Mr. Smarty Pants Knows

Shortly before his death in 1955, Albert Einstein wrote a short, glowing foreword to a geologist's book scoffing at the notion that the Earth's crust shifted.

In making Star Wars, George Lucas turned to WWII dogfight films for inspiration. One historian believes he was very influenced by the film The Dam Busters, and even stole some of the cockpit chatter with lines such as "How many guns do you see, Red Leader? I see seven guns. Four on the ground and three on the tower."

Europe's biggest fungus, a Honey Mushroom, was recently found in the Engadine national park in the eastern Swiss Alps. Also known as Armillaria ostoyae, the fungus spans 86 acres and is believed to be 1,000 years old. A Honey Mushroom in Oregon covers 2,200 acres, making it the largest living organism ever discovered.

According to a report in Bicycling News, there are 10 or 20 minor blood groups – not just the ABO set that everyone is familiar with.

Though it was fueled by gasoline and cooled by water, the engine for the Wright brothers' pioneering Flyer did not have a water pump, fuel pump, carburetor, or spark plugs.