In 1979, Namco released Pac-Man, the most popular arcade game of all time. Over 300,000 units were sold worldwide. More than 100,000 units were sold in the United States alone. Originally named "Puck Man," the game was retitled after executives saw the potential for vandals to scratch out part of the letter "P" on the game's marquee, which might discourage parents from letting their children play. Pac-Man became the first video game to be popular with both males and females.

In 1995, the average U.S. public school contained 72 computers.

In California, on June 3, 1948, Mount Palomar's huge telescope was finally put into service. Using state-of-the-art technology, it was under construction for 20 years. Twice the size of the large telescopes of the time, it reigned as the world's largest optical telescope for longer than two decades. It was also the first to be equipped with a Pyrex lens, which weighed 14.5 tons — until then, Pyrex had only been used to make cookware. The wealthiest family in the U.S., the Rockefellers, had been persuaded by American astronomer George Hallery Hale to finance the $6 million project.

In computer-ese, "wysiwyg" is an acronym for "what you see is what you get."

In December of 1957 -- Shippingport, Pennsylvania became the site of the first full-scale nuclear power plant in the U.S. The plant was able to generate 60 megawatts of electricity after reaching full power 21 days after going on-line.

In Echallens, Switzerland in 1998, a 105-year-old retired Swiss teacher was ordered to attend elementary school, thanks to a computer that cut a century off his age. The mix-up happened because a list of local residents had only the last two digits of his birth date. So the man, along with sixty-five 5-year-olds in the town, received a letter ordering him to start school. The matter was taken care of, and the computer system was changed.

In July of 1955 - Arco, Idaho, with a population of 1,000, became the first U.S. town powered by nuclear energy. The town's energy was supplied by an experimental boiling-water reactor called the Borax III.

In New York City, Consolidated Edison has more than 80,500 miles (129,524 kilometers) of underground electrical cable in the city. Some of the power is purchased from Hydro-Quebec, a sprawling series of hydroelectric dams that harness the power of the La Grande River in northern Quebec and Ontario.

The wingspan of a Boeing 747 jet is longer than the Wright brothers' first flight.

The world's first electric traffic light signal was installed 75 years ago in Cleveland, Ohio, at the intersection of Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street.

The world's first underground railway, between Paddington (Bishop's Road) and Farringdon Street - with trains hauled by steam engines - was opened by the Metropolitan Railway on January 10th 1863. The initial section was six km (nearly four miles) in length, and provided both a new commuter rail service and an onward rail link for passengers arriving at Paddington, Euston and King's Cross main line stations to the City of London.

The Wright brothers' historic flight covered a distance less than the length of today's Space Shuttle.

There are 420 seats on the standard 747 jumbo jet.

There are exactly 1,048576 bytes in one megabyte. Half a byte is called a "nybble."

There are five types of simple machines: the lever, the pulley, the inclined plane, the screw, and the wheel and axle.

There are hefty pricetags on some Internet domain names. The highest-selling domain name to date, business.com, went for $7.5 million in 1999. The buyer was eCompanies.

There are more than 200 satellites orbiting earth solely for the purpose of private communications services, including pagers, telephones, and computers.

Thirty-two percent of computer data loss cases are due to human error.

In October 1994, Jeff Bezos wanted to name his new Web venture "Cadabra" -- as in "abracadabra." But his attorney convinced him that this magical moniker sounder a bit too much like "cadaver." Reluctantly, Bezos went with his second choice: Amazon.com.

In Rome, the world's first paved streets were laid out in 170 B.C. The new streets were popular as they were functional in all types of weather and were easier to keep clean, but they amplified the city's noise level.

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