Things you always never wanted to know

· The teddy bear was named for Theodore Roosevelt. When presented with a koala from Australia, Roosevelt, whose fondness for animals was well-known, so praised the creature that a copy of it was made for children. Called the "teddy bear" in the President's honor, the toy soon caught on and became a standard item on every child's shelf.

· A full-grown moose may be eight feet high at the shoulder and weigh almost a ton.

The male moose sheds its antlers every winter and grows a new set the following summer.

· In medieval Japan, it was believed that there was a single hair somewhere on the tail of a cat that could restore to life a dead person. For this reason cats were brought into the room of a dying person and placed next to his or her bed. As a last resort, relatives sometimes had the dying person pluck a single hair from the cat's tail in the hope that this one would prove to be the magic strand.

· On a clear day one can see five states from atop the Empire State Building in New York City: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania.

· It is recorded in the genealogical tables of the book Kentucky Marriages, 1797-1865 that one Moses Alexander, aged ninety-three, married a Mrs. Frances Tompkins, ages one hundred five, in the town of Bath, New York, on June 11, 1831. It is also recorded that the newlyweds were both found dead in their bed the following morning.

· The United States Department of Agriculture reports that the average American eats 8 1/2 pounds of pickles a year. Dill pickles are twice as popular as sweet.

· The term "cocktail" was invented in Elmsford, New York. A barmaid named Betsy Flanagan decorated her establishment with the tail feathers of cocks. One day a patron asked for "one of those cock tails." She served him a drink with a feather in it.

· The bombardier beetle, when disturbed, defends itself by emitting a series of explosions, sometimes setting off four or five reports in succession. The noises sound like miniature popgun blasts and are accompanied by a cloud of reddish-colored, vile-smelling fluid.