Do immigrants still come through Ellis Island in New York?

No.

A Norwegian merchant named Arne Peterssen is the last person who passed through Ellis Island, and did so in 1954. Peterssen was not an immigrant; he was an enemy merchant seaman. The United States used Ellis Island to detain enemy merchant seaman during World War II.

After that, the island was closed to the public until 1976. The Ellis Island Immigration Museum now occupies most of the island.

Twelve million immigrants entered the U.S. through Ellis Island from 1892 until it closed. The island itself is located in the upper bay of New York Harbor, just off the New Jersey coast. As a result of a 1998 Supreme Court decision, Ellis Island is part of New Jersey and not New York.

Learn more at http://www.ellisisland.org

How fast is a knot, and why is it called a knot? A knot is the unit of measure used to calculate the speed of a ship and represents one nautical mile per hour. A ship traveling at 25 knots is traversing 25 nautical miles per hour.

A nautical mile is equal to about 1.15 survey miles, or 6,080 feet. A mile on land is 5,280 feet. A nautical mile is the angular distance of one minute of arc on the earth's surface.

In layman's terms, cut the Earth in half at the equator. Pick up one of the halves and look at it as a circle. Divide that circle into 360 degrees and then divide those individual degrees into 60 minutes. A minute of arc on the planet is one nautical mile.

As for why it's called a knot, that dates to the 17th century. To measure the speed and distance of a ship, knots were tied into a ''log line.'' The line was heaved overboard, an hourglass was tipped and the knots were counted. The counting stopped when the sand ran out and a general speed was determined.

Why are beans such a ''fragrant'' food?

The fragrance in question isn't the pleasant smell that wafts from the kitchen during a family gathering. The fragrance in question is human-generated, and we all know it. Remember the campfire scene in the Mel Brooks' film ''Blazing Saddles''? Anyhow, beans contain sugars our body simply can't digest. These sugars are called oligosaccharides.

The bacteria in your intestines go berserk when they come in contact with oligosaccharides. The bacteria try to break down the sugars, but they can't, and before you know it, no one wants to be in the same room with you.

The most offensive sugars are raffinose, stachiose and verbascose, all of which are found in beans. Beans aren't the only food conducive to producing offensive smells: corn, bell peppers, cauliflower, cabbage, milk, bread, eggs, beer and raisins are also culprits. People unable to digest milk due to lactose intolerance might suffer extreme flatulence if they consume dairy products.

Recipes exist online for preparing dry baked beans that do not cause lingering side effects.