Perhaps not -- Cook's Illustrated conducted blind taste testings of vanillas, and the staff was surprised to find that, in baked goods, expensive, aromatic vanillas performed almost exactly the same as the cheaper brands of real vanilla. The differences virtually disappeared during cooking.

A pig is a hog -- but a hog is not a pig. "Hog" is a generic name for all swine. Per hog-raising terminology, a pig is a baby hog less than ten weeks old.

In Muddy, Illinois, the post office measures only 7½ by 10½ feet, about the size of a garden shed. If it wasn't for a sign hanging above the door stating, "U.S. Post Office, Muddy, IL., 62965," finding the tiny, wooden building could be difficult. It is believed to be one of the smallest post

The Mai Tai cocktail was created in 1945 by Victor Bergeron, the genius of rum, also known as Trader Vic. The drink got its name when he served it to two friends from Tahiti, who exclaimed "Maitai roa ae!" In Tahitian, the phrase means out of this world — the best!

As part of the samurai sword making process a sword tester took the new blade and cut through the bodies of corpses or condemned criminals. They started by cutting through the small bones of the body and moved up to the large bones. Test results were often recorded on the nakago (the metal piece

It is estimated that a plastic container can resist decomposition for as long as 50,000 years.

When young, the hoatzin, a crested, olive-colored South American bird, has claws on its wings.

There really are such thing as "cooties." Though most people believe that "cooties" is just a nonsense word used by children to describe unpleasant insects, cooties are in fact a kind of body lice.

There are more than 7,000 varieties of apples grown in the world. The apples from one tree can fill 20 boxes every year. Each box weighs an average 42 pounds.

The first coin minted in the United States was a silver dollar. It was issued on October 15, 1794.

Because its tongue is too short for its beak, the toucan must juggle its food before swallowing it.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, the wine industry was plagued with bad corks. These gave many wines a moldy, damp-basement smell and taste. Recent research has shown that the nastiness was not exclusively the fault of the corks. It came from insecticides in new wood used when many French wineries renovated their cellars in the prosperous 1980s. ...Read more

Either, but pick a state and leave it that way. Don't use the on/off switch on your personal computer any more than necessary. There's a surge of electricity every time the switch is turned on. For fragile computer chips, it's much like starting the day by jumping into an icy pool. To prolong the life of your home computer, turn it on when you ...Read more

Developed in Egypt about 5,000 years ago, the greyhound breed was known before the ninth century in England, where it was bred by aristocrats to hunt such small game as hares. Today the dog is widely used in racing.

The spiny mouse, when grabbed by a predator, will lose entire chunks of the its fur, skin, and underlying flesh. It will simply peel right off while the rest of the mouse scurries away, no worse for wear except for some icky holes in its body. It will then begin to heal its wounds almost immediately, taking only three days to begin growing back ...Read more

The day before January 1 is called Silvester in Germany. The holiday is named after pope Silvester I, who died 335 A.D. Typically, Germans will meet somewhere or gather together in their houses on Silvester, waiting until midnight to celebrate the new year.

A rainbow can be seen only in the morning or late afternoon. It is a phenomenon that can occur only when the sun is 40 degrees or less above the horizon.

In a 1996 interview, actor Walter Matthau related this self-deprecating story about his film career: "Apparently, I shout a lot in most films. I did a film with Elvis Presley, King Creole. And the Hungarian director says to me, 'Matt-ow, you are high-priced actor. Pretend you are low-priced actor

The Sun is colossal. It contains 99.8 percent of the total mass of the solar system. More than one million Earths would be required to match its volume.

Shampoo was first marketed in the U.S. in 1930 by John Breck, who was the captain of a volunteer fire department.