1.  Pepperoni is an American food.  In Italian, “peperoni” with one “P” is the word for bell peppers and there’s no salami named “pepperoni” with two “P’s” used as a pizza topping.

2.  The FDA allows any product with five calories or less to be labeled “calorie free,” and manufacturers are allowed to round down and put zero calories on their nutrition label.

3.  The Las Vegas Strip technically isn’t in the city of Las Vegas.  It’s officially in three unincorporated areas of Clark County, Nevada called Paradise, Winchester, and Enterprise.

4.  Christopher Columbus thought manatees were mermaids on his first journey to the Americas.  He wrote in his journal in 1493 that he saw three mermaids but, quote, “they are not so beautiful as they are said to be.”

Here is today’s bonus fact:

5.  Chipotle uses 97,000 pounds of avocados per day.  (And if their experience with avocados is anything like mine, about 54 of them are perfectly ripe.)

(NY Times / FDA / Wiki / National Geographic / The Daily Beast)