The Merv Griffin Show's director was Dick Carson, Johnny Carson's brother.

Gilligan's first name on Gilligan's Island was Willy. The skipper's name was Jonas Grumby.

Sixty percent of the U.S. television viewing audience watched the last episode of M*A*S*H in 1983.

Jay North, star of TV's Dennis the Menace, was also the voice of Bam-Bam Rubble.

Nancy Reagan appeared in Diff'rent Strokes to tell kids to "Just Say No."

In 1986, in the very last scene of Search for Tomorrow, after 35 years on the air, Stu asks Jo what she is searching for. "Tomorrow," she replies.

In 1913, the Russian Airline became the first to introduce a toilet on board.

There are more than 16,400 parking meters in Manhattan, New York.

In 1955, the Ford Thunderbird outsold the Chevy Corvette 24 to one.

Rock drawings from the Red Sea site of Wadi Hammamat, dated to around 4000 BC show that Egyptian boats were made from papyrus and reeds

The world's earliest known plank-built ship, made from cedar and sycamore wood and dated to 2600 BC, was discovered next to the Great Pyramid in 1952.

The world's oldest surviving boat is a simple 3 metre (10 feet) long dugout dated to 7400 BC. It was discovered in Pesse Holland in the Netherlands.

Pacific Island robber crabs love coconuts so much that they have developed the ability to climb trees to satisfy their cravings.

The praying mantis is the only insect that can turn its head 360 degrees.

The electric eel can produce 350 to 550 volts of electricity up to 150 times per hour without any apparent fatigue.

Spider silk is five times stronger than steel, but it is also highly elastic - a rare combination in materials.

A large parrot's beak can exert 500 pounds of pressure per square inch, enabling the bird to feast on such delicacies as Brazil nuts with a simple crunch.

Wasps can make paper by mixing wood pulp with saliva to form a paste, which dries stiff.

When you ask people to name the heaviest material they can think of, most will probably respond right away with lead. Most would also probably be surprised that gold is much heavier than lead. Almost twice as heavy.

But even gold is not the heaviest metal. And when it comes to the heaviest material in the universe we have to leave metals altogether and travel to Geneva, Switzerland and the Large Hadron Collider to discover a whole new form of matter.

Osmium is the most dense metal! Many people are familiar with lead (11.3 kg/mL), but Osmium is twice as dense (22.6 kg/L)! Each liter of Osmium weighs 22.6 kg (50 lbs). For comparison, each liter of water weighs only 1 kg (about 2.2 lbs). Some other heavy metals include Tungsten and Gold (19.3 kg/L), which are almost as dense as Osmium.

The Large Hadron Collider recently made a matter known as quark-gluon plasma. It's a hundred thousand times hotter than the inside of the sun and denser than anything in the universe, except black holes.

Quark-gluon plasma is what scientists believe the entire universe was like immediately after the Big Bang. It's made up of quarks, which are the elementary building blocks of positive charged protons and neutral neutrons and gluons, particles that glue quarks together using the strong force. A physicist says that "if you had a cubic centimeter of this stuff, it would weigh 40 billion tons."

While there are 7 undisputed wonders of the ancient world, the wonders of the modern world are frequently debated. Let's take a look at some of the commonly accepted engineer wonders of the modern world.

Empire State Building. Finished in 1931, it towers 1,250 ft over New York City. Until the first tower of the World Trade Center was finished in 1972, it was the world's tallest building.

Itaipu Dam. Built by Brazil and Paraguay on the Parana River, the dam is the world's largest hydroelectric power plant. Completed in 1991, it took 16 years to build this series of dams whose length totals 7,744 m. It used 15 times more concrete than the Channel Tunnel.

CN Tower. In 1976, the tower became the world's tallest freestanding structure. It looms about one-third of a mile high (1,815 ft) above Toronto, Canada. A glass floor on the observation deck lets you look 342 m down to the ground.

Panama Canal. It took 34 years to create this 50-mile-long canal across the Isthmus of Panama. The amount of digging required and the size of its locks helped make it the most expensive project in American history at that time-and the most deadly: About 80,000 people died during construction (most from disease).

Channel Tunnel. Known as the Chunnel, it links France and England. It is 31 mi long, and 23 of those miles are 150 ft beneath the seabed of the English Channel. High-speed trains whiz through its side-by-side tubes.

Netherlands North Sea Protection Works. Because the Netherlands is below sea level, a series of dams, floodgates, and surge barriers have been built to keep the sea from flooding the country during storms. The biggest part of the project was a two-mile-long moveable surge barrier across an estuary finished in 1986. It is made of 65 concrete piers each weighing 18,000 tons. It has been said that the project is nearly equal in scale to the Great Wall of China.

