British Standard 6008 is a set of instructions on the preparation of a standard cup of tea.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation was founded by Charles Joseph Bonaparte, grandnephew of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Carathéodory’s constant is the number .

See also: Legendre’s constant.

Heron of Alexandria invented the automatic door and the vending machine.

Betteridge’s law, n.

The tendency for ‘no’ to be an entirely appropriate answer to the questions used in headlines.

In 1978 the USSR was responsible for losing track of one of their nuclear powered satellites and having its radioactive remnants strewn all over Canadian territory. Canada then determined the exact extent of the damage to be worth $6,041,174.70 and charged the USSR this amount.

A blush of boys.

On 13 July 1977 New York City suffered a daylong city–wide blackout, resulting in rioting, rampant looting, and general widespread disorder. This singular event also gave many people access to DJ equipment which they could never have otherwise afforded, ultimately leading to the popularization and proliferation of the genre of hip hop.

sesquiplicate proportion, n.

The mathematical relationship . A fine example of this is Kepler’s third law.

The stretch of gene at 3,146,484–3,159,630 bp of chromosome 2L of the common fruit fly codes for the protein Mothers against decapentaplegic. The strange name derives from the observation that a mutation in this gene of a mother fruit fly has the effect of repressing the expression of Decapentaplegic in her offspring. The actual antagonist of Decapentaplegic is coded by a gene located on chromosome 3R at 2,879,729–12,896,135 bp.

Appropriately enough, because the antagonist acts from within the offspring it is given the name Daughters against decapentaplegic.