A modern round brilliant cut diamond has 57 facets, 33 on the top and 24 on the bottom. This cut was developed by Marcel Tolkowsky, a mathematician from a family of gem cutters.

In the medieval European Catholic Church, belief in vacuum was considered immoral.

The first recorded bank account overdraft happened in 1728. William Hog was allowed to withdraw 1000 pounds more than he had in his account at the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital, built in 1876, had the largest continuous foundation of any building in the United States until it was surpassed by the Pentagon in 1943. The hospital held as many as 7,674 patients; the Pentagon fits about 26,000 office workers.

Rhubarb leaves are toxic. They contain oxalic acid and it would take about 5 kg of leaves to probably a 140 lb. human (reach the LD50).