Officially, the history of the U.S. Marines began on November 10, 1775, when the Continental Congress authorized the formation of the Continental Marines for use in the war against England. The first troops were recruited at a tavern in Philadelphia.


"Once you bring life into the world, you must protect it. We must protect it by changing the world."
-Elie Wiesel

 

It takes between 20 and 40 layers of Kevlar to stop a bullet, and this stack of layers is relatively stiff. It's also heavy -- a vest alone often weighs more than 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms), even without ceramic inserts for additional protection.


"If I were a maker of books I should compile a register, with comments, of different deaths. He who should teach people to die, would teach them to live."
-Michel de Montaigne

 

Some cicada species can produce a call in excess of 120 decibels at close range. This is approaching the pain threshold of the human ear! Smaller species sing in such a high pitch that it cannot be heard by humans, but may cause dogs and other animals to howl in pain.


"I try to make a rough music, a dance of the mind, a calculus of the emotions, a driving beat of praise out of the pain and mystery that surround me and become me."
-Judith Johnson Sherwin

 

A magnet can have multiple north and south poles, and these poles always occur in pairs. There can be no north pole without a corresponding south pole, no south pole without a corresponding north.


"The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts human life a little above the level of farce, and gives it some of the grace of tragedy."
-Steven Weinberg

 

On February 16, 1968, Alabama Senator Rankin Fite made the first 9-1-1 call in the United States in Haleyville, Alabama.

"Take me, I am the drug; take me, I am hallucinogenic."
-Salvador Dali

 

The largest species of shark is also one of the least aggressive. The whale shark can grow to 45 feet or more, but it feeds mainly on plankton.

Hell is paved with great granite blocks hewn from the hearts of those who said,

 

The first bowling pinsetter weighed nearly 2 tons (1.8 metric tons) and stood 9 feet (2.7 m) tall.


"What right have I to grieve, who have not ceased to wonder?"
-Henry David Thoreau

 

The worlds largest pyramid is not in Egypt, but in Mexico.

 

During World War II, Oscars were made of plaster due to the metals shortage. Winners were allowed to turn in the plaster statues for gold ones when the war ended.


"No endeavor that is worthwhile is simple in prospect; if it is right, it will be simple in retrospect."
-Edward Teller

 

Most submarines have a distillation apparatus that can take in seawater and produce fresh water. The distillation plant heats the seawater to water vapor, which removes the salts, and then cools the water vapor into a collecting tank of fresh water. The distillation plant on some submarines can produce 10,000 to 40,000 gallons (38,000 - 150,000 liters) of fresh water per day.


"I have always had a dread of becoming a passenger in life."
-Princess Margrethe of Denmark