Golden Gate Bridge. Connecting San Francisco and Marin County in 1937, for many years this was the longest suspension bridge in world. Experts thought that winds, ocean currents, and fog would make it impossible to build. It took about four years to complete the beautiful 1.2-mile-long bridge. It is held by 80,000 mi worth of steel wire, and the cables that link the two towers are 36.5 inches in diameter the biggest ever made.

In 1953, the Rocket Chemical Company began developing a rust-prevention solvent called WD-40 for the aerospace industry. The name WD-40 indicates what the product does (water displacement) and how many attempts it took to perfect it.

Moby Dick was the favorite book of one of the three founders of the coffee empire Starbucks. He wanted to name the company after the story's fabled ship Pequod, but he and his partners reconsidered and settled instead on the name of the first mate, Starbuck.

Don and Doris Fisher opened their first GAP store in 1969 to meet the unique clothing demands of customers between childhood and adulthood, identified and popularized then as "the generation gap."

In 1971, the founders of Nike in Beaverton, Oregon, were searching for a catchy company name. Designer Jeff Johnson suggested Nike, the name of the Greek goddess of victory.

Eugene the Jeep, a character in a 1936 Popeye comic strip, was actually a dog that could walk through walls, climb trees, and fly. When U.S. soldiers were given a new all-terrain vehicle in the early 1940s, they were so impressed that they may have named it after the superdog.

The name Shell Oil was appropriated by Marcus Samuel, one of the company's founders. His father ran a London retail outlet called the Shell Shop, where he sold bags decorated with seashells. This grew into an import-export business, which diversified into a business that imported oil and kerosene.

Absaroka

It was named after the Absaroka Range of the Rocky Mountains, which claimed parts of South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming. Residents of this area attempted to secede in 1939.

Deseret

Although you might assume as much, it was not named for the desert. It was actually named after a Mormon word meaning honeybee. Parts of modern day Nevada, Utah, Southern California, most of Arizona, and a portion of New Mexico were claimed by Mormon settlers escaping religious persecution in New York.

Franklin

This region was comprised of eight counties that originally belonged to North Carolina but are now eastern Tennessee. In fact, Franklin almost became the 14th State, only needing two more votes to reach the 2/3 majority vote needed for statehood. The larger state of Tennessee was formed instead.

Kanawha

This region later became the largest portion of the state of West Virginia, and included some of the far northwestern counties of Virginia. It came about during the crazy tensions of the Civil War. They voted to secede when Virginia joined the Confederate States of America.

Lincoln

Another name used in multiple requests for a state. The original request was in Texas and would have consumed almost half of the state. The second came about in the early 1900s and included the Idaho Panhandle. Believe it or not, the idea was proposed again in 2005.

Long Island

The region grew weary of the 'Boss' political system in New York and wanted to seek its freedom in 1869. This idea was revisited in the 1990s, but New York is unwilling to give up this diverse and economically sound portion of the state.

Sequoyah

The name Sequoyah was requested by Native Americans and encompassed the majority of Oklahoma. This included a tract of land where the U.S. Government had relocated them.

Superior

The Upper Peninsula, part of the state of Michigan, is only connected to the rest of the state by the Mackinac Bridge. It lies between Lake Superior, and Lake Michigan, hence the name. This one raises its head on a regular basis, especially when debating Michigan tax laws. Interestingly, the land area was originally part of the Wisconsin territory, but awarded to Michigan when the city of Toledo was absorbed by Ohio.

Texlahoma

Early in the 20th century, rural areas had terrible roads and cars were popular, making for dangerous driving. Since the politicians in the capitals were not listening to their complaints, forty-six counties in Texas and twenty-three in Oklahoma planned to secede and combine into a new state.

Transylvania

The region included parts of Northern Tennessee and Southwestern Kentucky. It was originally purchased by the Transylvania Company from the Cherokee Indians, hence the unusual name.

Westsylvania

This was the second name for the failed Vandalia colony attempting to become the 14th state, in 1776. Pennsylvania, West Virginia and eastern Kentucky made up this area. Pennsylvania, having the most land to lose, made a law stating talk of secession to be an act of treason punishable by death. That dream quickly and quietly went away.

The Cranberries: The band was originally known as "The Cranberry Saw Us," a pun on "cranberry sauce." Members soon shortened the name for simplicity.

Lynyrd Skynyrd: The group is named after Leonard Skinner, an annoying gym coach some of the band members had in high school, who supposedly had them expelled for having long hair.

Five for Fighting: The stage name for John Ondrasik came from his love of hockey. Players who fight in the National Hockey League get five minutes in the penalty box, or "five for fighting."

Three Dog Night: The name is derived from an Australian Aboriginal custom of sleeping with a dog for warmth during cold nights. The colder the night, the more dogs.

No Doubt: This California-based "third wave" ska band was named after a favorite expression of its founder, John Spence, who ultimately committed suicide.

Toad the Wet Sprocket: Members of this alt-rock band drew their name from a monologue delivered by Eric Idle on a Monty Python album from 1980.

