When Larry Page and Sergey Brin created what we now know Google back in 1996, they initially called it BackRub. The name was a nod to the way the search engine analyzed the web’s “back links” to determine how important a site was. A year later, Page and Brin decided they needed to upgrade to a name that indicated just how much data they were indexing. Eventually, they came up with “Google,” a take on the number “googolplex,” which is the digit 1 followed by 10100 zeroes.
Americans who like fast food might be used to ordering a Quarter Pounder or a Filet-O-Fish from McDonald’s, but the chain offers a variety of different items on their menus around the world to suit local tastes. If you’re in the Philippines, you can order a combo that includes a chicken drumstick and spaghetti—or more specifically, a one-piece Chicken McDo with McSpaghetti.
According to the American Psychological Association, dogs are approximately as intelligent as your average two-year-old and can understand more than 150 words. Also much like a toddler, dogs can deceive people and other animals when they want a treat.
According to research published in the Annals of Epidemiology, people over 60 have a 14 percent higher chance of dying on their birthday than on any other day.
The Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker Program isn’t for amateur dairy lovers. The prestigious program is so elite that candidates are required to have had a Wisconsin cheesemaker’s license for at least 10 years before they’re even eligible to apply. You also have to pass a series of courses on subjects like Cheese Technology, Cheese Grading (not grating), and another on being a Cheese Artisan.
The bat is the only mammal that can actually fly. Other animals that give the appearance of flying, like flying squirrels, are just gliding through the air (albeit up to 660 feet at a time).
When the world’s top athletes win gold medals at the Olympics, what they take home is only partially gold. While the medals were originally pure gold, the last of those were awarded in 1912. These days, both the gold and silver medals are 92.5 percent silver. Gold medals only look the way they do because they have to be plated with at least six grams of gold.
