Rome is believed to be the first city to reach a population of one million.

James — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 02:33:34 +0000

There is still debate as to which city was the first to reach one million people, but many people agree that it was ancient Rome. This milestone was achieved around the year 5BC. The first city with documented proof of reaching a population of one million was London England, which happened around 1811.

The Empire State Building was originally built to accommodate airships.

James — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 02:30:38 +0000

Originally the top of the Empire State Building had a mooring mast that could be used by airships. The plan was for the airships to connect with the mast and have passengers load and unload by a gangplank. The plan did not work since the air currents around the top of the building were too strong to allow for secure and safe docking. Only once did an airship ever dock. In September of 1931 a small airship was able to dock for 3 minutes.

Willie O’Ree was the first black hockey player in the NHL

James — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 02:29:37 +0000

On January 18th 1958 Willie O’Ree made his professional hockey debut for the Boston Bruins. This event broke the NHL color barrier. During parts of two seasons he played a total of 45 games, all for Boston.

The Alchemist has been translated into 67 languages.

James — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 02:28:37 +0000

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho has sold more than 65 million copies since it was first published in 1988. The book was originally written in Portuguese but has since been translated in to 67 different languages, which is a record for a book by a living author. Reincarnation does not count, sorry Jesus.

Sunni Islam has five pillars.

James — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 02:27:24 +0000

The pillars are the shahada, salah, sawm, zakat, and the hajj. The shahada is the basic tenet of Islam which states that “I testify that there is none worthy of worship except God and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.” Salah is the ritual prayer which must be performed five times a day while facing towards Mecca. Sawm is fasting during Ramadan, during this time Muslims must not eat or drink between sun rise and sun set. Zakat is the practice of giving to the less fortunate. The Hajj is a pilgrimage to Mecca. Every able bodied Muslim who can afford must make the trip once in their lifetime.

At -40 Degrees Celsius and Fahrenheit are the same.

James — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 02:26:12 +0000

There is a big difference between the Celsius and Fahrenheit temperature scales. In Celsius water freezes at 0 and boils at 100. In Fahrenheit water freezes at 32 and boils at 180. For every 9 degrees the temperature moves in Fahrenheit it moves 5 in Celsius. This means that the one point at which the scale is equal is -40 degrees.

The current NFL and MLB are both the result of mergers.

James — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 02:25:00 +0000

It is a common situation in business that once a company is success a competitor will appear and try to replace it. The NFL and MLB both are made of an older established league that merged with a new league that challenged it. In 1966 the NFL announced a merger with the competing AFL. 13 of the original NFL teams became the NFC and the AFL teams along with four NFL teams became the AFC. The National League in baseball was around for 28 years before the World Series created a matchup between the its champion and the champion of the American League. Since 1903 the two leagues have met for the World Series and only in the year 2000 did the two league become a single legal entity.

David Bowie changed his name.

James — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 02:24:14 +0000

Shocker! David Bowie, like many other performers, changed his name. He was born David Jones and originally performed under the name Davie Jones. In 1966 he changed his name to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of the Monkees. The name Bowie was taken from the American James Bowie who fought at the Alamo.

Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love, according to the Greeks.

James — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 02:22:50 +0000

The name of the city Philadelphia comes from two Greek words. The first is philos which means love and the second is adelphos which means brother

The Mona Lisa was stolen.

James — Tue, 31 May 2011 02:21:49 +0000

In 1911 an employee of the Louvre Museum in Paris by the name of Vincenzo Peruggia stole the painting. He was Italian and believed the painting should be displayed in Italy. In 1913 he was caught when he tried to sell it to a gallery in Florence.