It takes the Sun between 225 million and 240 million years to complete one orbit around the galaxy. That's moving at a breakneck 137 miles per second.

Parts of the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado tower to 700 feet above the floor of the San Luis Valley.

Sand from storms in the Sahara can travel thousands of miles. Mineral dust from these storms has been found in huge concentrations in South America and the Caribbean.

The deepest place on Earth is Challenger Deep in the Marianas Trench, with a depth of 35,840 feet below sea level.

You'll need to travel at 6.96 miles per second in order to escape Earth's gravity. The escape velocity of the Moon is 1.5 miles per second.

The oldest known European cave drawings are found in Chauvet Cave in southern France. The 416 drawings are estimated to be 32,000 to 35,000 years old. They feature horses, rhinos, buffalo, lions, and mammoths.

The biggest cells in the human body are the motor neurons. They can be up to four and a half feet long and run from the lower spinal cord to the big toe.

The longest-living cells in the body are brain cells, which can live a human's entire lifetime.

Fifteen million blood cells are produced and destroyed in the human body every second.

If your mouth was completely dry, you would not be able to distinguish the taste of anything.

The pupil of the eye expands as much as 45 percent when a person looks at something pleasing.

The average person has 100,000 hairs on his or her head. Each hair grows approximately 5 inches per year.

"Game shows are designed to make us feel better about the random, useless facts that are all we have left of our education."
Chuck Palahniuk.

1. Largest flower

The Corpse flower, also known as Rafflesia arnoldii. The poetically named posy boasts the largest bloom in the world, measuring in at 3-feet wide with blossoms that weigh 15 pounds.

2. The largest animal

The blue whale. When a baby blue whale is born, it measures up to 25 feet and weighs up to three tons. Growing to lengths of up to 100 feet and weighing up to 200 tons, the blue whale is, in fact, the biggest animal known to live on Earth.

3. The heaviest known organism

In Utah's Fishlake National Forest in Utah there lives a massive grove of trees called Pando, which is actually a single clonal colony of a male quaking aspen. Nicknamed the Trembling Giant, this enormous root system is comprised of some 47,000 stems that create the grove. All together - with all of the individual trunks, branches and leaves - this quivering organism weighs in at an estimated 6,600 short tons. It is the heaviest known organism on the planet, and perhaps even more impressive is its age. Conservative estimates put it at 80,000 years old, making it also the oldest living thing known to man.

4. The largest land animal

The African bush elephant holds the title for largest land animal. Reaching lengths of up to 24 feet and gaining heights of 13 feet, these beautiful gray beasts weigh in at 11 tons. Their trunks alone can lift objects of more than 400 pounds.

5. The largest tree by volume

The world's largest tree is a stately giant sequoia, known as General Sherman in California's Sequoia National Park. This majestic arboreal master is about 52,500 cubic feet in volume.

6. The largest invertebrate

The aptly named colossal squid is the world's largest squid species and the largest invertebrate on the planet. They can weigh as much as 1,000 pounds and can grow to 30 feet long. That's a lot of calamari.

7. The tallest land animal

The title of the world's tallest mammal belongs to the giraffe. The legs of these even-toed ungulates are taller than many people. Giraffes can grow to heights of 19 feet and can weigh as much as 2,800 pounds. They can sprint up to 35 miles-an-hour over short distances.

8. The largest reptile

As the largest of living reptiles - as well as the largest terrestrial and riparian predator in the world - the saltwater crocodile can reach lengths of 22 feet and can weigh in at 4,400 pounds.

9. The heaviest bird

The ostrich is the world's heaviest bird, with a weight of 350 pounds and a height of 9 feet. While they cannot fly, they can sprint up to 43 miles an hour and run long distance at 31 miles an hour.

10. The largest thing of all

In 1998 a single colony of honey fungus was discovered in the Malheur National Forest in east Oregon that covered an area of 3.7 square miles, and occupied some 2,384 acres.

The only movie elvis does not sing a song

TRIVIA QUESTION  ..   .

Name the five NFL Franshises that have 100+ more wins than losses in their history?
(The Answer will be after the CELEBRATIONS THIS MONTH - about 4 minutes)

TRIVIA ANSWER  ..   .
1. Chicago Bears - 190 ( 735-545-42),
2. Green Bay Packers - 169 ( 710-541-37 ),
3. Dallas Cowboys - 124 (476-352-6),
4. San Francisco 49ers - 114 (553-439-16)
5. New York Giants - 110 (667-557-33)

Miami Dolphins - 98 ( 423-325-4),

New Year is the largest US party day of the year in the USA. Which is the second?

Super Bowl Sunday. Halloween is the 3rd

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"I tell you this - early this morning I signed my death warrant."
- Michael Collins, after signing a treaty on December 6, 1921 with England creating the Irish Free State as a dominion within the British Commonwealth. He was later assassinated by partisans unhappy with the deal.