Mel Brooks has had a cardinal rule to never eat with the actors on films he directed, but he enjoyed the company of Cleavon Little so much on the set of Blazing Saddles, he begged him to eat with him.

The Three Wise Monkeys have names: Mizaru (see no evil), Mikazaru (hear no evil), and Mazaru (speak no evil).

According to writer Michael Hiltzik in Slate, Pres. Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal created 1,000 miles of new and rebuilt airport runways, 651,000 miles of highway, 124,000 bridges, 8,000 parks, 18,000 playgrounds and athletic fields, 84,000 miles of drainage pipes, 69,000 highway light standards, and 125,000 public buildings built, rebuilt, or expanded.

Saladin, who defeated the Crusaders, was a Kurd born in modern-day Iraq, not an Arab.

Octopuses build edifices from shells.

This article appears in May 27 • 2016.

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