August 24, 2016

To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was immediately successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature. The plot and characters are loosely based on the author's observations of her family and neighbors, as well as on an event that occurred near her hometown in 1936, when she was 10 years old. To Kill a Mockingbird was Lee's only published book until Go Set a Watchman, an earlier draft of To Kill a Mockingbird, was published on July 14, 2015.

August 23, 2016

The small intestine is the longest part of the digestive system. According to the Cleveland Clinic, the small intestine is 22 feet long, while the large intestine is only 6 feet long. The descriptive terms “small” and “long” refer to the diameter of the intestine rather than the length. The small intestine is the part of the gastrointestinal tract between the stomach and the large intestine, where most of the digestion and absorption of food takes place. The primary function of the small intestine is the absorption of nutrients and minerals from food.

August 22, 2016

The Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest is an annual American hot dog competitive eating competition. It is held each year on Independence Day at Nathan's Famous Corporation's original, and best-known restaurant at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in Coney Island, a neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. The contest has gained public attention in recent years due to the stardom of Takeru Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut. The current champion is Joey Chestnut, at 70 hotdogs in the 2016 championship. He beat out 2015 champ Matt Stonie.

August 21, 2016

Robert E. Lee was never the President of the United States. Robert E. Lee was the leading Confederate General during the U.S. Civil War and has been venerated as a heroic figure in the South. Lee was a top graduate of the United States Military Academy and an exceptional officer in the United States Army for 32 years. During this time, he served throughout the United States, distinguished himself during the Mexican–American War, and served as Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy and as the president of Washington College.

August 20, 2016

Almost 14 years! Prohibition in the United States was a nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation and sale of alcoholic that remained in place from 1920 to 1933. Prohibition was mandated state after state, then finally nationwide under the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920. Prohibition ended with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, on December 5, 1933.

August 19, 2016

Manolo Blahnik is a Spanish fashion designer and best known for his signature line of high-end women’s footwear. Becoming a household name through shows like Sex and the City and his never ending list of celebrity endorsements, Manolo Blahnik has become one of the most influential shoe designers of our time. Blahnik is renowned for handcrafting each shoe prototype himself. To this day, Blahnik still is the sole designer to every shoe that is created under the Manolo Blahnik label.

August 18, 2016

At about 4 feet long and around 100 pounds, the capybara is the largest rodent in the world. Native to South America, they live in densely forested areas near bodies of water, such as lakes, rivers, swamps, ponds, and marshes. The capybara has a heavy, barrel-shaped body and short head, with reddish-brown fur on the upper part of its body that turns yellowish-brown underneath. The capybara is not a threatened species and is hunted for its meat and hide and also for a grease from its thick fatty skin which is used in the pharmaceutical trade.

August 17, 2016

The U.S. Olympic Committee pays out a $25,000 bonus per gold medal, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze. The money does not come from the U.S. government. The U.S. Olympic Committee gets its money from the sale of broadcast rights, licensing and trademark income, and corporate sponsorships. Those bonuses pale in comparison to some other nations – Kazakhstan pays $250,000 USD for a gold, Indonesia pays $381,000 USD for a gold, and Singapore leads the list with a $741,000 USD gold medal bonus.

August 16, 2016

The United States has hosted a total of eight Olympic Games (4 Summer Olympics and 4 Winter Olympics), which is more than any other country in the world, followed by France with five editions. Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom have each hosted three Games. The U.S. Summer Olympic venues have included St. Louis, Atlanta, and two times in Los Angeles. Winter Games have been held twice at Lake Placid, and once each in Squaw Valley and Salt Lake City.

August 15, 2016

The Olympic motto is made up of three Latin words: Citius, Altius, Fortius, which is Latin for "Faster, Higher, Stronger." The motto was proposed by Pierre de Coubertin on the creation of the International Olympic Committee in 1894. Coubertin borrowed it from his friend Henri Didon, a Dominican priest who, amongst other things, was an athletics enthusiast. Coubertin said "These three words represent a programme of moral beauty. The aesthetics of sport are intangible." The motto was introduced in 1924 at the Olympic Games in Paris.