Ten Random Facts

Rhubarb is in the buckwheat family.
Food and Drink

The point in a lunar orbit that is farthest from the moon is called an "apolune."
Space

Maximum tunnel depth below mean sea level is 70ft (21.3m)
People » Inventors

The World Trade Center in New York had 43,600 windows.
Miscellaneous

Best Picture Oscar winner "Dances with Wolves," a three-hour Western, had a full-third of its dialogue spoken in Lakota Sioux. Subtitles were used, unusual for a major Academy Award-winning film.
Entertainment » Movies

The people of Hamamatsu, Japan, take part in a kite-fighting custom dating from the 1500s. It is believed that a kite was flown to honor the birth of an ancient prince. Another legend suggests the sport began when a ruler told his people to fight with kites instead of with one another. The annual custom honors the first-born sons of each family, and some of the enormous kites bear the names of the boys. Today, the kite-fighting festival draws nearly two million people to Hamamatsu.
Laws and Customs

The Chinese invented eyeglasses. Marco Polo reported seeing many pairs worn by the Chinese as early as 1275, 500 years before lens grinding became an art in the West.
People » Inventors

About 43% of convicted criminals in the U.S. are rearrested within a year of being released from prison.
Surveys

It was the style among 18th-century Englishmen to wear pantaloons so tight they had to be hung on special pegs that held them open, allowing the wearer to jump down into them.
History

The beautiful Antibes on the French Riviera is the luxury-yacht capital of the world. Antibes also hosts one of the largest antique shows in Europe each spring.
Geography » Europe

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