The creators of Google Maps Satellite view almost didn’t call the feature “Satellite” because its images were aerial shots taken from airplanes and not from satellites. The feature was almost called “Bird Mode.”

The bead arrangement on Apple’s emoji for an abacus is incorrect. No such bead arrangement has ever occurred on an abacus.

The Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains have fireflies that glow blue called Blue Ghosts.

When Steven Spielberg was a child of about 6, his uncle took him to see the Lincoln Memorial and he was fearful of Lincoln’s statue – a huge giant sitting in a big, huge chair. In 2012, about 60 years after that initial visit, his film Lincoln was released.

In 1494, a young Michelangelo was commissioned to sculpt a snowman in the Medici Palace courtyard.

This article appears in June 21 • 2019.

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