Refresh for new random facts
1. In 1987, American Airlines decided to omit one olive from each salad course in the first class. As a result, they saved $40,000.
2. The original 12 stocks on the Dow Jones were cotton oil, sugar, tobacco, gas, cattle, electric, gas, lead, coal, leather, utility, and rubber companies.
3. Pierre Omidyar had formed a web consulting firm called Echo Bay Technology Group in 1995. When he tried to register EchoBay.com, though, he found that Echo Bay Mines, a gold mining company, had gotten it first. Ebay was born.
4. Thomas Edison has been granted the most U.S. patents for inventions, 1093.
5. The Burpee seed catalogue originally sold real chickens when first introduced by 17-year old Washington Atlee Burpee in 1876.
6. Con Edison is the longest tenured listing on the New York Stock Exchange, first listed in 1824 as the New York Gas Light Company.
7. Fur trader John Jacob Astor would be worth around $100 Billion in today's dollars, adjusted for inflation.
8. Wanamaker's of Philadelphia, was the first U.S. department store to install electric lighting, in 1878.
9. Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos renamed the company to Amazon from the earlier name of Cadabra.com because he saw the potential for a large volume of booksales online, much like the Amazon is the most voluminous river.
10. Schoolboy Antonio Gentile of Suffolk, Virginia, received $5 for his winning drawing in a Planters Peanut 1916 contest. Mr. Peanut was born.
When me and old Abe used to sit by the fire he would tell me the darndest tales about this great land of ours.
