Know It All

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The first supermarket was King Kullen Grocery Company, a 6,000-square-foot self-service store opened in 1930 in Queens, N.Y. Michael Cullen (1884-1936) opened the one-stop shopping store that adhered to the motto "Pile it high. Sell it low.”

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A Super Big Gulp drink at 7-Eleven is 44 ounces. A Double Gulp is 64 ounces. An average can of soda is 12 ounces.

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Lake Superior, one of the Great Lakes, is the largest freshwater lake in the world.

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When a California chemist created compressed rubber that had remarkable bounce, he wasn't sure what could be done with it, so he brought it to a toy company. Wham-O toys used the rubber, dubbed zectron, to make the Super Ball, which quickly became a fad of the 1960s.

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The Super Bowl was originally called the World Championship Game. While trying to think of a better name for the end of season playoff game, Lamar Hunt (born 1932), coach of the Kansas City Chiefs and creator of the AFL (American Football League), remembered his daughter playing with a Super Ball. He suggested the name Super Bowl.

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Former President George Bush (born 1924) was the first president to participate in a Super Bowl coin toss in person. Bush and Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach (born 1942) did the coin toss in 2002. In 1985, President Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) participated in the coin toss via satellite from the White House with Hugh McElhenny (born 1928).

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Do you know who the first person was to travel at supersonic speed, breaking the sound barrier? The year? See answer at end.

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"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” a song in the Disney movie "Mary Poppins” (1964), was the subject of a lawsuit in 1965. Two songwriters sued Disney for $12 million for copyright infringement. They claimed they wrote a song in 1951 called "Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus.” Disney proved that variants of the long word were used before 1949 and won the case.

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Supernovas have been seen in space, but the last time one was seen in the Earth's galaxy, the Milky Way, was in 1604. The exploding star was so bright that German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) saw it with his naked eye.

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Supermodel Cindy Crawford (born 1966) has been on over 600 magazine covers.

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Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman and Aquaman were the superheroes that made up the group in the Saturday morning cartoon "Super Friends” (1973-1977). The superheroes' sidekicks were Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog.

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Superstition says a broken mirror is an omen of bad luck. It dates back to the belief that the mirror was a reflection of the soul, therefore damaging a mirror damaged the soul. To minimize the bad luck, the mirror should be buried in the earth, or at least removed from the house.

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Mario and Luigi are the brothers in the 1985 Nintendo video game "Super Mario Brothers.” In the game, the Super Mushroom turns Mario into Super Mario, which gives him power and doubles his size.

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Answer: American aviator Chuck Yeager (born 1923) was the first human to fly faster than the speed of sound. Yeager flew the rocket-powered Bell X-1 plane at Mach 1 on Oct. 14, 1947.

Know It All is by Kerry McArdle. It runs in the weekend and Wednesday editions of the Daily Journal. Questions? Comments? Email knowitall@smdailyjournal.com or call 344-5200 ext. 114.