The putdown “pissant” may derive from the French word “paysan” or peasant.

With less than 1% of the land mass in the U.S., Hawaii is home to more than 30% of the nation’s endangered and rare species, about 360. More than 1,000 native species are known to have gone extinct since humans arrived on the islands.

Lightning bolts can reach as high as 50,000º F – roughly five times the temperature of the surface of the sun.

Scientists theorize that Puerto Rico once touched what is now Colombia along its way because of the similarity of Puerto Rican earthworms to Colombian earthworms.

It takes about 79 tons of mined rock to produce enough gold for a wristwatch.

This article appears in October 20 • 2000.

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