Thaddeus Kosciuszko

Thaddeus Kosciuszko was a Polish-born revolutionary thinker who was made Colonel of Engineers in the American Continental Army to fight in the war against Great Britain. He also worked to help slaves gain their freedom. He now has the smallest U.S. national park named after him in Philadelphia (0.02 acres).

Thomas Jefferson called Kosciuszko "as pure a son of liberty as I have ever known."

K Street

K Street is a major thoroughfare in Washington, D.C. known for the numerous think tanks, lobbyists, and advocacy groups that exercise influence from its location.

Jose Sarria

In 1961, drag entertainer Jose Sarria was the first openly gay candidate to run for public office in the U.S. when he ran for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

John Nash

John Nash is a mathematician who was the subject of the movie A Beautiful Mind. One thing he is known for is the Nash equilibrium.

No taxes in wartime

For the first time in American history, we have gone to war (Iraq and Afghanistan) without raising taxes.

Too much beer

The Czech Republic has the highest annual per capita consumption of beer (2.67 kegs per year).

Dunning-Kruger effect

The Dunning-Kruger effect is the phenomenon wherein people who have little knowledge (or skill) tend to think that they know more (or have more skill) than they do, while others who have much more knowledge tend to think that they know less.

David Wolf and Leroy Chow

In 1997, David Wolf became the first American astronaut to vote from outerspace. In 2004, Leroy Chow became the first to vote in a presidential election.

Al-Hurra

Al-Hurra is a United States-based TV channel that broadcasts in 22 countries across the Middle East. It is part of our government's campaign to spread democracy in that area. No one watches it and oh yeah, American taxpayers have spent $350 million for it in 4 years.

Read the Washington Post article on Al-Hurra.

Butterfly effect

The butterfly effect refers to the idea that a butterfly's wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that may ultimately alter the path of a tornado or delay, accelerate or even prevent the occurrence of a tornado in a certain location. It encapsulates the more technical notion of sensitive dependence on initial conditions in chaos theory.

Juneteenth

Juneteenth is a national holiday celebrated on June 19 that commemorates the ending of slavery in the United States. It originated in Galveston, Texas in 1865.

Dennis Kucinich

Dennis Kucinich is a vegan.

Shakespeare's torture

William Shakespeare invented the word torture.

Eugene Weidmann

In 1939, Eugene Weidmann was the last person to be publicly executed in France.

Chuck Baldwin

Chuck Baldwin is a presidential candidate for the Constitution Party.

Keith Olbermann

Keith Olbermann has restless legs syndrome.

Dominique chicken

The Dominique is the oldest breed of chicken in the United States.

Alan Greenspan's wife

NBC News's Andrea Mitchell is married to former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan.

Wicca

Wicca is a pagan religion with distinctive ritual forms, seasonal observances and religious, magical and ethical precepts.

Clair Engle

During the effort to break the filibuster on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the clerk reached U.S. senator Clair Engle of California for his vote. Because of Engle's brain cancer which partially paralyzed him and robbed his ability to speak, he slowly lifted up a crippled arm and pointed to his eye, signaling his "aye" vote. The vote was 71-29, four votes more than the necessary amount to end the filibuster. Nine days later the Senate approved the act.

Engle died a month and a half later.

Bad Boys

I'm an idiot. I didn't know that the song "Bad Boys" featured on COPS was sung by Bob Marley.

Petaflop

Petaflop speed for computers is the equivalent of one quadrillion calculations per second.

Car accidents

Most car accidents happen on Fridays between 3 and 6 PM.

NPR

NPR was created in 1970 after President Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.

Mountain gorillas

There are about 720 mountain gorillas in the world.

Kabuki

Kabuki is "a type of popular Japanese drama in which elaborately costumed performers use stylized movements, dances, and songs."

Italy's multiple governments

Italy has had about 60 governments since World War II.

Nathaniel Reed

Nathaniel "Texas Jack" Reed was a 19th century American outlaw.

Puerto Rico's delegates

Puerto Rico has more delegates headed to the convention than 27 of our nation's states.

Drudge

Drudge means "a person who does tedious, menial, or unpleasant work."