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Aarwaa · #1 Thursday, May 10, 2007

The city of St. Petersburg, Russia, was founded in 1703 by Peter the Great, hence the name, St. Petersburg. But it wasn't always that simple. In 1914, at the beginning of World War I, Russian leaders felt that Petersburg was too German-sounding. So they changed the name of the city to Petrograd -- to make it more Russian-sounding. Then, in 1924, the country's Soviet Communist leaders wanted to honor the founder of the Soviet Union, Vladimir I. Lenin. The city of Petrograd became Leningrad and was known as Leningrad until 1991 when the new Russian legislators -- no longer Soviet Communists -- wanted the city to reflect their change of government, so they changed the name back to St. Petersburg.
April Fools Day started in France after the adoption of a reformed calender by Charles IX in 1564. Up till that time, New Year celebration began March 21 and ended April 1. When New Year's was changed, some people still celebrated on April 1. These people became known as "April Fools."
The army's jeep was not always called that. Instead it was called a general purpose vehicle. It was then shortened to GP (jeep), and the car company just started to manufacture the general purposes vehicles under the name "Jeep."
The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them used to burn their houses down - hence the expression "to get fired."
Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.
The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the South Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards."
Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots
Sir Isaac Newton was an ordained priest in the Church of England.
The word 'pound' is abbreviated 'lb.' after the constellation 'libra' because it means 'pound' in Latin, and also 'scales'. The abbreviation for the British Pound Sterling comes from the same source: it is an 'L' for Libra/Lb. with a stroke through it to indicate abbreviation. Sames goes for the Italian lira which uses the same abbreviation ('lira' coming from 'libra'). So British currency (before it went metric) was always quoted as "pounds/shillings/pence", abbreviated "L/s/d" (libra/solidus/denarius).
The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat," which means "the king is dead".
Beelzebub, another name for the devil, is Hebrew for Lord of the Flies, and this is where the book's title comes from.
The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.
Oliver Cromwell was hanged and decapitated two years after he had died.
The United States has never lost a war in which mules were used
The Quetzal is the national bird of Guatamala and is also their currency.(not the bird)
Canada is an Indian word meaning "Big Village".
The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots
Each unit on the Richter Scale is equivalent to a power factor of about 32. So a 6 is 32 times more powerful than a 5! Though it goes to 10, 9 is estimated to be the point of total tectonic destruction (2 is the smallest that can be felt unaided.)
Donald Duck's middle name is Fauntleroy
Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
More people are killed annually by donkeys than die in air crashes.
The flag of the Philippines is the only national flag that is flown differently during times of peace or war. A portion of the flag is blue, while the other is red. The blue portion is flown on top in time of peace and the red portion is flown in war time.
Goethe couldn't stand the sound of barking dogs and could only write if he had an apple rotting in the drawer of his desk.
If you are locked in a completely sealed room, you will die of carbon dioxide poisoning first before you will die of oxygen deprivation.
A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
Pinocchio is Italian for "pine eyes."
The ball on top of a flagpole is called the truck.
Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts
On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament Building is an American flag.
Marvin Stone of Washington, D.C., patented the drinking straw on January 3, 1888.
Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.
The youngest pope was 11 years old.
Iceland consumes more Coca-Cola per capita than any other nation.
The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.
Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history. Spades - King David, Clubs - Alexander the Great, Hearts - Charlemagne, and Diamonds - Julius Caesar.
The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
The worlds oldest piece of chewing gum is over 9000 years old!
In space, astronauts cannot cry, because there is no gravity, so the tears can't flow!