• The riff from Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" is based on a common Afghani chant.

• While New Jersey is nearly always referred to as the "garden state", officially it is the "lovely garden state".

• Worldwide, democratically-elected national leaders are six times more likely to be left-handed than those that rose to power via other means.

• Kevin Cross of Los Angeles has been an extra in over 500 films, and can be seen, albeit briefly and uncredited, in 9 of the 10 top-grossing movies of 2005.

• Mark Lemon, former pitcher for the Houston Astros, ironically dislikes lemons.