water is 64 ounces (eight 8-ounce glasses). The body will burn 70 Calories if this amount is consumed as ice water.
Several adaptations combine to protect the woodpecker's brain is from the substantial pounding that the pecking behavior causes: it has a relatively thick skull with relatively spongy bone to cushion the brain; there is very little cerebrospinal fluid in its small subarachnoid space; the bird contracts mandibular muscles just before impact, thus transmitting the impact past the brain and allowing its whole body to help absorb the shock; and its relatively small brain is less prone to concussion than other animals'.
There is a common rumor about the US military dog tags issued between 1941 and the early 70s. The rumor states that the notch on the dogtag is meant to be placed between the front teeth of a deceased soldier, and forcefully jammed between the teeth, for later identification of the body. The real, and only, purpose of this notch was to hold the blank tag in the machine that punched the letters onto the tag. Current machines do not need the notch to hold blank tags, therefor current tags do not have the notch.
The modern day word "meloncholy" derives from "meloncholia", which comes from the latin word for black bile. Ancient and medieval medicine recognized four main fluids in the body: Yellow bile, black bile, phlegm, and blood (the four humors). An excessive amount of black bile was said to cause depression and other mental illnesses.
The English language commonly uses "blue" to refer to any color from cyan to navy blue. However, many languages, including many east Asian and African languages, do not have separate terms for blue and green, instead using a single word for both. At the same time, some languages, like Russian, Italian, and Hebrew, have different words for what English calls light blue and dark blue. This is the same as the English distinction between red and light red (pink).
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