Strange But True: American Turtle
By Lucie Winborne
Though cannibalism is, thankfully, no longer practiced, Fijians today have embraced this aspect of their history: You can buy cannibalism forks and humorous cannibal dolls in many Fijian gift shops.
NASA defines an astronaut as someone who has flown 50 miles above sea level.
People are more likely to die in house fires while sleeping because the sleeping brain responds poorly to smoke odors.
The U.S. maintains a Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the largest emergency oil stockpile in the world.
When "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" made its debut in Great Britain, the publisher asked stores not to sell the book until schools were closed for the day, to prevent eager reader truancy.
The first submarine used in warfare was the "American Turtle," a small submersible invented by David Bushnell, during the American Revolution, in 1776.
Congress gave Native Americans the right to vote in presidential elections in 1924.
During the Great Depression, many people tried selling apples to avoid the stigma of panhandling. In New York City alone, there were as many as 6,000 such vendors.
Beatle George Harrison's song "Blue Jay Way" has led to the repeated theft of that street sign in Los Angeles.
The science of kissing is called philematology.
Flower girls traditionally threw flower petals in a bride's path to lead her to a sweet, plentiful future.
After pirates kidnapped the entire male population of the Tongan island of 'Atu in the 18th century, the king of Tonga had the remaining women and children moved, and declared the island taboo.
The mimic octopus can impersonate more than 15 different marine animals, including lionfish and flatfish, to fool predators.