Name “zebra” comes from the Old Portuguese word Zevra which means “wild ass”. 

                To glean 1 pound (450 g) of dry saffron requires the harvest of up to 75,000 flowers and 20 hours of labor. 

   Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” was banned in South Africa after schoolchildren started chanting its lyrics to protest an inferior educational system. –

  In Osaka, Japan outdated phone booths have been turned into aquariums. –

There was a toilet paper shortage in the USA in 1973 caused by a joke on a talk show that convinced people to hoard toilet paper –

     There is a ‘Cat Lounge’ café in Portland, the USA where you can enjoy a nice cappuccino in the company of shelter cats who are all up for adoption. 

A man ate nothing but McDonald’s for 30 days leading to his attempt at the LA Marathon – He finished with his best time and lower cholesterol than when he started. –

The Queen and Margaret Thatcher once wore the same dress, much to the prime minister’s horror. To avoid such an embarrassment again, she ordered her staff to ask the Palace what the Queen would be wearing. The Palace declined, saying “Her Majesty never notices what other people wear.”

   Anybody can walk into a Sikh temple after prayers and partake of the free communal meal called langar. The meal, a symbol of equality and community is given to anybody who wishes to partake, without any expectation of payment. –

 During Julius Caesar’s “unsuccessful” first invasion of Britain, several ships were badly damaged or wrecked because the Romans were ignorant of the powerful Atlantic tides.

Paul McCartney used the pseudonym “Bernard Webb” on the song, “Woman” to prove that his music would be successful no matter who took credit for it and sure enough, “Woman” went to #14 on the U.S. pop charts and #28 in the UK. –

There’s an annual lying competition in England, and competitors from around the world have five minutes to tell the biggest and most convincing lie they can. Politicians and lawyers are banned from entering because they’re thought to be too good at it.

• Bin Laden’s death was announced on 1st May 2011. Hitler’s death was announced on 1st May 1945.

George Washington was bled to death by doctors, who were treating him for a cold. Bloodletting was a common medical practice in those times in order to remove “dirty blood,” when in reality it only weakens the patient. Half or more of his blood was removed within a few hours. – S

        A Finnish sniper had over 705 confirmed kills, 505 of which were from his Mosin Nagant rifle, which he used only with his iron sights. The rest of the kills were from his submachine gun. 

                 Jon Stewart proposed to his wife through a personalized crossword puzzle created with the help of the crossword editor, Will Shortz, at The New York Times. – S

                The gym on the top floor of the US Supreme Court Building has a basketball court jokingly referred to as “the highest court in the land.”

   Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the structure of the DNA molecule and Nobel Prize laureate, sent a letter accompanied by a cheque for 10 guineas to Winston Churchill, saying that the money should be used for the establishment of a brothel at the Cambridge University, instead of a chapel. 

       In 1999, a farmer got sentenced to death in the Philippines for growing seven plants of cannabis

It takes the Earth (and the Sun) 226 million years to orbit around the Milky Way Galaxy, which means Earth has made the orbit around our galaxy about 20 times since the planet is 4.5 billion years old

A Narwhals tusk is actually its left tooth which breaks through its lip. It is soft, and covered with small holes that fill with water and basically make the tusk a sensory organ, like a nose or ears. – 

The Sandbox Tree, also known as the Dynamite Tree, is covered in spikes, full of poison, and grows exploding fruits.

 Kingda Ka, the tallest roller coaster in the world is taller than the Statue of Liberty, at 456 feet.

A deaf British prisoner of war named Edwin Rose missed the liberation of his camp because he fell asleep on the toilet and slept through the battle. He woke to find everyone else gone, so he shaved, put on his best clothes and walked out to freedom. –

The earliest-born person to be photographed was Conrad Heyer. Born in 1749, he crossed the Delaware River with George Washington during the American Revolution. –

  Luxury brands Tod’s, Fendi and Bulgari are paying for the restoration of the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps in Rome

''    The traditional method of castrating a reindeer is to bite its testicles.

• A shrimp's heart is in its head.

 It has been proven Calcium is not as good for your bones as Vitamin K. Contrary to popular belief, milk is not the best thing for your bones. Avocado, peaches and bananas are much better. 

When a Long Island woman accidentally threw away an envelope with $5000 cash intended for her mortgage, sanitation workers sifted through tons of trash until they found it. They refused to accept a reward.