Modern Marvels

The biggest gamblers in the casino world are called "whales." They often wager more than $50,000 per hand and can win or lose over a million dollars in a night. There are an estimated 200 "whales" in the world.

Las Vegas casinos give roughly 2 million dollars a day in comps.

The word gamble derives from the Anglo Saxon word "gamenian," which means "to sport, to play."

In 19th century Monte Carlo, Francois Blanc arranged for suicide victims to have their pockets filled with money to prevent stories of ruined gamblers killing themselves.

In 1999, Harley-Davidson surpassed Honda as the best-selling motorcycle in America. Harley sold over 177,000 bikes.

In the 2002 X Games, Mike Metzger extended the spectacle of the back-flip by landing it at the end of an 80-foot jump.

The best-selling motorcycle of all time is the Honda 50. More than 30 million Cubs and Supercubs have been sold.

In his bicycle racing days, before co-founding Indian Motorcycles, George Hendee won 302 out of 309 races.

Glenn Curtiss' 1907 motorcycle speed record stood until 1930, when Joe Wright went 150 miles an hour.

In 1971, Eddie Paul set a record for riding a motorcycles with no hands. Los Angeles to Las Vegas - 286 miles.

In 2002, almost a million new motorcycles were purchased in the U.S. - for a total of 7.5 billion dollars.

Goof: Only half of the Indian Motorcycles building actually burned down. The other half is still standing as low cost housing.

Approximately one-third of all new steel generated each year comes from recycled scrap.

In the 1500's, the army of Hernan Cortes used stones and rubble from demolished Aztec structures to build cathedrals and mansions.

The emergency department at St. Vincent's is named after Dr. William O'Loughlin, the ship physician who died on the Titanic.

Hammurabi's code of written laws, compiled around 1600 B.C., included a list of prices physicians could charge for different services.

The ruins of Masada were first discovered in the 1960s by a group of Israeli students traveling in the desert.

The word "dungeon" is derived from the Latin words for "lord" and "house." It late came to mean a room beneath the lord's manor, the place where the prisoners were kept.

The first Black Union Army regiment was comprised of the slaves freed at Fort Pulaski.

In the 1970s many of the Maginot Line forts were auctioned off to the public. Some were opened for tourists and others were used for mushroom farming.