Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.

According to Merriam-Webster OnLine, the seventh most looked up word in 2004 was “peloton.”

Researchers at the Amboseli Elephant Research Project have discovered that elephants can mimic the sound of truck noises. Elephants have also been known to make chirping sounds for communicating, as well as mimicking the sounds of lawnmowers and frogs.

A “jiffy” is 1/100th of a second.

Clint Eastwood’s “Dirty Harry” character was apparently named after a nuclear test conducted May 19, 1953 – code-named “Harry,” but soon tagged “Dirty Harry” because of the extraordinary amount of offsite fallout from the blast.

This article appears in April 22 • 2005.

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