7. Dionysus was a son of Zeus born to a mortal mother. When Zeus accidentally killed her, he sewed the young Dionysus into his thigh and, when the young god emerged, passed him to the care of the maenads. The cult of Dionysus revolved around intoxication and savage ritual sacrifice. He was often symbolized by a bull due to his association with the sacrificial animal. Elements of his character are seen in the Roman god of wine, Bacchus.

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8. Hades ruled the world of the dead, with which he was sometimes synonymous. The chilly lord of the underworld was among the few Greek gods to come across as dispassionate. He was not the ultimate judge of the souls that wandered his domain nor did he mete out their punishments for sins committed during their mortal lives. He was, however, cunning; he tricked Persephone into eating enchanted pomegranate seeds so that she would have to remain with him for a portion of the year.

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9. The queen goddess of Olympus, Hera was both sister and wife to Zeus. Though she is often depicted as reserved and austere, she was mercilessly vindictive when it came to her husband’s [many] extramarital adventures. Unfortunately for the objects of Zeus’s godly affections, Hera tended to torment the "other women" (and their offspring, including Heracles) rather than Zeus himself. Her Roman equivalent was Juno.

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10. Like many gods in the Greek pantheon, Hermes presided over multiple spheres. He was a pastoral figure, responsible for protecting livestock, and was also associated with fertility, music, luck, and deception. In the Odyssey, he is depicted as a messenger god. His Roman equivalent was Mercury.

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11. Poseidon is best known as the Greek sea god, but he was also the god of horses and of earthquakes. (Thus, many of his temples were inland.) And he had some seriously strange children. Though humanoid, he fathered both the winged horse Pegasus (by Medusa, no less) and the Cyclops Polyphemus, who is blinded by Odysseus and his crew in the Odyssey. His Roman equivalent was Neptune.

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12. With the assistance of Hades and Poseidon, Zeus overthrew his father, Cronus, king of the Titans, and became the chief deity in a new pantheon comprising mostly his siblings and children. In addition to controlling the weather, Zeus was noted for his chronic infidelity to his sister-wife, Hera. Among the results of his weakness for comely mortal women was Helen of Troy. His Roman equivalent was Jupiter.

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According to the Cuban government, Fidel Castro survived over 600 assassination attempts.

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When nine-banded armadillos have babies, they are always identical quadruplets.

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Elvis Presley was such a Star Trek fan, he named one of his horses Star Trek
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Except for JFK and LBJ, the remains of every dead U.S. president since Herbert Hoover have been buried on the grounds of their presidential libraries
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